Here You Go.

If you sit back and think about the relationship that you have with the company that you are doing your electric motor repair/replacement business with, are they really serving you or serving themselves? Do you have a vendor who actually cares about your uptime and reliability of the products that they repair and sell? When meeting new prospective clients, we often hear that our current vendor is “always ready to serve us” or “I can call them 24/7 and they jump through hoops”, all things that a partner can do. It is very seldom that we hear from prospective clients that their last vendor solved an issue that they have had for years or hear them rave about how much money that vendor saved them or increased their uptime and production.

You know that maintenance and repair costs, downtime, and productivity all have a major impact on the bottom line...and you’re always on the lookout for ways to have a positive impact on the bottom line. The good news is the smart use of predictive technologies can do just that!

What are Predictive Technologies? 

At my core, I am an electric motor guy, more specifically an electric motor repair guy – or at least that’s what I have always thought. I am a fourth-generation family member in the electric motor repair industry. I am the President of a large primarily electric motor company with various divisions including electric motor repair, product sales, equipment management, and predictive maintenance.

So its natural for me to be a motor guy, right?

No, not really! I did start as a "motor guy" but have transitioned into more of a reliability focus, thanks to the approach that HECO has always taken to repair; which is unique and started well before my time. Don't get me wrong - the motor is still a vast majority of what our expertise is on and in no way am I nor HECO pulling away from that. However, this approach that HECO takes is a simple understanding that looking at an electric motor by itself is like looking at only the engine of your vehicle. That’s great the engine purrs perfectly but if your car doesn’t have any wheels, you’re not going to be able to travel very far! You must look beyond just the motor at the entire application and system to provide the RIGHT solution for clients.

It’s the middle of the night and a key motor in your facility broke down. Every hour of delay is costing thousands of dollars. You pull a drop-in spare from on-site storage and it doesn’t work. It was ice cold when you pulled it out, the bearings are making odd noises, and it looks like a forklift dented its enclosure. How can you keep that from happening to you?

Two words: off-site storage.

Goals of Offsite Storage

Of the many things that our company has to be proud of and is often talked about, is our EASA Accreditation. The accreditation is often mentioned to our customers when speaking on some of the quality standards that we follow. Now, there have been times when we need to first explain that EASA is an international trade organization encompassing almost 1,900 electromechanical sales and service companies throughout the world. After an explanation of who EASA is and their role we can then talk about the EASA Accreditation program.

This blog post completes an 8-part series on vibration analysis written by Dr. Sara McCaslin & Nolan Crowley, Business Development Manager at HECO.

We hope you have enjoyed your journey.

Dr. Sara McCaslin: Sara has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. Sara has also taught materials science, manufacturing, and mechanical system design at the University of Texas at Tyler.

Nolan Crowley: Nolan has BS from Miami University along with extensive field experience with powertrains, electric motors, & vibration issues since 2007.

• Week 1: Vibration Analysis Training: Who’s Doing Your Analysis?
• Week 2: Vibration Analysis Equipment: Sensors and Hardware
• Week 3: Balancing Rotating Equipment: Static vs Dynamic
• Week 4: The Importance of Route-Based Data Acquisition
• Week 5: The Basics of Modal Analysis for Electric Motors and Powertrains
• Week 6: How to Setup Remote Monitoring Vibration Monitoring
• Week 7: The Place of Motion Amplification in Modern Vibration Analysis
• Week 8: Bidding/Specifying Your Vibration Analysis Program

Vibration analysis is a critical part of PdM (Predictive Maintenance) and condition-based maintenance when rotating machinery is involved. We’ve talked at length about various aspects of vibration analysis, but what you may not realize is that having a written/documented vibration analysis specification can offer a host of benefits. 

This blog post continues an 8-part series on vibration analysis written by Dr. Sara McCaslin & Nolan Crowley, Business Development Manager at HECO.

Dr. Sara McCaslin: Sara has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. Sara has also taught materials science, manufacturing, and mechanical system design at the University of Texas at Tyler.

Nolan Crowley: Nolan has BS from Miami University along with extensive field experience with powertrains, electric motors, & vibration issues since 2007.

