Machinery protection systems are nothing new. Plants have been using them to protect their assets and personnel for decades. However, modern machinery protection systems are changing the game, with new features designed to offer more capability and flexibility.
Emerson’s Drew Mackley broke down the benefits of machinery protection systems—both new and old—in his recent “What Is” article in Plant Services magazine. Whether your team needs more cybersecurity, increased remote monitoring, or even just more visibility into what the protection system is doing, now might be the right time to evaluate an upgrade.
What is machinery protection
Machinery protection systems connect directly to critical assets in the field and react nearly instantaneously to shut them down when they detect a critical abnormality in operation. Drew explains,
“Using sensors connected to the asset, the machinery protection system monitors operational variables, and it executes a shutdown procedure when those variables reach specific thresholds that indicate a critical failure.”
Modern systems deliver modern features
Today’s machinery protection systems still shut down critical machines before they experience catastrophic failure, but advanced solutions like Emerson’s AMS 6500 ATG protection system can do so much more as well. For example, traditional protection systems were often black boxes. When they worked, they saved equipment and lives, but they offered little to no visibility into their own operation and health. But modern operators expect access to data, and that’s exactly what the AMS 6500 ATG delivers:
“Modern machinery protection systems offer significantly increased visibility. Not only do they provide data about the machines they are monitoring, they also provide self-diagnostics. As a result, the best teams no longer set-and-forget their machinery protection systems, but they instead monitor them to ensure they are operating as expected. The most advanced systems simplify this monitoring with remote connectivity via mobile apps.”
Using their workstations or phones, users can create a cybersecure, read-only remote connection to the AMS 6500 ATG to allow constant monitoring without requiring users to get too close to dangerous machinery.
Prediction plus protection
Not only do modern solutions like the AMS 6500 ATG offer better visibility, but they also offer prediction features to help reliability teams act to remedy equipment aberrations before they become failures (and shut down the equipment). Drew explains,
“Those same prediction systems also track and trend asset health across time, enabling reliability teams to see when conditions are starting to degrade long before they lead to failure. Often, teams can use this critical data to intervene well before the protection system does.”
Choosing the right system
One of the best changes for users has been an increase in the options for machinery protection systems. Historically, plants had few reliable choices, but today there are a number of available systems on the market. However, Drew cautions users should still look for systems that have a strong history and reputation,
“Ultimately, those teams will be best served by choosing an established system with many years of proven success, but one that has also been continuously updated to provide all the modern technology they need for efficient, convenient, and safe operations.”
Even some of the most dependable manufacturers are releasing entirely new systems which do not have the established history to prove they can successfully perform the critical tasks they are needed for. Fortunately, teams have options of established systems like the AMS 6500 ATG that not only provide modern machinery protection services, but also have proven histories behind them, eliminating the risk that your plant will be the one to take the risk testing a protection system that hasn’t been on the market for decades.
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