Articles

Acoustic & Sound Engineering related articles

Sound Reduction of Ventilation Ducts through Walls: Experimental Results and Updated Models

Article extract: Ventilation ducts can have a negative effect on the sound reduction index between two rooms if they pass through the dividing structure without treatments. The overall sound reduction of a ventilation duct is dependent on several factors including the transmission loss when sound is breaking in and out from the duct.

Click to read the full article

Perforated Steel Stud to Improve the Acoustic Insulation of Drywall Partitions

Article extract: Steel studs are an inevitable part of drywall construction as they are lightweight and offer the required structural stability. However, the studs act as sound bridges between the plasterboards, reducing the overall sound insulation of the wall.

Click to read the full article

Measurements of sound isolation by multi-layer materials or structures

Article extract: The basic tasks of a sound barrier are to provide acoustic insulation and sound absorption. There are many materials available on the market ready to use as such structures used for soundproofing passenger vehicles, construction machinery, power units, etc. In this case, however, the practical use of ready-made materials for minimizing noise requires the use of barriers more complicated in construction than those made of a single material.

Click to read the full article

Automotive related articles

Materials Used in Chassis and Body Components of the Vehicle

Article extract: An Automotive body depends on the manufacturer’s considerations with the legislation and regulation, and some on the requirements of the customers. Most of the manufacturers prefer featured materials which are lightweight, economic, safety and recyclability.

Click to read the full article

Types of Braking Systems and Types of Brakes

Article extract: Most brakes use friction on the two sides of the wheel, the collective press on the wheel converts the kinetic energy of the moving object into heat. For example, regenerative braking turns much of the energy to electrical energy, which may be stored for later use.

Click to read the full article

An insight into Electric Cars

Article extract: In recent times there is a drastic change in the automobile industry, as electrically running vehicles are on the road. According to a new report from the International Energy Agency, the number of electric cars on the road is predicted to expand to 125 million worldwide by 2030.

Click to read the full article

CLAAS: Automated data-driven validation of the diagnostic implementation

Article extract: Using automatically generated tests for the validation of diagnostic protocol implementation has been practiced for many years. This process is based on diagnostic description files from the automotive OEM.

Click to read the full article

Efficient Development of Diagnostic Functions in the Automobile

Article extract: In an effort to meet the challenges posed by the growing importance of motor vehicle diagnostics, in recent years Vector Informatik GmbH and DaimlerChryler AG have expanded their strategic partnership in developing diagnostic tools.

Click to read the full article

Diagnostics from a Distance

Article extract: Sweden, -20°C, snowfall. A test driver conducts a test drive on a frozen lake covered with snow. During a braking maneuver in a curve, he notices some unusual vehicle behavior. He suspects that the cause lies in the brake system.

Click to read the full article

Automatic Diagnostic Validation is not Rocket Science

Article extract: Thanks to current testing tools, the time and effort for diagnostic validation is no longer increasing linearly – fortunately. In particular, it has actually been possible for several years to generate and execute diagnostic protocol tests fully automatically. Despite a further in-crease in the functional scope, the time and effort for creating and executing tests remains fairly constant.

Click to read the full article

Investigations of a diesel engine in the road test

Article extract: This article describes the details of the method designed to determine the parameters of a vehicle’s internal combustion engine with compression ignition during road tests. The method requires simultaneous measurements for the crankshaft rotation frequency, fuel pressure in the injector, pressure in the combustion chamber, air pressure and temperature in the intake system.

Click to read the full article

Monitoring and energy management approach for a fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle

Article extract: Recently, the reduction of fuels consumption is a global challenge, in particular for significant investments in the automotive sector, in order to optimize and control the parameters involved for the partial or total electrification of vehicles. Thereby, the energy management system remains the axis of progress for the development of fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles.

Click to read the full article

A Self-Diagnostic Method for Automobile Faults in Multiple Working Conditions

Article extract: Due to the complex and diverse forms of automobile emission detection faults and various interference factors, it is difficult to determine the fault types effectively and accurately use the traditional diagnosis model. In this paper, a multi-condition auto fault diagnosis method based on a vehicle chassis dynamometer is proposed.

Click to read the full article

Innovative approach to electric vehicle diagnostics

Article extract: The article presents the tests of the state of traction batteries of a small electrically powered city vehicle. The vehicle, the batteries and the diagnostic devices used to assess the condition of the battery are described in detail.