• Week 1: Vibration Analysis Training: Who’s Doing Your Analysis?
• Week 2: Vibration Analysis Equipment: Sensors and Hardware
• Week 3: Balancing Rotating Equipment: Static vs Dynamic
• Week 4: The Importance of Route-Based Data Acquisition
• Week 5: The Basics of Modal Analysis for Electric Motors and Powertrains
• Week 6: How to Setup Remote Monitoring Vibration Monitoring
• Week 7: The Place of Motion Amplification in Modern Vibration Analysis
• Week 8: Bidding/Specifying Your Vibration Analysis Program

Motion amplification is a type of video vibration analysis that can reveal the presence of hidden vibration. Often used as part of predictive maintenance (PdM) services, motion amplification can help optimize the reliability of your rotating equipment, including electric motors, fans, pumps, and drivetrains. But what part would it play in modern vibration analysis?

Read on to learn more!

This blog post continues an 8-part series on vibration analysis written by Dr. Sara McCaslin & Nolan Crowley, Business Development Manager at HECO.

Dr. Sara McCaslin: Sara has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. Sara has also taught materials science, manufacturing, and mechanical system design at the University of Texas at Tyler.

Nolan Crowley: Nolan has BS from Miami University along with extensive field experience with powertrains, electric motors, & vibration issues since 2007.

• Week 1: Vibration Analysis Training: Who’s Doing Your Analysis?
• Week 2: Vibration Analysis Equipment: Sensors and Hardware
• Week 3: Balancing Rotating Equipment: Static vs Dynamic
• Week 4: The Importance of Route-Based Data Acquisition
• Week 5: The Basics of Modal Analysis for Electric Motors and Powertrains
• Week 6: How to Setup Remote Monitoring Vibration Monitoring
• Week 7: The Place of Motion Amplification in Modern Vibration Analysis
• Week 8: Bidding/Specifying Your Vibration Analysis Program

Remote vibration monitoring is a great tool for continuously monitoring key equipment in your facility, detecting major issues before they happen, and determining when something needs to be replaced/refurbished. But what’s really involved in it? And is it worth the investment?

What is Remote Condition Monitoring?

This blog post continues an 8-part series on vibration analysis written by Dr. Sara McCaslin & Nolan Crowley, Business Development Manager at HECO.

Dr. Sara McCaslin: Sara has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. Sara has also taught materials science, manufacturing, and mechanical system design at the University of Texas at Tyler.

Nolan Crowley: Nolan has BS from Miami University along with extensive field experience with powertrains, electric motors, & vibration issues since 2007.

• Week 1: Vibration Analysis Training: Who’s Doing Your Analysis?
• Week 2: Vibration Analysis Equipment: Sensors and Hardware
• Week 3: Balancing Rotating Equipment: Static vs Dynamic
• Week 4: The Importance of Route-Based Data Acquisition
• Week 5: The Basics of Modal Analysis for Electric Motors and Powertrains
• Week 6: How to Setup Remote Monitoring Vibration Monitoring
• Week 7: The Place of Motion Amplification in Modern Vibration Analysis
• Week 8: Bidding/Specifying Your Vibration Analysis Program

Have you ever heard of the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse? Many vibration experts agree that the twisting and ultimate failure was caused by resonant conditions. When the wind eddies matched the natural frequency (or frequencies) of the bridge, the swaying and “galloping” motion of the bridge increased dramatically. 

Video of the Tacoma Narrows bridge twisting apart

This blog post continues an 8-part series on vibration analysis written by Dr. Sara McCaslin & Nolan Crowley, Business Development Manager at HECO.

Dr. Sara McCaslin: Sara has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. Sara has also taught materials science, manufacturing, and mechanical system design at the University of Texas at Tyler.

Nolan Crowley: Nolan has BS from Miami University along with extensive field experience with powertrains, electric motors, & vibration issues since 2007.

• Week 1: Vibration Analysis Training: Who’s Doing Your Analysis?
• Week 2: Vibration Analysis Equipment: Sensors and Hardware
• Week 3: Balancing Rotating Equipment: Static vs Dynamic
• Week 4: The Importance of Route-Based Data Acquisition
• Week 5: The Basics of Modal Analysis for Electric Motors and Powertrains
• Week 6: How to Setup Remote Monitoring Vibration Monitoring
• Week 7: The Place of Motion Amplification in Modern Vibration Analysis
• Week 8: Bidding/Specifying Your Vibration Analysis Program