A quick guide to plant maintenance
Plant maintenance refers to the upkeep and repair of assets and equipment used in the general operation of your production line. During production, all machinery and equipment experience wear and tear, and require regular checks to keep them in working order.
Regular plant maintenance is key to keeping your equipment and facility running at optimal output. In this guide, we will cover key factors you should consider when managing the overall maintenance of your plant.
Best practices
Plant operators measure the success of their maintenance routines by tracking unplanned downtime. Best practices are guidelines that directly or indirectly contribute to keeping machines running. They include:
- Take inventory of your equipment. How many hours has it run since its last service/ Who is responsible for it? How critical is it for your operations?
- Have a maintenance budget. Ensure it is sufficient to perform necessary tests, such as vibration analysis, for all critical equipment.
- Be preventative, not reactive. It is reactive to repair a fault when the machine is broken. Instead, aim to identify and address issues before the fault causes downtime.
- Keep documentation. Take the guesswork out of maintenance by keeping clear instructions, technical diagrams and schedules. The correct procedures must be easy for staff to find and follow.
- Schedule training. It’s not enough to create the processes. You have to ensure all staff are properly prepared to carry them out.
Maintenance intervals
Finding the right maintenance interval to suit your needs depends on factors such as your equipment’s overall use and runtime, manufacturer guidelines, as well as your plant staff’s experience and schedules. Proper scheduling of plant maintenance should also factor in that this type of maintenance requires a different set of skills than machine maintenance.
For example, for shell and tube heat exchangers, common maintenance intervals are between 1 and 3 years to prevent fouling and corrosion. The interval can depend on the operating conditions and the type of fluids used. Due to their more robust construction, shell-and-tube heat exchangers have longer intervals between cleanings than plate heat exchangers.
Maintenance models
Some maintenance models are better than others. For an example, a poor maintenance model is the ‘run-to-failure’ approach, commonly found in small or unprofessional factories around the world. This model, in which equipment is run until it breaks, represents the opposite of good preventative maintenance.
Another model is a maintenance routine that fits the calendar year or is based on repeating cycles (such as checks every 6 months). Most manufacturers recommend a maintenance interval in their documentation. While this model can be effective in some situations, it may allow critical failures to go unnoticed. If that happens to a critical component, production can grind to a halt.
With a predictive maintenance model, equipment is continually monitored for faults, so issues can almost always be addressed before significant downtime occurs. This model includes sensors in the equipment that operators use to diagnose issues. Today, AI can even be used to interpret the sensor readings and spot problems earlier.
In a heat exchanger, such sensors might include:
- Temperature sensors, measuring inlet and outlet temperatures,
- Pressure sensors, measuring pressure drops across the heat exchanger,
- Flow metres, measuring the rate of flow,
- Vibration sensors, measuring vibrations.
With this real-time data, operators detect abnormal activity in the heat exchanger and act.
Plant maintenance across industries
Plant maintenance affects a wide range of industries and equipment types in various ways.
Power generation
Any kind of power generation plant, including hydro, thermal, and nuclear plants, requires regular, detailed maintenance to ensure the optimal and safe running of all its equipment.
In most power plants, regular inspection of boilers, turbines, and generators is key to maintaining high plant efficiency and worker safety.
Find out more about Sterling TT’s heat exchangers for the power generation industry.
Food and beverage
For plants related to the food and beverage industry, regular sanitation and cleaning of the facility and equipment, as well as the regular refrigeration of products, are necessary for delivering the best products.
Find out more about Sterling TT’s heat exchangers for the food & beverage industry.
Oil and gas
Maintenance for oil and gas equipment often occurs in harsh and demanding environments. Downtime can be extremely expensive, and issues affecting safety can be especially dangerous.
Find out more about Sterling TT’s heat exchangers for the oil & gas industry.
Use heat exchangers in your plant? Contact the experts
Use heat exchangers in your plant? Contact the expertsTo maximize plant efficiency, minimize downtime, and protect profits, it is crucial to maintain heat exchangers in optimal condition. Find out more about good heat exchanger maintenance, or contact us today to find out how we can help your company.