In 2009, an automation journal commissioned an online survey asking industry observers and practitioners to rank technology trends in 2009 and beyond.1 Table 1 summarizes the respondents’ prefere..
Analyzing failed parts or poor operation requires the proper skills and equipment. Sometimes these investigations are not always very difficult. Often, troubleshooting a failure just requires a logica..
For any person working in the oil and gas industry who is responsible for the safety of employees, colleagues, plant equipment and property, one of the most potentially confusing aspects in providing ..
Earlier in the year, the author attended a series of client and organizers’ presentations at the 2013 TapRooT Summit in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. TapRooT is a structured failure analysis and trouble..
In early 2012, a rotating equipment engineer was involved in a machinery quality assessment (MQA).1 Located halfway around the globe, this engineer’s new job was to oversee the engineering, procu..
The hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) must address a number of potentially catastrophic safety issues. One issue, in particular, is the growing use of remanufactured equipment and components from ..
Turbomachinery, essential to refining and petrochemical operations, has significant impact on plant production, maintenance and energy consumption. One of the most effective ways to improve turbomachi..
Wear occurs frequently on machinery. In its simplest terms, it is the undesirable removal of material. When troubleshooting the root cause of wear in equipment, the engineer’s interest should be ..
One deviation alone might not be enough to bring on a compressor failure, but, when several more deviations combine, the failure risk is known to increase exponentially.
In the 1970s and 1980s, multistage centrifugal compressors in the 3,000 acfm (about 5,000m3/hr) and lower flow ranges were largely confined to instrument and plant air duties. Three stages with interc..