Click to read the full article

Future of Diagnostics: Here and Now

Article extract: Ability to diagnose a vehicle is a very important aspect of the vehicle architecture. The most common approach followed within the automotive industry is to gain access to all the diagnostic data (DTC, measurement values etc.) through the vehicle’s OBD-II port.

Click to read the full article

Diagnostic Technique Detects Open and Short Circuits in Wiring Harnesses

Article extract: As a vital part of modern cars, wiring harnesses containing thousands of assembly components connect various electronic systems, enabling them to work together. A single failure in any harness can affect the entire system. Nevertheless, to accommodate the growing demand for in-car electronics, the complexity of automotive wiring harnesses continues to grow, increasing the need to detect broken or shorted wires quickly and easily.

Click to read the full article

Materials Used in Chassis and Body Components of the Vehicle

Article extract: An Automotive body depends on the manufacturer’s considerations with the legislation and regulation, and some on the requirements of the customers. Most of the manufacturers prefer featured materials which are lightweight, economic, safety and recyclability.

Click to read the full article

Optimizing Built-in Tire Pressure Monitoring Sensors

Article extract: Miniature sensors that regulate automobile performance are designed in a very particular way to operate properly while housed directly on moving automobile tires. They need to have the sensitivity to pick up measurements while in motion and the durability to withstand the elements.

Click to read the full article

High-End Shock Absorbers in Automotives

Article extract: A shock absorber is basically an oil pump, a device used to smooth the push or shake that takes place abruptly and roughly and distribute it as kinetic energy. Shock absorbers are crucial in all the motorcycle and automobile suspension, where landing gear is a part of the support systems for industrial machines. A shock absorber is usually a cylinder containing a sliding piston that is cushioned by hydraulic fluid or air.

Click to read the full article

Diagnostics and electronics: Should vehicle workshops be concerned?

Article extract: routeone speaks with Imperial Engineering’s Gavin Takel about the problems that modern vehicle electronics are posing for workshops and technicians.

Click to read the full article

Fuel for Thought

Article extract: There are an incredibly large number of changes inevitable with regard to the motor car as a consequence of depletion of oil resources, Government Legislation, public opinion and continuing pressure from green organisations. If road tolls are implemented, employers may recruit employees who are located shorter distances from the place of work. This would mean a dramatic change in the use of the motor car especially if cars were to be prohibited from city centres. It would seem a safe assumption that future fuels will have to be based on alternative sources.

Click to read the full article

How long is a clutch?

Article extract: Sometimes you come across the oddest cases quite by accident, and this one is no exception. Whilst carrying out an investigation for a garage into a mysterious appearance of chassis damage – in the immortal words of Michael Flanders “which I’ll tell you all about – some other time.”, it was necessary to visit the garage on several occasions in order to gather all the information I needed for my report.

Click to read the full article

Cambelts and the cost implications

Article extract: To continue my look at engines, today we will look at cam belts. Camshaft drive belts are extensively used today on the modern motorcar engine. Why?

Aviation related articles

The Unexplored Link between Communication and Trust in Aviation Maintenance Practice

Article extract: Communication and trust are fundamental factors in the operation of complex and highly regulated industries like aviation maintenance. This article reviews two preconditions of human error: communication and trust, as well as the way these are linked as aviation researchers have only recently started to study factors not individually, but rather by combining their effects.

Click to read the full article

Vibroacoustic analysis in the assessment of the technical condition of the aircraft airframe composite elements

Article extract: The paper presents the method of assessment of the technical condition of the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer of an F-16 Block C aircraft made from composite materials.

Click to read the article

Diagnosis of Composite Materials in Aircraft Applications

Article extract: Diagnosis and prognosis of failures for aircrafts’ integrity are some of the most important regular functionalities in complex and safety-critical aircraft structures. Further, development of failure diagnostic tools such as Non-Destructive Testing techniques, in particular, for aircraft composite materials, has been seen as a subject of intensive research over the last decades.

Click to read the full article

Perspective development of diagnostic systems of aircraft structures and units

Article extract: The article deals with information-diagnostic systems of detection of defects and malfunctions as applied to aircraft structures and units. Analysis of modern methods of nondestructive testing is carried out. It is suggested to use the combined diagnostics of aircraft structures and systems with the use of vibrometry in combination with the determination of the appearance of metal particles in the oil, their quantity and size.

