AMCOL Predicts Equipment Failure
with Condition Monitoring Surveillance System
Dynamix™ Condition Monitoring Surveillance System from Rockwell Automation®
Saves Maintenance and Capital Cost at AMCOL Bentonite Mill
Solutions & Support
• Dynamix Condition Monitoring
Surveillance System
• Allen-Bradley® CompactLogix®
programmable automation controllers
• Allen-Bradley XM® Series
Intelligent I/O Modules
• FactoryTalk® View ME HMI station
• TechConnectsm support agreement
• Rockwell Automation Global Solutions
– Project Management
– Domain Expertise
Results
• Reduced unscheduled downtime and
maintenance costs
• Maximized machine productivity
• ICM system detected equipment
conditions that resulted in cost avoidance
between U.S. $85,000 and $114,000 in a
four-month period
Background
As one of the world’s leading producers of bentonite clay, American
Colloid Company (AMCOL), focuses on high quality, on-time delivery.
One of its milling sites in Lovell, Wyoming, processes the dried bentonite
clay into drilling well products and granular cat litter products. In its
raw form, bentonite is as much as 30 percent water by weight so the
plant uses rotary kilns, fluid bed dryers and other drying equipment to
reduce the moisture. The drying process produces a material that is more
efficient in subsequent processes of grinding, mixing and screening.
To ensure end products that perform uniformly and specifically to
customer standards, AMCOL implemented manufacturing controls that
not only improve production but also help reduce operating costs.
Challenge
The Raymond mills at the Lovell plant run a continuous
manufacturing operation with multiple pieces of rotating
equipment, each with the potential to break down and
halt production. If drying and milling stop so do
customer shipments.
“The plant was losing a lot of motors in the milling
process,” says David Wilkerson, Electrical and
Instrumentation Supervisor at the AMCOL Lovell plant,
“about two critical motors a year.”
The electrical and mechanical departments struggled to
identify root causes of the issue. Worn bearings and belts
went undetected, resulting in damage to motor bearings
and windings.
As part of AMCOL’s reliability initiative, the plant
contracted a third-party service provider on a monthly
basis to measure and analyze the vibration levels to
help diagnose equipment issues. However, this method
did not generate timely data, missed critical faults
between monthly intervals and did not collect data on
equipment that was not running; all of which are critical
for scheduling planned maintenance work. In the AMCOL
environment, equipment degradation can occur suddenly
and quickly ramp up to a catastrophic failure.
Solution
In the AMCOL environment, equipment
degradation can occur suddenly and
quickly ramp up to a catastrophic failure.
AMCOL’s goal was to prevent motor damage before it
happened and to reduce unplanned downtime from
equipment failures by obtaining timely and actionable
information on the equipment condition. The plant
wanted a cost-effective solution that would integrate
with their existing system architecture and have a quick
payback period.
AMCOL turned to its long-time Allen-Bradley authorized
distributor, Border States Electric, in Billings, Mont., to
help find a viable solution. Border States recommended a
cost-effective, timely and actionable Dynamix Condition
Monitoring Surveillance System with project delivery from
Rockwell Automation.
Condition monitoring is an effective method for
improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). The
Dynamix Condition Monitoring Surveillance system helps
to protect critical assets, eliminate collateral damage and
reduce maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) costs
through the automatic measurement and diagnosis of
machinery health and performance conditions.
The Dynamix Condition Monitoring Surveillance
System is a service and solutions offering from
Rockwell Automation’s Global Solutions team.
The system integrates appropriate Allen-Bradley XM Series
measurement modules, Logix controllers and FactoryTalk
visualization products. The solution also includes all of
the necessary controller logic and display development,
tailored to the customer’s specific needs, along with
complete system configuration and installation services
and support. While customized for each application the
solution leverages proven add-on instructions
and templates built on industry standard logic and
alarm methods. The solution designed for AMCOL was
a multiplexed system using an Allen-Bradley XM122
module, ideal for detecting rolling element bearing faults,
linked to an Allen-Bradley CompactLogix L35E controller
and a FactoryTalk View ME HMI station.
