Wear Debris Analysis - A Meaningful Condition Monitoring Technique for Industrial Drives

Wear is the primary mechanism by which industrial plant deteriorates. By observing the amount and mechanism of wear periodically one is able to monitor the deterioration of plant. Traditionally this has been done by SOAP (spectrometric) analysis of used oil. In industrial drives this has a major deficiency, the most important size fraction, that is the particles above 10 microns are ignored. In a "normal" industrial drive as shown in Fig. 1 the average particle size is 15-25 microns. In most cases in a distress situation the size of these particles increases and traditional techniques have not been able to effectively detect this. Wear debris analysis overcomes the particle size limitation and gives additional information on the mechanism, location and extent of wear as well as the state of the Lubricant and contaminant content.