Advanced Condition Monitoring

Advanced Condition Monitoring

Advanced Condition Monitoring

Introduction

A lubricant is referred as the substance that is used to reduce or minimize the friction between two or more moving surfaces. The lubricant may also play a role of transporting foreign particles. Lubrications allow the turbines or alternators of the plant to prevent corrosion. It is because of the reason that the lubricants are usually high resistant to the oxidation. Furthermore, the lubrication oils may also offer cleaning function in order to purge contaminants, residue or wear particles from the points of friction. It is often observed that, lubricating oils experience several chemical as well as the physical changes during its life. In this situation, the lubricating oil may face the minimization of its applicability within the system. Pollution or impurity of oil lubricants are considered as one of the greatest causes that may affect the usability of the oil lubricants for a long period of time (Kelly, 2006, pp. 520-523).

According to studies, the contamination or pollution of oil lubricants may result due to three main reasons. These may include, wear debris, combustion and internal and external factors. Wear debris leads the oil lubricants to be contaminated because of accumulation of the debris and may therefore result to further damage of any particular system or the entire plant. The process of combustion may also cause the oil lubricants to be polluted. Internal and external factors may cause the oil lubricants to become polluted. In this scenario, the staff members of the plant may utilize the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) standards in order to analyze the compliance of the plant's operations. This study incorporates the techniques of improving the lubrication practices of the alternator of the plant's turbine by analyzing and examining the present situations of the plant's operations (Anonymous, n.d, pp. 5-6).

Part 1

It is a fact that the oil lubricants play a vital role in smooth operations of systems and plants. It is because of the reason that these oil lubricants significantly minimizes or reduces the friction between the parts of the systems or the entire plant. It is often observed that, most of the time, this oil lubricant gets polluted which may cause several problems and interruptions in the functions of the system. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze and understand the factors of oil lubricant contamination. In order to analyze this, the management of the plant may also use the ASTM standards. The brief description of ASTM standards is demonstrated in the proceeding discussion.

ASTM Standards for Analyzing the Plant's Operations

ASTM is referred as American society for testing and materials. These standards are considered as one of the most effective and most appropriate documents that serve as the helpful feature in order to formalize the guidelines, rules or procedures for the industry to adopt. A file that has been established and developed within the specific principles of ASTM, and fulfill all the requirements of ASTM regulations and procedures, can be considered as the document according to the ...