ABB service agreement based on Smart Sensors helps Denka to eliminate failure of its process-critical motors
11/05/2021 ABB Robotics
Denka has eliminated failures of critical electrical motors at three of its plants in Singapore. This has been made possible by a service agreement based on ABB Ability™ Smart Sensors, including a new generation developed specifically for hazardous areas.
In 2018, ABB became one of the first manufacturers of electric motors to provide a comprehensive service agreement based on wireless smart sensor technology. That was when it signed a contract with Denka, the Japanese chemicals giant. Since then, the service agreement has been rolling out at three of Denka’s plants in Singapore. The project set an ambitious key performance indicator (KPI) – to reduce motor failure by 80 percent – this has been surpassed as no motor has failed in the two years since being fitted with a Smart Sensor.
On Singapore’s Jurong Island, Denka operates one of the world’s largest styrenic resin production chains. It relies on hundreds of electric motors to keep production going around the clock, seven days per week.
“Many of our process-critical motors are exposed to harsh operating conditions that can result in premature failure, causing costly downtime,” said H.C. Ng, Denka Singapore’s Plant Maintenance Manager. “Denka was an early adopter of the Internet of Things (IoT), and we wanted a plug-and-play solution that could perform condition monitoring of our critical motors and bearings with little to no involvement from our workforce.”
Hundreds of Smart Sensors deployed
In early 2018, Denka approached ABB to develop a solution using ABB Ability™ Smart Sensors. Affordable, easy to implement, and requiring no past data for calibration and algorithm setting, the wireless sensors were precisely what it was looking for.
Following the success of the initial installation, as soon as Denka heard that ABB was developing a new generation of Smart Sensors with ATEX, IECEx and NEC 500 certifications for hazardous areas, it was keen to try them out. The new high-performance sensors feature an extended battery life and a robust sealed-for-life design. They have an IP66/67 rating and can withstand the high levels of vibration, corrosion and physical impact that might be experienced in a harsh industrial installation. The development process also focused on monitoring capability and communication range.
For the styrenic plant, motors ranging in size from 0.75 kilowatt (kW) to 160 kW operate applications such as pumps, compressors, blowers, and pelletizers. Hundreds of Smart Sensors have been deployed on motors, pumps and bearings as well as motors in hazardous areas.
Under the service agreement, ABB is responsible for managing the risk of equipment failure, including conducting or advising on preventative maintenance and repair based on a reliability index and urgency level. Also, if a motor has a potential problem it will be repaired at an ABB workshop or if it fails and cannot be repaired, ABB will replace it with a functionally equivalent motor.
Integrated intelligent sensors provide an early warning
The Smart Sensors attach wirelessly to the equipment and can be configured within minutes. The sensor picks up data on vibration, temperature and other parameters and transmits it via a smartphone or gateway to a secure cloud service. Advanced algorithms analyze the data and convert it into meaningful information on the condition and performance of the equipment, which is sent to the user’s smartphone and customer portal.
The newly installed sensors proved their worth only a few days into the project when one detected a higher than normal vibration in a motor on a feed roller. ABB’s engineers, who were monitoring the motors, alerted the Denka maintenance team who inspected the motor. They found a heavy build-up of a sticky polymer which caused inefficiency and they were able to clean it before it caused damage to the motor.
In another instance, a sensor picked up an abnormal temperature increase. Upon site inspection, an absorbent pad was found stuck on the fan cover, which obstructed the cooling of the motor.
Eliminating risk
The Smart Sensors enable ABB to provide Denka with continuous monitoring of the operating and health parameters of process-critical motors, pumps and bearings. This not only reduces the hours spent manually checking performance and gathering data but also brings new insight into their operating performance. A manual inspection would previously have only occurred at three-month intervals, so the trends that indicate a potential risk would be missed, with the possibility of catastrophic failure, a long downtime and expensive loss of production.
Smart Sensors provide an early warning of when equipment needs maintenance or is at risk of failure, and, as Denka has experienced, they alert the site team who can then respond speedily and effectively.
“Our service agreement with ABB gives us peace of mind,” comments H.C. Ng. “The Smart Sensors monitor and analyze the performance and operating conditions of our critical equipment and alert us to potential problems. This allows us to plan maintenance easily, so we can prevent unexpected downtime, unplanned stops, and lost production.”
Following the highly satisfactory results at the styrenic plant, Denka subsequently approved the installation of bearing and motor sensors in hazardous areas at its Merbau plant, a production base for carbon black. For the Tuas plant, which produces fused silica filler, Denka has also ordered motor, bearing and pump sensors, with the motors being fully covered by ABB’s service agreement.
Since the first sensors were installed in August 2018, there has not been a single motor failure at any of the three plants now using smart sensor technology.
H.C. Ng concludes: “The Smart Sensors are proven to extend our motor lifetime and reduce maintenance costs. Combined with the support of the service agreement, they enable our maintenance engineers to focus on other critical tasks. The project has been an overwhelming success, both for Denka and ABB.”
For further information: https://new.abb.com/motors-generators/service
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