Click to read the full article

Aircraft system-level diagnosis with emphasis on maintenance decisions

Article extract: This paper proposes a diagnostic technique that can predict component degradation for a number of complex systems. It improves and clarifies the capabilities of a previously proposed diagnostic approach, by identifying the degradation severity of the examined components, and uses a 3D Principal Component Analysis approach to provide an explanation for the observed diagnostic accuracy.

Click to read the full article

A review of aircraft auxiliary power unit faults, diagnostics and acoustic measurements

Article extract: The Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) is an integral part of an aircraft, providing electrical and pneumatic power to various on-board sub-systems. APU failure results in delay or cancellation of a flight, accompanied by the imposition of hefty fines from the regional authorities.

Click to read the full article

Diagnostic Methods for an Aircraft Engine Performance

Article extract: The main gas path components, namely compressor and turbine, are inherently reliable but the operation of the aero engines under hostile environments, results into engine breakdowns and performance deterioration.

Click to read the full article

Chemical Engineering related articles

Development of an off‐grid solar‐powered autonomous chemical mini‐plant for producing fine chemicals

Article extract: Photochemistry using inexhaustible solar energy is an eco-friendly way to produce fine chemicals outside the typical laboratory or chemical plant environment. However, variations in solar irradiation conditions and the need for an external energy source to power electronic components limits the accessibility of this approach.

Click to read the full article 

A new correlation for the prediction of slurry flows in partially filled pipelines

Article extract: Partially filled pipes are a common mode of fluid transportation in many industrial applications. In most cases, it is gravity-driven and used to transport fluids with particulates, sediments, or slurries. Unlike full pipe and open channel flow, partially filled pipe flow has been sparsely studied despite its practical implications. Typically, efficient slurry transportation requires two critical considerations: the nature of the bulk fluid flow and the behavior of suspended particles.

Click to read the full article

Electrical Engineering related articles

A Comprehensive Guide to Electrical Laws and Formulas

From Ohm’s Law describing the interrelationships between resistance, current, voltage, and power to Kirchoff’s Laws concerning power conservation, the laws governing and describing how electronic devices operate and utilize the electricity we give them are fairly numerous and very difficult for the uninitiated to understand.

Click to read the full article

Fault Diagnosis for Electrical Systems and Power Networks

Article extract: In this paper, the state of the art in the detection, location, and diagnosis of faults in electrical wiring interconnection systems including in the electric power grid and vehicles and machines is reviewed. Most electrical test methods rely on measurements of either currents and voltages or on high-frequency reflections from impedance discontinuities.

Click to read the full article

Using Ultrasound To Identify Electrical Faults

Article extract: There are myriad things that can and do go wrong with electrical systems, and “fixing” them isn’t possible without first diagnosing them. Interestingly, infrared and ultrasound technologies are often used in tandem to identify potential faults.

Click to read the full article

Test Equipment 101: The Basics of Electrical Testing

Article extract: Electrical testing in its most basic form is the act of applying a voltage or current to a circuit and comparing the measured value to an expected result. Electrical test equipment verifies the math behind a circuit and each piece of test equipment is designed for a specific application. It is the job of a test technician to know which piece of test equipment to use for the task at hand and also understand the limitations of the test equipment they are using.

Click to read the full article

Power Transmission Line Fault Detection and Diagnosis Based on Artificial Intelligence Approach and its Development in UAV

Article extract: This paper provides a systematic, comprehensive, up-to-date study of the various artificial intelligence (AI) techniques on the detection and classification of faults on power transmission lines.

Click to read the full article

Green Energy related articles

Micro Gas Turbines in the Future Smart Energy System

Article extract: The energy generation landscape is changing, pushed by stricter regulations for emissions control and green energy generation. The limitations of renewable energy sources, however, require flexible energy production sources to supplement them. Micro gas turbine-based combined heat and power plants, which are used for domestic applications, can fill this gap if they become more reliable.

Click to read the full article

Selected diagnostic methods used in Hydroelectric Power Plants

Article extract: Generating electricity using Renewable Energy Sources is taking over more and more share in the global market of energy production. It forces continuous work on the development of technical diagnostics methods that allow faults detection at an early stage. The main task of the diagnostics and control systems is to identify any symptoms of inaccurate device operation.

