SKF and its partner Boralex, market leader in Canada and the first independent player in onshore wind power in France, are working together to develop a new dashboard designed to help wind farm operators optimize the profitability of their equipment. This dashboard enables cost reduction and planning decisions to be made on the basis of data from a variety of sources: condition-based maintenance, estimated remaining useful life and spare parts lead times.
The dashboard - or "Wind Reliability Dashboard" in its original version - is an evolution of SKF's current condition monitoring and predictive maintenance tools. It goes a step further by enabling the collection and analysis of data relating to all types of CMS-type systems, whether SKF-branded or not.
The dashboard is currently being field-tested by SKF development partner Boralex. "We are working closely with SKF engineers at every stage of the project, from the definition of functional requirements, through the actual development of the system, to field testing, to help SKF refine the dashboard model," explains Jérôme Gardyn, CMS analyst for Boralex.
This system monitors the service life of parts based on previous cases of fault detection by CMS systems. According to SKF, the resulting component reliability database takes predictive maintenance a step further, with improved risk management.
The dashboard also collects information from maintenance systems and the supply chain. For example, it can be used to align spare parts lead times with the equipment's remaining useful life.
Finally, it can provide external computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) with key indicators for good maintenance practices. For example: mean time between failures and parts lead times.
"Wind farm operators are under increasing pressure as turbines come out of warranty and the renewable energy pricing environment becomes more challenging," explains Jonathan Day, analytical development and digitalization for SKF. It is therefore essential to find ways of reducing Opex costs. This is the motivation behind the development of the "Wind Reliability Dashboard", which should help every operator to improve the profitability of their business. The dashboard is designed to facilitate communication between operational and planning teams on critical maintenance issues. It also facilitates the identification and prediction of problems on shaft lines, the logistical management of spare parts, and risk reduction through data-driven decision-making."
"We have also added direct links to SKF supply chain availability information to the dashboard through the "supply chain 4.0" logic, so as to optimize inventory planning and reduce total cost," says Jan Levander, Logistics 4.0 Project Manager for SKF.
"We see this dashboard as an effective and innovative way of streamlining essential elements at the heart of our business. Our collaboration with SKF gives us access to new expert data that should help us reduce our operating costs while improving production reliability and predictability, with the key to better service for all our customers," concludes Giannino Martin, Assistant Director of Operational Excellence for Boralex.
Optimized flow sensors for heat pumps
Flow sensors for energy-efficient heat pumps must be able to measure even small flows. The German company Sika, manufacturer of sensors for energy-efficient...