Product category:
Testing, analysing and monitoring equipment
News Release from: Rockwell Automation Entek | Subject: Entrx
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 12 December 2001
The all-in-one system for monitoring
machinery
Rockwell Automation Entek's new Entrx is a Windows-based high performance data acquisition, database management and data analysis system for use in portable and online machine condition monitoring
Rockwell Automation Entek's new Entrx is a Windows-based high performance data acquisition, database management and data analysis system for use in a broad range of portable and online machine condition monitoring applications Entrx is a "bottom to top" design that can be used as an all-in-one tool for both transient and steady state monitoring of critical or high speed machinery such as turbines, engine test rigs, compressors, pumps, motors, fans, gearboxes and blowers
Introduced as a replacement for Rockwell Automation Entek's established Turbomonitor, Entrx is a user friendly, cost effective and scalable solution suitable for the largest or smallest applications.
It can operate as a standalone system or be integrated into a plant wide monitoring network.
When configured to "time-stream" data, Entrx will continuously record all channels on every machine to circular files on disk.
This assures the capture of all data before and during a particular event such as a failure of a component or a turbine trip, enabling the subsequent analysis of the causes and effects of the event.
The number of simultaneous input channels ranges from 4 to 64 per machine although a single system can monitor multiple machines.
Systems can be configured with 3, 5 or 12 A/D cards, each with 4, 8 or 16 channels.
For surveillance applications, low cost high channel count multiplexed solutions using one or more 64-input switch cards in front of an A/D card are also available.
Alternatively, a combination of time streaming and periodic recording can be used, with critical components monitored constantly and other items sampled on a scheduled basis.
A variety of data types including vibration, temperature and speed can be monitored and recorded by Entrx.
A sophisticated alarm facility is included to enable Entrx to alert the user if any monitored variables move outside preset limits.
The system can share data sources with a machinery protection system, and can interface with non-Rockwell Automation Entek condition monitoring or protection systems if required.
The software can be configured with nested buffers so that, for example, data is stored for a set period of time or a number of cycles leading up to a particular event.
Entrx can monitor any number of machines simultaneously during steady state and transient conditions.
Monitoring configurations may be defined uniquely for each machine, and up to four tachometer inputs may be used for each machine, providing accurate relative phase measurements on up to four shafts per machine.
Entrx can be purchased as either a data acquisition or a display node.
An Entrx Data Acquisition Node consists of a PC or laptop connected to a VXI chassis via an IEEE 1394 interface cable of up to 4.5 metres in length.
This collects, processes, conditions, stores, determines and acts on alarming data, and transmits data to other systems as required.
An Entrx Display Node can remotely perform configuration and real time analysis, and manage data acquisition from any data acquisition node.
Display nodes can also store and analyse data locally, as well as present live Mimic displays with data transmitted from any remote data acquisition node.
Entrx easily interfaces with Rockwell Automation Entek's popular condition monitoring software tool Odyssey to enable trend analysis of periodic predictive maintenance data, and with MRO Software's market leading computerised maintenance management system Maximo.
Customers around the world are already beginning to specify Entrx for diverse applications including Space Shuttle fuel pump, jet engine test rig monitoring, tool kits for utility central engineering groups and nuclear power plant steam pipe monitoring.
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