Click to read the article

Heating & Ventilating related articles

Electric heat pumps use much less energy than furnaces, and can cool houses too – here’s how they work

Article extract: New heating and cooling strategies are an important piece of the puzzle. Electric heat pumps are three to four times more efficient than furnaces. These devices heat homes in winter and cool them in summer by moving heat in and out of buildings, rather than by burning fossil fuel.

Click to read the full article

Efficient HVAC system design strategies

Article extract: The integration of high-performance HVAC design strategies can do as much to make systems energy-efficient as specifying high energy efficiency ratings.

Click to read the full article

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning in intensive care units

Article extract: The aim of this review is to describe variation in standards and guidelines on ‘heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC)’ system maintenance in the intensive care units, across the world, which is required to maintain good ‘indoor air quality’ as an important non-pharmacological strategy in preventing hospital-acquired infections.

Click to read the full article

Fault diagnosis of air-conditioning refrigeration system based on sparse autoencoder

Article extract: To overcome the drawbacks of using supervised learning to extract fault features for classification and low nonlinearity of the features in most of current fault diagnosis of air-conditioning refrigeration system, sparse autoencoder (SAE) is presented to extract fault features that are used as the input to the classifier and to achieve fault diagnosis for air-conditioning refrigeration system.

Click to read the full article

Diagnosis of damage to the ventilation system

Article extract: The article is devoted to solving of urgent problem to eliminate damages of two types in ventilation systems for air distribution efficiency increasing in the premises by swirled airflow, compact air jet, flat air stream and rectangular air jet. A mathematical model of air supply with swirled airflow, compact air jet, flat air-jet and rectangular air stream in the room has been developed.

Click to read the full article

Engineering with automated fault detection and diagnostics

Article extract: Building engineers and commissioning professionals can use automated fault detection and diagnostics, which has been more commonly used to save building energy and facilitate predictive maintenance

Click to read the full article

Application of Machine Learning in Industrial Boilers: Fault Detection, Diagnosis, and Prognosis

Article extract: Enhancement in boiler efficiency via controlled operation could lead to energy savings and reduction in pollutant emission. Activities such as scheduled maintenance could be improved by increasing boiler availability and reducing running costs.

Click to read the full article

Thermal Diagnostics of Natural Ventilation in Buildings: An Integrated Approach

Article extract: Diagnostics of natural ventilation in buildings is problematic, as the airflow rate changes considerably over time. One constant average airflow is usually assumed when calculating energy demand for a building, however, such a simplification could be fraught with considerable error.

Click to read the full article

Application of Predictive Maintenance in Hospital Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Facilities

Article extract: The aim of this work is to analyse foreseeable information and results generated after applying condition-based maintenance techniques. The results of this work represent an improvement in the working practise of the HVAC facilities hospital maintenance departments.

Click to read the full article

Diagnosis of Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Systems

Article extract: Faults in heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems often go undetected because they are corrected by control loops at the expense of decreased efficiency. This paper presents an experimental system that diagnoses faults based on measurements of system behavior and a model of its structure.

Click to read the full article

Industrial Engineering related articles

Real-time factory smoke detection based on two-stage relation-guided algorithm

Article extract: To keep real-time factory smoke under efficient and universal social supervision, this paper proposes a mobile-platform-running efficient smoke detection algorithm based on image analysis techniques.

Click to read the full article

Remote industrial networking and diagnostics tools

Article extract: By providing your production and maintenance teams with some specialised tools, your facility will be able to apply, use and benefit from remote monitoring and diagnostics for industrial networks.

Click to read the full article

Advanced gas turbines health monitoring systems

Article extract: An overview of scientific papers in the field of machine diagnosis has exposed increasing efforts in developing accurate and reliable engine health monitoring systems. Attempts have been made in both diagnostics and prediction of system faults. Essential limitations of the standard monitoring system are discussed in this paper as well as arguments for implementation of the Advanced Gas Turbine Health Monitoring Systems.

Click to read the full article

Failure analysis of refinery hydrogen reciprocating compressors

Article extract: Hydrogen compressors perform specific functions in the technical system of crude oil processing. The authors characterize consequences of wear margin loss of the compressor, present design solutions of hydrogen piston compressor and divide its construction into functional units.

