Page 18 - Energize December 2022

NEWS

TOP TOOLS AND TECH FOR EFFICIENT OPS
Acoustic imager technology for

partial discharge

Rising energy costs and more stringent legislation, guiding sustainable practices, are spurring
companies to re-evaluate processes and seek new tools and technologies to reduce waste and
overcome challenges in today’s industrial environments.

luke, locally represented by maintenance teams to visually locate air leaks very quickly and accurately in compressed
COMTEST, a global technology air systems.
Fleader in the manufacture of Beyond the improvement of rugged handheld tools, monitoring practices are also
compact, professional electronic test evolving with the use of internet-connected instruments. Analysis and data are captured
and measurement tools and software, on a cloud platform, allowing operators to monitor the key performance indicators (KPI)
today shares the top three trends that of compressed air systems including energy, electric power, flow, pressure and leakage
are enhancing operational efficiency in flow. Fluke’s LeakQ Report Generator creates detailed air compressor leak reports from
today’s industrial environments. images captured by Fluke ii900 or the Fluke ii910 Precision Acoustic Imager and calculates
Challenges posed to industrial the energy savings once the leaks are repaired.
operations managers by the pandemic
have now been superseded by the rising 2. Using data to deliver predictive maintenance
cost of energy, and the need to deliver For generations, maintenance professionals have used preventive maintenance to avoid
on net zero ambitions. As the price of equipment failures and turned to reactive maintenance when assets fail. With the
energy continues to increase, the need emergence of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies, maintenance professionals
to reduce costs and deliver on shared can now connect tools, software and sensors to collect, store and analyse multiple data
sustainability goals intensifies for small- sources in one place. The pandemic accelerated investment in technologies that make
to-medium sized enterprises through to remote monitoring possible. The technology enables reliability and maintenance teams
large corporations. to meet up-time requirements no matter how fluid on-site staffing might be. The trend
Paul Feenstra, Vice President Fluke for remote monitoring will continue, with small-scale operations turning to remote
(Europe, Middle East & Asia) EMEA, at condition-monitoring services.
Fluke said: “We are working together Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have held the promise to quickly
with our customers to help drive new identify trends and adapt quickly to changing operational conditions. Software armed
initiatives to improve operations, with prescriptive analytics is finally meeting up with modern condition-monitoring
increase efficiencies, and take reliability hardware to spark a revolution in the use of AI/ML in maintenance operations.
to a new level in the 21st century.”

1. Reducing energy costs with upgraded
technology and cloud-based data
monitoring
Approximately 90% of all companies
use compressed air in some aspect of
their operation, such that it is often
referred to as the fourth utility. Recent
developments in industrial acoustic
imaging technology have enabled the
fast identification of leaks in compressed
air systems used in industrial and
manufacturing environments. Fluke’s
ii900 Industrial Acoustic Imager features
an array of microphones, providing
visualisation of sound field within
an expanded field-of-view and at a Fluke’s ii910 Precision Acoustic Imager has dual uses for the detection of compressed air leaks
distance of up to 70 meters, that enables and particle discharge.

energize | December 2022 | 18