MISTRAS GROUP LAUNCHES SUITE OF CONDITION
ASSESSMENT SOLUTIONS FOR LOW-SPEED BEARINGS
CAMBRIDGE, UK – April, 2015 – MISTRAS Group Limited, the UK subsidiary of US based MISTRAS Group, Inc. (NYSE:MG), introduced a portfolio of services and monitoring solutions to specifically assess the condition of rotating and reciprocating low-speed bearings (LSB) for high value capital plants and machinery.
At the core of the LSB solutions portfolio is MISTRAS’ LSB-PAC™ system – a condition monitoring and assessment system that employs a proven inspection methodology and advanced diagnostics to rapidly assess the condition of low-speed bearings during normal operation.
Effective at assessing the condition of slow rotational speed bearings down to less than one revolution per minute (RPM), the LSB-PAC™ system assesses bearings with fluctuating load conditions or when a breakdown would have a significant impact on production or operational efficiencies.
A variety of bearing defects such as corrosion of tracks or balls (emission from corrosion product break-up), insufficient lubricant (emission from surface fretting), cracking or plastic deformation of bearing material (balls, track and cage), crushing and fracture of debris in the bearing, are all target areas of focus for the LSB-PAC™ system.
“While traditional techniques are routinely used to analyse high speed bearings, these methods prove much less effective and more difficult to collect meaningful data for bearings rotating at less than 100 RPM,” said Tim Bradshaw, General Manager, MISTRAS Group UK Operations. “Our assessment methods are also cost saving, by preventing and reducing unplanned stoppages in addition to catastrophic bearing failures, and by allowing maintenance to be planned during low-peak periods.”
Low-speed rotating or reciprocating bearing signatures are produced by the LSB-PAC™ after a few dozen assessment cycles. Further, a more detailed analysis would involve the identification and elimination of extraneous noise,
grading the severity of the bearing signature, and identifying any features that may indicate the root cause of the
problem. Multi-level reporting options provide tailored reports meeting customer requirements, including grading reports and time signatures.
The LSB-PAC™ solution is suitable for a variety of industries, such as, steel processing, mining and quarrying, oil and gas, maritime, aerospace, wind energy, process manufacturing, and general engineering.
The LSB-PAC™ solution is built upon MISTRAS’ well-established proprietary technology and inspection techniques that have been successfully employed in thousands of field tests on a variety of machines, plants and structures, including: pressure vessels, power transformers, bridges, storage tanks, pipelines, valves, nuclear lift rigs, railroad tank cars and compressed gas cylinders.
About MISTRAS Group, Inc.
MISTRAS is a leading “one source” global provider of technology-enabled asset protection solutions used to evaluate the structural integrity of critical energy, industrial and public infrastructure. Mission critical services and solutions are delivered globally and provide customers with asset life extension, improved productivity and profitability, compliance with government safety and environmental regulations, and enhanced risk management operational decisions.
MISTRAS uniquely combines its industry-leading products and technologies - 24/7 on-line monitoring of critical assets; mechanical integrity (MI) and non-destructive testing (NDT) services; destructive testing (DT) services; process and fixed asset engineering and consulting services; and its world class enterprise inspection data management and analysis software (PCMS™) to provide comprehensive and competitive products, systems and services solutions from a single source provider.
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