Click to read the full article

Faults detection based on fuzzy concepts for vibrations monitoring in gas turbine

Article extract: The use of new technologies in modern industry improves productivity but induces complexity in the industrial system. This complexity makes it vulnerable to faults, which requires significant expense in terms of safety, reliability and availability. Hence, the diagnosis of gas turbines is a main component for making maintenance decisions for this type of machine.

Click to read the full article

Marine related articles

Energy management strategy of hybrid energy storage system based on fuzzy control for ships

Article extract: Lithium-ion batteries have high-energy density, but they cannot respond quickly to power fluctuations; supercapacitors (SCs) can quickly respond to power fluctuations, but their energy density is low. The hybrid energy storage system (HESS) that uses both lithium-ion batteries and SCs can take into account the advantages of both, making the system perform better.

Click to read the full article

Guide to a Ship’s Systems and Controls

Article extract: A ship could not function without management of the systems incorporated within her hull and deck. The following sections provide articles on this subject. The subjects have been divided under general headings and linked to articles.

Click to read the full article

Marine Fuels and Fuel Handling

Article extract: The heavy fuel oil (HFO) used by our ship’s main engines and boilers is a viscous tarry substance; very high in sulfur so when combusted in a diesel engine large quantities of sulfur oxide/dioxide along with nitrogen oxides and particulates are produced.

Click to read the full article

Marine Diesel Engines – Theory, Components, and Care

Article extract: After a brief introduction to the theory and terminology involved, we will move on to examining the components and systems of these engines, and then watchkeeping duties, along with the operation and maintenance of a typical two-stroke marine diesel engine.

Click to read the full article

Guide to a Ship’s Components

Article extract: From floating vessels made of wood to ultra-modern cruise ships, the evolution in design and architecture of ships have come a long way. However, there are a few parts that are and will always be common to ships from those that were built 4000 years ago to the newest cruise ships that are nothing less than floating cities.

Click to read the full article

Biological attack on iron and steel

Article extract: Boat owners and marine surveyors will be familiar with common iron rust whatever form it takes. The literature on the subject of electrochemical or galvanic corrosion is enormous. However, although the phenomenon is well known to the mining and oil industries where it causes millions of dollars worth of damage annually, biological attack is not so widely understood in the marine world.

Click to read the full article

Wooden Boats: How to survey

Article extract: You are now considering how to survey wooden boats; whether you have been involved in the marine industry all your life or you have come to marine surveying through a career-change. If so, you should be prepared to engross yourself in the technology and language of wooden boat construction and timber technology.

Click to read the full article

Design principles for onboard engineering diagnostics systems of unmanned maritime vessels

Article extract: A prerequisite for the design, construction and operation of both traditional and unmanned and uncrewed vessels is to maintain the safety of the crew, vessel and cargo. Therefore, a majority of modern scientific research and development is aimed at improving the safety of navigation.

Click to read the full article

Surveyors beware some diesel heater marine installations

Article extract: Recent contact with someone has brought to attention a problem regarding a fault causing potentially life-threatening fumes from his boat’s diesel heater. The heater in question is an Eberspacher for which cheap imported spares are available on the internet.

Click to read the full article

Structural health monitoring for wind turbine blades

Article extract: Operation and maintenance costs constitute a sizeable share of the total annual costs of a wind turbine. Therefore, maintenance costs are increasingly attracting the attention of manufacturers, who are seeking to develop new maintenance strategies.

Click to read the full article

The Surveyor the Sludge and the Smoke

Article extract: I joined a small passenger ship as Chief Engineer, the previous incumbent having resigned over a matter of white smoke, of which the vessel had a long history. She was laid up in her home port, within a week or so in which the decor was to be refurbished after a recent dry-dock, so the matter of white smoke, while pressing, was not urgent, I thought.

Click to read the full article

The Importance of Holes

Article extract: I greatly enjoyed reading George Blakey’s recollections of boiler fires aboard ships in Journal No.113, and was reminded by his penultimate paragraph of a less serious but nonetheless extremely inconvenient incident with which I was involved a few years ago, also involving a “missing” hole. At the time I was employed as skipper/engineer of a motor yacht which cruised extensively in the Mediterranean. Two V 12 diesel motors, of some 1300 hp each, powered the vessel.

