SmartDiagnostics^® gives your Pulp & Paper Machines a Voice

Every step in the pulp & paper process involves efficient, continuous operation of many pieces of rotating machinery that can wear rapidly in sustained use in a demanding environment. If these machines fail, not only can they be costly to repair or replace, but they may well bring the plant to a standstill.

How can SmartDiagnostics^® help in the Pulp & Paper Industry?

Clogging wood chips were causing a pulp and paper mill in Pennsylvania to experiencing frequent shutdowns and repairs of a pump that was part of the mill's pulping process. The mill decided to acquire a SmartDiagnostics^® system to see if they could predict when the pump was starting to clog so that they could correct the problem before it caused significant damage and downtime. After a bit of time being mounted on the pump, the system started to show an increase in vibration at the pump's turning speed at the axial monitoring location. After a restart of the pump, a large upward vibration trend was noticed at a harmonic of the pump's turning speed at the radial monitoring location, indicating the impending likelihood of a potential failure. This information could be used to intervene, repair the pump during a scheduled maintenance interval, and keep production on track.

Pulp and Paper Case Study

Left: Depiction of the pump described above.

Right: Vibration spectrum typical of the SmartDiagnostics^® monitoring system.

Pulp and Paper Vibration Spectrum

“The success of any on-line vibration monitoring system depends entirely on the engineering. Engineering includes all aspects of selection, installation and configuration of hardware and software. … As monitoring systems become more flexible, open and configurable, the importance of engineering increases.”Mike Robichaud, General Manager of Reliability Engineering, Acuren: "Practical On-Line Vibration Monitoring for Papermachines," PaperCon 2009