Whisky plant's 20% proof
14 Jul 2010
William Grant is extending its use of motor condition monitoring technology following a three-month trial of the kit on its most troublesome equipment. Patrick Raleigh reports
William Grant & Sons has reported major efficiency gains through the recent installation of Artesis’s motor condition monitoring (MCM) technology at its Girvan distillery on the Ayrshire coast.
The MCM kit continuously monitors machinery for deviation from a mathematical, model-based norm established for each item of equipment. The system then provides a diagnosis of mechanical and electrical problems, and indicates the severity of the fault.
“This kind of information can make a real difference to both our operations and energy consumption,” said Andrew Napier, process team leader at the Scottish site.
During a three-month trial, MCM units were installed on three critical machinery and plant applications, with motor sizes ranging from 22kW to 250kW: an agitator on the batch-cooking vessel; the drive motor for hammer milling of malted barley; and the drive motor for hammer milling of wheat. These particular machines were selected because they had presented reliability issues in the past.
Over the trial, data from the MCM units enabled the distillery to reduce the running cycle of the motor on the batch-cooking vessel agitator - due to improved performance and reduced energy consumption.
“Through analysis and accurate diagnosis, we were able to make the necessary changes and mechanical responses, thus shortening the processing time and achieving a 20% reduction,” explained Napier.
From an operational and maintenance viewpoint, the monitoring system allowed William Grant to be more accurate in implementing a stop time, changing the milling screens in the malt milling application based on electrical signal analysis rather than personal judgement.
Following the project, William Grant is now expanding its use of MCM, installing units on two troublesome grain elevators, both of which are outside and go up to around 30 metres in height.
“The elevators are known to fail up to two or three times a year without warning so [the MCM technology] will give us a real insight and enable preventative action before failure, saving us downtime, expense and loss of production,” said Napier.