Click to read the full article

Mechanical Engineering related articles

Efficiency: putting motors through their paces

Article extract: Motors are tested for different reasons: verifying data from software simulations or the motor’s nameplate, independent verification of compliance for notified bodies, or checking if a motor or drive system meets a customer’s specifications.

Click to read the full article

Ensuring the reliability and performance criteria of crankshafts

Article extract: The issues of efficiency improvement of manufacturing crankshafts in order to ensure their reliability and performance criteria are the priorities in the modern production of internal combustion engines. Using the capabilities of modern special grinding machines can improve the quality of machining and obtain the necessary running characteristics of crankshafts.

Click to read the full article

Clutch-brake unit: Principle of operation and basic diagnostic methods

Article extract: A clutch-Brake system is one of the most important elements of a mechanical press line. The main purpose of it is to transmit the torque from the electric motor and flywheel to gear and main shaft. It ensures slide motion, but also press safety. One of the parameters that needs to be measured periodically is overrun. This value directly shows what is the condition of clutch-brake unit.

Click to read the full article

Metal magnetic memory method and its capabilities for diagnostics of power boiler elements

Article extract: Zones of mechanical stress concentrations in which corrosion, fatigue and creep processes flow the most intensively, are the main sources of heating surface pipes failure.

Click to read the full article

Addressing the Four Main Goals of Diagnostic Engineering

Article extract: While data interoperability between heterogeneous reliability assessment tools and products remains a challenge from and between subsystem designs, the goals of Testability at the “integrated system” or fielded product level (Availability, Cost of Ownership, Mission/Operational Success and Safety) remain unchanged.

Click to read the full article

Vibration Analysis for Machine Monitoring and Diagnosis: A Systematic Review

Article extract: Untimely machinery breakdown will incur significant losses, especially to the manufacturing company as it affects the production rates. During operation, machines generate vibrations and there are unwanted vibrations that will disrupt the machine system, which results in faults such as imbalance, wear, and misalignment.

Click to read the full article

Troublesome mechanical seal problem solved

Article extract: A centrifugal shear screen mixer had been a source of trouble since its installation in 1996. The main source of trouble appeared to have been associated with failure of the environmental controls of the mechanical seals. Classic signs of failure included heat checking of the seal faces, extruded PTFE “elastomer” wedges and worn drive slots and dogs in the carrier and seal face. Download the article from the link below.

Click to read the full article

Ring Gaps vs Knowledge Gaps

Article extract: During school summer holidays there occurs a period known as the “silly season” when breaking news is slack and newspapers, radio and TV issue forth all sorts of drivel to justify their existence. In our industry I sometimes think that we use ring gaps to fulfil a similar purpose – and we do it all year round. There are more old wives tales about ring gaps than any other facet of our job, so lets spend a while and bin a few of them.

Click to read the full article

Improving motor efficiency

Article extract: The following is an extract from ABB Review the Corporate Technical Journal of the ABB Group. It covers the area of cost and energy saving as well as reducing the environmental effect of electric motors.

Click to read the full article

Fretting and corrosion in turbo-alternator quill shaft, oil pump and governor gearing

Article extract: One out of six identical 60 MW turbo-alternators installed in a power station, suffered from repeated failures of the oil pump and governor gearing by what appeared to be ‘fretting corrosion’. The Quill shaft claw coupling to the HP turbine was similarly affected.

Click to read the full article

Predictive Maintenance & Condition Based Monitoring related articles

The vibration response mechanism of a blade disk rotor system under the coupling effects of cracks and aerodynamic forces

Article extract: The important role of a dynamic model is to study the response characteristics of a system under different parameters or fault states. These response characteristics can be used in many aspects, such as condition monitoring and fault diagnosis.

Click to read the full article

The positive impact of adopting condition monitoring for your pump

Article extract: Rotating equipment such as pumps and motors can be a costly asset, they are not immune to failure and can unexpectedly break down at any time if not properly maintained. When things are running smoothly, it is easy to overlook common maintenance tasks and justify that it is not worth the time to regularly inspect and replace parts.

Click to read the full article

Condition monitoring and vibration analysis best practice guide

Article extract: Vibration analysis is not condition monitoring, and condition monitoring is not vibration analysis. Their similarities and differences, their uses and technicalities are explored here.

