Blowers
Increase refinery uptime and improve maintenance efficiency with real-time analysis of blower health.
Increase refinery uptime and improve maintenance efficiency with real-time analysis of blower health.
If a blower or induced-draft fan on a fired heater, furnace, or reformer develops a problem before the next scheduled inspection, the reliability of your refinery can suffer. A unit could fail unexpectedly and cause a slowdown, or worse, a shutdown. Emerson’s blower monitoring solution helps to mitigate unplanned downtime by combining reliable wireless instrumentation with predictive data analysis to give you online insight into asset health that’s impossible with manual readings.
Reduce unplanned downtime caused by asset reliability issues
Degradation of blower performance can disrupt the oxygen/fuel mix supplied to critical process units, such as fired heaters, boilers, and furnaces. Excessive motor or fan vibration and bearing temperature can result in belt or coupling failure, causing the blower to trip. Emerson’s asset monitoring and predictive maintenance solutions provide the clearest picture of blower health, allowing timely corrective action to ensure production efficiency and prevent unplanned downtime.
Improper installation can result in shaft misalignment and excessive vibration, causing blower damage and possible failure. Emerson’s proven monitoring technology can generate an immediate warning if there is a misalignment issue when the blower’s motor is turned on, and detect motor misalignment, rotor harmonics, or rolling element bearing defects based on different vibration frequencies, allowing you to address potential issues early and optimize your planned maintenance schedule.
Unwanted high vibration can occur when a blower motor is running at one of its resonant frequencies. Using pre-determined resonant bands for motor speed, asset monitoring can alert operators of resonance before it causes excessive vibration, allowing them to adjust motor speed or air flow rates to mitigate high vibration and avoid blower failure. Testing with a modal/impact hammer can also detect resonant frequencies, structural cracks, and dynamic stiffness.
Faulty louver position can result in restricted air flow, which causes a reduction in heater capacity or a safety risk with insufficient air required for heater demands. A mismatch between implied and actual louver position often indicates a louver defect or problem with the positioner. Detecting louver defects early using Emerson’s monitoring solutions enables you to carry out maintenance checks more efficiently while maintaining continuous throughput.
Restrictions in air inlet ducts due to plugged suction strainers or faulty louvers can cause low suction pressure, which reduces available heater capacity and may result in a blower trip that leads to a shutdown or a reportable environmental incident, such as flaring. Emerson’s blower health monitoring solution allows you to measure suction strainer differential pressure online so that you can take corrective action early enough to maintain capacity and prevent unplanned downtime.
