What is electrical proactive maintenance?
The third step in a successful electrical maintenance program for your industrial or commercial facility is a proactive maintenance. The purpose of electrical proactive maintenance is to see your mechanical failures as something that can be predicted and avoided before they develop. That is to say, the proactive maintenance approach makes it possible to perform maintenance only when necessary based on gathered data. Subsequently, routine elements of a maintenance program are approached, rather than the machines themselves.
Proactive maintenance vs. reactive maintenance
Fix a small problem now or fix a big problem later. Even though proactive maintenance methods require more of a commitment in time and ressources, the results are typically more cost effective and more efficient. And, certainly they can extend the life of assets. For instance, the commitment would be in hiring knowledgeable maintenance personnel or outside contractors to do routine verifications of the facility’s equipment. In other words, you’re spending your efforts on documenting the performance of the assets and correcting small issues when they arise. On the other hand, with a reactive approach your time and ressources would be spent on large and costly fixes only when the equipment breakdown. Therefore, putting a halt on production for that asset.
Preventive, predictive and proactive maintenance
The best maintenance programs use a variety of methods to ensure the highest level of efficiency, cost-effectiveness and safety. Top-performing organizations typically have programs that are 10% reactive, 35% preventive, and 55% predictive maintenance.
Predictive and preventive maintenance approaches work together to influence proactive maintenance. That is to say, proactive maintenance is more of an schedule-based strategy rather than looking at equipment individually. A proactive maintenance plan can help make predictive and preventative programs operate more efficiently and limit major expenses by organizing tasks in a routine matter and documenting everything.
Implementing proactive maintenance
Implementing proactive maintenance involves many factors, such as budget, training resources, and full-time personnel to learn and perform analysis. Moreover, there are a few things you can focus on to make the shift to implementing such program in your day to day maintenance. Most importantly you need to decide of where to invest maintenance resources and technologies. And, enhancing your employees’ skill set by educating and training them on proper maintenance competencies.
Here is a great article on effective strategies for your electrical proactive maintenance.
Thermal imaging in proactive maintenance
A licensed thermographer can measure and compare each piece of equipment without disrupting your facility’s operations. So, it’s great for production and profitability. Most importantly, all of these measurements should be routine and documented with a detailed report. Certainly, this aids in detecting trends in hot spots and to prevent a misdiagnosis. To sum up, here are a few things to verify in a proactive maintenance schedule in regards to infrared camera readings:
- Monitor and measure bearing temperatures in large motors or other rotating equipment
- Identify hot spots on electronic equipment
- Identify leaks in sealed vessels
- Find faulty insulation in process pipes or other insulated processes
- Find faulty terminations in high power electrical circuits
- Locate overloaded circuit breakers in a power panel
- Identify fuses at or near their current rated capacity
- Identify problems in electrical switchgear
- Capture process temperature readings