Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/662812
April 2016 | EquipmentWorld.com 32 The P-F CURVE At the top left of the chart above, the "P" represents the point at which component failure or degradation begins. If the degradation goes undetected or uncor- rected, it continues down the chart until failure of the entire machine occurs, at the F point. The period of time between P and F, commonly called the "P-F Interval," is the window of opportunity during which an inspection can detect the pending failure and resolve it through corrective action. Priority 5. These activities can give you notifica- tion of a pending failure months in advance. The first two, ultrasound and vibration analysis, are mostly used in industrial settings, such as to moni- toring the health of conveyor belts in quarry and mining operations. Oil analysis, as mentioned ear- lier, is a must. Priority 4. Complete within 30 days. Wear par- ticle analysis, for example, is a subset of oil analysis and looks specifically for wear metals in engine oil samples. Combining oil analysis and wear particle analysis will give you predictive capabilities. For example, when wear metals or particle counts start to rise, you can predict from these indicators that component wear or failure is on the horizon. Priority 3. Complete within two weeks. When you get to this stage, you are actively looking for prob- lems on a regular or daily basis with a pre-work walk-around checklist. Nothing fancy...just a visual maintenance | continued P-F CURVE Equipment condition Time to failure Copyright TBR Strategies