SKF South Africa’s on-line condition monitoring system is fully compatible with Control Systems Integration’s (CSI) PLC system software and these systems operate seamlessly to monitor production lines for optimised uptime at one of South Africa’s leading collieries in Limpopo Province.  CSI is a process control system integrator used by the colliery to capture and control the Discard Backfill conveyor system data. According to Pieter de Wet, SKF Reliability Systems On-line Condition Monitoring Manager, SKF South Africa is the preferred supplier in monitoring the bearing conditions on all motors, gearboxes and plummer blocks on the mine.SKF’s solution is the IMx-S surveillance system, a 16 channel multi-log unit that measures equipment vibration and temperature data which is sent to the local Siemens PLC. De Wet explains, “The units will accurately store available data to ensure a reliable production line, reducing unexpected failures on the mine which decreases down-time and saves costs. The software is the tool to be used to analyse the data captured by the IMx-S unit and to determine future failures and reliability of the customer's plant.”

De Wet highlights additional features of the SKF systems which are ideal for any application that involves the condition of rotating equipment. “The IMx-S unit can conveniently be remotely placed close to the assets being monitored, and all vibration and temperature data can be sent in two communication protocols, LAN and Modbus RTU, which allows for safer analyses of the data. The IMx-S can measure any process information from the plant and the system can be daisy chained for expansion”. De wet also points out that SKF will interface with CSI PLC system so that the customer's operational engineers can see this data on their SCADA system. By using the SKF online condition monitoring IMx-S surveillance system, the customer is able to monitor critical equipment on the Discard Backfill conveyor system which is completely automated by CSI. “The mine will be able to analyse this data and make more accurate business decisions,” adds De Wet.

The order includes over 50 IMx-S 16 channel device units for this project which forms part of the mine’s overall expansion project. “The overall process control solution will be monitored by CSI and this solution provides SKF with the opportunity to show other CSI’customers the value of SKF solutions,” ” ends De Wet. /Ends