The integration of predictive and preventive maintenance strategies based on oil and vibration analyses techniques for industrial gearboxes

In the field of industrial gearbox maintenance, the integration of predictive and preventive maintenance strategies can significantly enhance system reliability and longevity. Vibration and oil analysis are commonly employed in modern maintenance technologies. Although previously considered competing technologies, merging oil quality analysis and vibration analysis into a unified condition monitoring system (CMS) provides operators with the combined benefits of both methods. Sumitomo Drive Technologies’ latest innovation, ’eye’, integrates vibration analysis, oil quality monitoring, and oil filtration into a single comprehensive maintenance solution. The ’eye’ system utilizes advanced vibration analysis, generating and analyzing over fifty different indicators (KPIs) in both time and frequency domains from vibration signals, enabled by edge-computing technology. This allows the precise localization of gearbox damages. Furthermore, the system enhances predictive maintenance capabilities through an oil quality monitoring schema that measures online oil ISO 4406 cleanliness codes, oil temperature, relative humidity, and cross-contamination indicators such as relative permittivity and conductivity. This study explores into the scientific and technical foundations of advanced vibration and oil quality monitoring techniques, explaining how to integrate them effectively and detailing the system architecture. It also presents the benefits of a remote condition monitoring system implemented on a cloud-based platform, including experimental results and case studies. Additionally, the study demonstrates the advantages of incorporating a micron-level oil filtering system as a preventive maintenance tool, emphasizing its role in extending equipment lifespan, reducing maintenance costs and significant saving of fossil raw materials.