A case study on Oil & Gas Vessel Equipment - Petroleum Refining

1. GE Energy
Oil & Gas – Petroleum Refining
Customer Success Story
Bently Nevada* Asset Condition Monitoring
Big Savings Realized Before System is Fully Commissioned
“ he Bently Nevada Trendmaster* system is like having an operator standing
T
next to each pump 24 hours per day. Catastrophic pump failure prevention
was the basis for justification of this system, and before we even had it
commissioned, it paid off big time.”
Problem
A catastrophic pump failure that resulted in a fire totaling more than 12MM USD in losses motivated
a large petrochemical facility to install online condition monitoring for hundreds of pumps and other
equipment assets to help avert another incident.
Solution
The plant deployed Bently Nevada Trendmaster* systems at several locations. Trendmaster can
scan individual measurement points every few minutes, providing a cost-effective online vibration/
temperature monitoring solution for pump alley installations where frequent data collection helps
prevent problems that could result in toxic or hazardous substance releases, fires, or explosions.
Payback
The system began to pay dividends early in the project as the first pumps were being brought on Trendmaster* Pro
line with vibration/temperature measurements. During normal rounds, which included a stop at the Asset Scanning System
shelter housing the Trendmaster computer, operators were surprised to find a crude pump in the
highest level of vibration alarm. After verifying the reading, the pump was replaced. A subsequent
inspection of the faulty pump confirmed that catastrophic failure was imminent, in fact only a few
minutes away. Motivated by this initial save, the plant accelerated the project schedule, quickly
integrating alarms from Trendmaster into the process control system, giving operators continuous
access without having to leave the control room. Within days after integrating these alarms, two
other pumps went into alarm and were quickly replaced.
Trendmaster’s temperature monitoring capability also proved valuable by identifying several pumps
that required additional coolers and/or piping alterations, and alerting operators to clogged water
lines. Clogged lines can cause pumps that normally run at 150˚F to rise to 220˚F within minutes.
Trendmaster alarms on such conditions so immediate action can be taken. According to operators
at the plant, “this level of surveillance would not be possible without the Trendmaster system.”
Benefits
• A
bility to integrate alarms into the plant DCS creates an integrated condition monitoring/
process control environment for plant operators with continuous access to vibration and
temperature data from a central location.
• Improved and cost-effective condition monitoring for less critical assets can be applied
in installations where manual data collection is dangerous due to environmental or physical
constraints and remote or un-staffed facilities where manual data collection is impractical.
• More frequent data collection than is possible with hand-held data collector routes, allows
problems that develop quickly to be caught in time – before catastrophic failures occur. As seen in
Learn more by reading the
Synopsis of Savings article
in ORBIT magazine Vol. 25,
No. 3, 2005 at
© 2008 General Electric Company, all rights reserved. www.orbit-magazine.com
* Trademarks of Bently Nevada, LLC, a wholly owned
subsidiary of the General Electric Company. www.ge-energy.com/ocsuccess
GEA17122 (08/08)