Cement Industry, Kiln Fan - CIMCON Digital

Use Case

Cement Industry, Kiln Fan

Machine Anomaly detection and diagnostics system based on “VIBit”

The VIBit is CIMCON Digital’s tri-axial vibration, temperature, and acoustic sensor for machine anomaly detection. It is simple to install on a variety of machinery, using Bluetooth to connect to your smartphone in addition to compatibility with the Modbus protocol CIMCON iEdge 360 gateway. It automatically will alert you via e-mail and SMS to machine faults such as rotor imbalance, lubrication issues, centrifugal pump abnormalities, gear drive abnormalities, and much more. The device works wonderfully in many industries, including the textile, pharmaceutical, hospitality, mining, and health industries, this article presents just a few of its uses in the cement industry.

VIBit is an intelligent, powerful, and compact sensor that can be used to monitor the condition of critical equipment in the cement industry such as the kiln fan. Through its monitoring capabilities, this sensor helps cement companies prevent unplanned downtime

Customer: Cement Industry, Kiln Fan

Cooling fans are used to blow cold air to the cooler and cool the clinker from 1500˚C to 100˚ It is vital to cool the shell of the cement kiln and bring its temperature back into balance, keeping it within the desired temperature range.
Cooling the kiln protects equipment and enables clinker quenching, ensuring the important forms of minerals like C₃S, C₃A, C₂S, C₄, and AF remain in the cement to maintain proper clinker quality.
Improper cooling fan maintenance can lead to poor clinker quality, high power consumption, and even damage to the conveying system. The fan performed poorly with an increase in vibration levels.

How the VIBit System Works

A chart is provided by the VIBit system displaying the possible underlying causes, e.g., energy excitation indicates a potential early alert on bearing raceway in the outer race (see the chart above).

The VIBit sensor is installed on fan inboard and outboard bearing.
The VIBit senses and collects data on the tri-axial vibrations, temperature, and noise levels of the fan in real time.
The machine anomaly detection and diagnostic system absorbs this data from the VIBit.
The algorithm preemptively detects various anomalies which could cause damage to the system, e.g., early detection of a deviation in the high acceleration value signal provides information of bearing raceway in the outer race.
The software notifies an authorized user of the problem via e-mail and SMS and sends them diagnostic information.
Upon receiving these alerts, the user has sufficient time to inspect the machine, fixing it before it breaks down.

Value to the Client

The system provides early alerts, giving the operators time to inspect the fan and implement corrective measures by isolating bearings from external vibration and using lubricants with anti-wear additives.

If the corrective measures had not been taken, a breakdown would have caused costly plant downtime.

The prediction benefitted the manufacturer by preventing damage, improving clinker quality, and increasing plant yield.