Condition Monitoring: The Big Picture

What this topic covers

Use measurements and trends to detect changing equipment condition before functional failure.

Core ideas

Condition monitoring turns repeatable measurements into evidence about asset health.

Useful programs select measurements based on credible failure modes rather than instrument availability.

Alarm levels, baselines and diagnosis should reflect machine type, operating state and measurement quality.

Program tradeoffs

Load, speed and operating state can change signals even when machine condition is unchanged.

What good evidence looks like

Diagnosis should combine vibration, temperature, lubrication, process and maintenance history where appropriate.

Lifecycle perspective

Monitoring should produce actionable work or engineering review rather than accumulating alarms without response.