Industry's "first" condition monitoring iPhone app

Dewsbury, UK —Parker Filtration, part of Parker Hannifin claims to have released the industry’s first condition monitoring app as a free download from the iTunes appstore.

The ConMon app is said to feature two unique programs — ISO Code Generator and Frequency Analysis — to enable users to measure the degree of filtration required for their systems, and the frequency at which fluids should be tested, via their iPhone, iPad or iTouch.

The ISO Code Generator program enables users to enter details about their machinery via an interactive questionnaire, the results of which offer a recommendation of how clean their system needs to be.

Users can then measure the current level of contamination in their system to see if it is within this recommended limit. Having done so, the user is then able to gain more feedback about their own specific needs using the Frequency Analysis program, which balances issues such as machine sensitivity and likely downtime costs and reports back with guidelines on how often to sample in order to achieve maximum efficiency.

These statistics can provide vital guidance to users who may be unwittingly running their systems with inefficient or damaging levels of contamination and enables them to judge the most cost-effective option when purchasing condition monitoring equipment.

The idea germinated when Shaun Skilton, product manager for Parker Hannifin hydraulic filter division Europe’s condition monitoring business unit, recognised a need to help sales staff and customers alike achieve a deeper understanding of condition monitoring technology, and to give them access to advice and information when and where they need it most.

“We’ve given presentations and literature to sales staff and customers before,” Skilton said, “but it seemed to me that what they really need is the ability to gather specific information quickly and easily, on the spot, to evaluate the performance of any given system.

“Now that so many people are using smart phones it seemed that such devices offered a convenient and powerful way to make that evaluation possible.”