Case study: critical care boosts paper mill
4 Jul 2016
A Scandinavian paper mill company is monitoring the condition of critical equipment with a newly launched accelerometer technology.
Last year, Swedish paper mill Arctic Paper Grycksbo became the first company to install a new DuoTech online monitoring accelerometer.
Established in 1740, paper making was done by hand at the plant until 1836 when the first paper machine arrived at Grycksbo in central Sweden.
Today, the mill has three paper machines, which produce coated graphic paper with a production capacity of about 265,000 tons annually.
The installation of SPM Instrument’s DuoTech dual technology accelerometer began last year on Artic Paper’s PM10 paper machine. It replaces existing systems from SPM originally installed in 1999.
The recently developed DuoTech is a multi-purpose accelerometer for vibration and shock pulse measurement designed for lubrication and bearing monitoring as well as early detection of imbalance, misalignment and vibration problems.
We see a great advantage in being able to measure both vibration and shock pulse with the same sensor, especially in paper machines, because we want to be able to analyse more than just bearings
Kent Linné, preventive maintenance manager, Nordic Paper Bäckhammar mill
According to its developers, it combines two new monitoring technologies to make it possible to obtain a complete condition status of monitored objects, with clear results and long forewarning times of deteriorating mechanical condition.
In the first phase of three, 112 accelerometers at Arctic Paper will be connected to SPM’s Intellinova Compact online system.
“The main reason we chose SPM as supplier for the replacement of our existing online system for PM10 was that this solution offered two technologies for the price of one, making DuoTech a costefficient choice for us,” says maintenance engineer Jonas Hoel.
Swedish forestry group Nordic Paper has also recently selected DuoTech as the standard sensor for condition monitoring of critical equipment at its three mills in Bäckhammar, Säffle and Åmotfors.
“We see a great advantage in being able to measure both vibration and shock pulse with the same sensor, especially in paper machines, because we want to be able to analyse more than just bearings,” says Kent Linné, preventive maintenance manager at the Nordic Paper Bäckhammar mill.
Quality first
Nordic Paper has operations in Norway and Sweden with four paper mills and two pulp mills, all within 250 kilometres apart.
Since 2013, SPM Instrument has been the main supplier of vibration monitoring technology for rotating equipment in all three of the Group’s production units in Sweden and has delivered online systems as well as portable instruments to Nordic Paper.
The overall objective of standardisation of the condition monitoring equipment at the company is to facilitate maintenance operations, reduce maintenance costs and increase productivity.
