Condition monitoring: Keeping track of bearing wear

摘要

Effective monitoring of thrust bearing wear is a crucial factor in preventing pump and impeller damage. Sensonics' Russell King describes the techniques available for monitoring thrust bearings on boiler feed equipment, and explains how the technology can be successfully implemented and commissioned. One of the challenges facing plant instrumentation engineers today is the effective and reliable monitoring of thrust bearing wear in critical pump applications. Typically pumps of this type are in continuous use, and operational downtime is normally only permitted during planned outages. Predicting the wear, and hence the requirement to replace the thrust pads, is essential to fit in with this regime.