Click to read the full article

PLCs improve predictive maintenance

Article extract: Reactionary and unnecessary maintenance behaviors are quickly going the way of the fax machine because with today’s advanced technology and increased Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) connectivity, the understanding and planning of maintenance activities is easier and more cost-effective.

Click to read the full article

The cost of predictive maintenance scepticism

Article extract: Industrial equipment operators have increasingly turned to predictive maintenance to prevent catastrophic system failures as well as anticipate and schedule repairs correctly and minimise overall disruption to operations. Overall, predictive maintenance should generate significant cost savings and protect the company’s bottom line.

Click to read the full article

Overcoming predictive maintenance obstacles

Article extract: Predictive maintenance makes a lot of promises including reduced downtime and eliminating unnecessary maintenance. However, it is important to keep engineering and business challenges from getting in the way.

Click to read the full article

The Next Challenge for Predictive Maintenance: Evolving Your Team’s Skill Set

Article extract: Machine maintenance is undergoing a tech-driven transformation. Connected sensors installed directly onto equipment elevate predictive maintenance from a route-based approach to a real-time strategy. By monitoring key machine health metrics like temperature, speed, and vibration, this manufacturing technology can anticipate when something will break and preemptively alert technicians to initiate maintenance.

Click to read the full article

7 Improvements to Manufacturing Processes and How They Affect the Bottom Line

Article extract: Manufacturing is an increasingly competitive industry as new technologies unlock previously impossible standards. Investing in cutting-edge improvements to processes can lead to impressive results, but not every investment sees a significant or quick ROI in every case. Consequently, many manufacturers are hesitant to embrace new methods.

Click to read the full article

A Predictive Maintenance Model for Flexible Manufacturing in the Context of Industry 4.0

Article extract: The Industry 4.0 paradigm is the focus of modern manufacturing system design. The integration of cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of things, cyber-physical systems, big data analytics, and cloud computing requires a flexible platform supporting the effective optimization of manufacturing-related processes, e.g., predictive maintenance.

Click to read the full article

The Rewards and Challenges of Predictive Maintenance

Article extract: Predictive maintenance is not new, but today more than ever, with advancements in industrial Internet of things and artificial intelligence, predictive maintenance can result in significant savings for manufacturers.

Click to read the full article

Predicting long-term corrosion of metal alloys in physical infrastructure

Article extract: For major infrastructure assets such as bridges, power generation facilities, pipelines, ships and offshore and coastal structures there is an increasing interest in delaying replacement and, if possible, expensive maintenance, as long as possible, consistent with societal expectations of adequate individual and societal safety and benefit.

Click to read the full article

Sounds and acoustic emission-based early fault diagnosis of induction motor

Article extract: Nowadays, condition-based maintenance and fault diagnosis of rotating machinery has a vital role in the modern industrial world. However, the remaining useful life of machinery is crucial for continuous monitoring and timely maintenance.

Click to read the full article

Acoustic Condition Monitoring & Fault Diagnostics for Industrial Systems

Article extract: Condition monitoring and fault diagnostics for industrial systems is required for cost reduction, maintenance scheduling, and reducing system failures. Catastrophic failure usually causes significant damage and may cause injury or fatality, making early and accurate fault diagnostics of paramount importance.

Click to read the full article

Why move from condition monitoring to predictive maintenance?

Article extract: Many also confuse predictive maintenance with condition monitoring. In this 2-part blog series, I will break down the difference between the two, the origins of both, and what to expect next.

Click to read the full article – Part 1 here and Part 2 here

Railway Engineering related articles

A proactive approach to modern rolling stock maintenance

Article extract: Janez Vidovič, Head of Maintenance at SŽ – VIT, explains why specialist knowledge and the ability to adapt to specific customer needs are key in responding to the technical challenges in the maintenance of tractive and trailing rolling stock.

Click to read the full article

Railway ground vibration and mitigation measures: benchmarking of best practices

Article extract: Vibration and noise aspects play a relevant role in the lifetime and comfort of urban areas and their residents. Among the different sources, the one coming from the rail transit system will play a central concern in the following years due to its sustainability. Ground-borne vibration and noise assessments are key elements of the environmental impact and the global enlargement planned for the railway industry.