The Dynamix solution provides early warning of
impending failures and continually assesses the condition
of the plant’s equipment to help prevent problems
before they occur. XM modules provide the core vibration
analysis by converting raw time waveforms into a
frequency spectrum. Up to four different frequency bands
can be programmed for each input to give early warning
notification of specific machinery issues.
Utilizing the surveillance and alarming add-on option to
AMCOL’s TechConnectsm support agreement, Wilkerson
monitors plant asset data on a daily basis and schedules
maintenance work orders accordingly.
“The new system gives us two to three
months warning of impending failures
which allows us time to schedule
maintenance,” says Wilkerson.
“The new system gives us two to three months warning
of impending failures which allows us time to schedule
maintenance,” says Wilkerson. “Having the system issue
advisories in plain English was perfect since we don’t have
vibration specialists on staff.”
The third party provider continues to measure
vibration data via scheduled walk-arounds but is now
also hired to diagnose suspected problems reported
by the Dynamix system.
The Rockwell Automation Global Solutions team delivered
a complete solution by providing the domain expertise
to recommend the appropriate condition monitoring
solution, effective project planning, engineering,
installation, system configuration and validation. Using
a collaborative approach, the Global Solutions team
configured the system to capture data from the critical
areas of the equipment and the third-party provider
monitors the system-generated reports to identify
root causes.
Results
Following implementation of the condition monitoring
system in November 2009, AMCOL was able to identify a
variety of potential equipment failures.
As of April 2011, Wilkerson said, “We have not had an
unexpected motor failure since we’ve deployed the
Dynamix Condition Monitoring Surveillance system.”
From specific savings, such as not needing to rewind
or replace motors, to general savings such as reducing
unscheduled downtime and maintenance costs,
integrated condition monitoring helps AMCOL maximize
machine productivity by integrating systems and
processes, and using multiple technologies to monitor
machine performance.
“The beauty of this program is that it warns you if
something is unbalanced, loose, or if spike energy is
high which usually points to a lubrication problem,” says
Wilkerson. “The system helps us identify the root cause
of each issue quickly.” Together, the system hardware and
software enables capturing this type of data.
“The online monitoring system has also been a key tool
for detecting loose belts or a soft foot on our Raymond
mill fans and drives,” says Wilkerson. “We have had three
separate loose belt situations in the months of January
and February. This can lead to damage to sheaves, belts,
and even excessive damage to bearings.”
The average cost of replacement is $900 for fan bearings,
$1,600 for motor bearings, $1,650 to replace sheaves and
$960 to replace a belt. AMCOL was able to tighten the
belts on three of the motor mill fans at no cost.
The purchase and installation of the Dynamix Condition
Monitoring Surveillance System has been a key asset to
avoiding expensive failures. Over a three month period,
the system detected six key equipment conditions that
have resulted in a cost avoidance of between $85,000
and $114,000.
AMCOL realized a payback on the ICM system in less than
4 months.
In one example, the vibration monitoring system indicated
an increasing trend of high vibration on the #4 mill. Upon
further inspection, AMCOL discovered a large crack in the
spider – the mill component that suspends mill journals
and mill rolls. Had the crack evolved into a break, it would
have resulted in a catastrophic failure of the mill, and a
$90,000 mill re-build. Instead, AMCOL replaced the spider
for $14,000, for potential savings of $76,000.
“We’ve proven the concept and our central maintenance
group for western mining is considering deploying the
solution at other sites,” says Wilkerson.
The results mentioned above are specific to AMCOL’s use of
Rockwell Automation products in conjunction with other products.
Specific results may vary for other customers.
Advanced detection and notification of several motors
using continuous motor trending meant AMCOL was able
to replace motor bearings at a cost of $1,700, rather than
motor replacement at approximately $13,000 or motor
re-build at $5,000.
Allen-Bradley, CompactLogix, Dynamix, FactoryTalk, Rockwell Automation, TechConnect and XM are trademarks of Rockwell Automation, Inc.
Trademarks not belonging to Rockwell Automation are property of their respective companies.
Publication MFGVP-AP007A-EN-P – July 2011
Copyright © 2011 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in USA.