Click to read the full article

Rail Diagnostics Based on Ultrasonic Guided Waves: An Overview

Article extract: Rail tracks undergo massive stresses that can affect their structural integrity and produce rail breakage. The last phenomenon represents a serious concern for railway management authorities, since it may cause derailments and, consequently, losses of rolling stock material and lives. Therefore, the activities of track maintenance and inspection are of paramount importance.

Click to view the full article

A review of electrical signal-based train transmission machinery diagnosis technology

Article extract: Transmission machinery is widely used in railway vehicles and is an important component in driving the operation of trains. Such transmission components are prone to faults under long exposure to harsh environments and complex working conditions.

Click to read the full article

Fault Diagnosis of High-Speed Train Bogie Based on Synchrony Group Convolutions

Article extract: Health monitoring and fault diagnosis of a high-speed train is an important research area in guaranteeing the safe and long-term operation of the high-speed railway.

Click to read the full article

Deep learning-based fault diagnostic network of high-speed train secondary suspension systems for immunity to track irregularities and wheel wear

Article extract: Fault detection and isolation of high-speed train suspension systems is of critical importance to guarantee train running safety. Firstly, the existing methods concerning fault detection or isolation of train suspension systems are briefly reviewed and divided into two categories, i.e., model-based and data-driven approaches.

Click to read the full article

Diagnostics data in the framework of railway tracks maintenance

Article extract: The particular sections of the railway track react differently to traffic and non-traffic loads, which implies the need to determine the format of development of structural quality indicators and decision-making is based on a large amount of technical and economic information, the interconnection of which is determined by the infrastructure manager.

Click to read the full article

Structural & Civil Engineering related articles

Full scale tests of various buried flexible structures under failure load

Article extract: The aim of the tests described in the paper was conducting a displacement and stress analysis of four buried flexible structures made in different technologies under failure load.

Click to read the full article

Flexural Behavior and Design of Ultrahigh-Performance Concrete Beams

Article extract: Beams made of ultrahigh-performance concrete (UHPC), a fiber-reinforced concrete with high compressive strength and tensile strain-hardening characteristics, exhibit flexural behaviors that are different than those traditionally associated with steel-reinforced conventional concrete beams.

Click to read the full article

Vibro-acoustic performance of steel-concrete composite and prestressed concrete box girders subjected to train excitations

Article extract: Owning to good mechanical properties, steel-concrete composite and prestressed concrete box girders are the types of elevated structures used most in urban rail transit. However, their vibro-acoustic differences are yet to be explored in-depth, while structure-radiated noise is becoming a main concern in noise-sensitive environments.

Click to read the full article

Shear Strength Deficiencies in Concrete Columns

Article extract: Concrete buildings with vulnerable columns are some of the most dangerous structures when earthquakes occur. Even in countries with a history of advanced seismic codes, concrete buildings have collapsed because of vulnerable gravity columns.

Click to read the full article

Research on damage diagnosis for civil engineering structures

Article extract: In the construction of such an important basic engineering project as civil engineering, the main problem faced by constructors is the structural system damage. Therefore, scientific diagnostic methods are needed to find out locations and causes of the damages in time.

Click to read the full article

Diagnostic and Proof Load Tests on Bridges

Article extract: The load testing of bridges is a practice as old as bridge engineering. In the past, load testing was used when a new bridge was built and was a means of demonstrating that the structure was safe for the traveling public. Over time, engineers have developed different practices for load testing, many of which follow on from these traditions as they are based on practical experience, a practice that has influenced current codes and guidelines for load testing.

Click to read the full article

A Review of Similitude Methods for Structural Engineering

Article extract: Similitude theory allows engineers, through a set of tools known as similitude methods, to establish the necessary conditions to design a scaled (up or down) model of a full-scale prototype structure.

Click to read the full article

Nondestructive Testing for Structural Assessment

Article extract: This article describes how non-destructive testing can help structural engineers in the structural condition assessment of existing buildings, such as parking garages, condominiums, and other constructed facilities.

Click to read the full article

Damage diagnosis of high-rise buildings under variable ambient conditions

Article extract: Tall structures, during their service lifetime, face many scenarios and are often prone to damages. Generally, static or dynamic measurements from the entire structure are used while formulating the Structural Health Monitoring techniques for damage diagnosis.

Click to read the full article