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Product category: Tanks, pipework, nozzles, tube fittings
News Release from: FlexRite Chemgiene | Subject: Hose monitoring
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial Team on 09 January 2006

Monitoring hoses and couplings to avoid
failures

Hoses and couplings are some of the simplest yet most vital parts of equipment in process plants - and should be given more attention in terms of condition monitoring

John Quilter of Flexrite Chemgiene voices concern that process industries chance fate over some of the simplest yet most vital equipment in their plants - the hoses and couplings that are the arteries of the systems Too little attention is paid by most manufacturers and processors to the fundamental, yet simple equipment that holds the key to plant uptime and avoidance of lost opportunity costs

Indeed, in some cases the children's proverbial rhyme "for the want of nail - the kingdom was lost" is wholly appropriate.

This is never more so than where hoses, tubes and couplings are concerned.

In most cases this simple equipment forms the arterial nub of the system.

Because hoses are passive components in any system it is often assumed that they suffer no fatigue and hence are unlikely to wear out.

It is overlooked that they may carry aggressive and corrosive fluids, or that they might be subjected externally to harsh environments, or that they may undergo caustic washdowns, let alone that they can be accidentally damaged.

Many fail to realise that the health of hoses can be measured, recorded and even monitored.

Certainly, even in the worst case scenarios of inadequate surveying techniques, the mean time between failure estimations can be brought to bear to avoid failures and resultant costly downtime.

Even the thriftiest of industry's bean counters can associate the idea of an inexpensive survey when faced with the costs in potentially tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of lost opportunity.

Confronted by a nightmare situation, every plant manager in the land would reach for the telephone to get their sites surveyed.

Just such an instance befell the hapless Sellafield Thorp reprocessing plant in May 2005.

The plant leaked sufficient highly radioactive acid to half fill an Olympic-size swimming pool.

The reason was a fractured pipe that allowed the highly dangerous mixture, containing about 20 tonnes of uranium and plutonium fuel, to enter into a huge stainless steel chamber that is now so radioactive that it is impossible to enter.

The result was a massive clean up and repair operation that continues today at the GBP2.1bn plant.

The cost has yet to be revealed, but it doesn't take a nuclear physicist to work out it is probably more than most of us would spend on a good night out.

What is so difficult about picking up the telephone to an expert offering support for such simple yet vital equipment? The short answer in most cases is ignorance.

Not in the negative sense the term implies, but rather that plant engineers fail to realise the potential for failure in their equipment.

It is easy to understand that a plant control system and any of its moving parts may be subject to routine maintenance or replacement, it is far less apparent with hoses.

The methods of hose monitoring are well established and have been supplemented recently by the incorporation of advanced, yet affordable technology.

If we start at the beginning, every plant that relies on hoses can benefit from simple site surveying.

This is largely non-intrusive, can be completed quickly and provides the platform from which life expectancy calculations can be made.

The tests vary from pressure tests to check the integrity of the system to internal examination of hoses using endoscopy methods.

From such a survey, information can be gleaned as the general condition of a system and recommendations made founded on long experience.

Data can be stored, alarms or maintenance deadlines set, inventories for spare parts purposes or product sourcing can be compiled.

Once established, site registers can be stored and day to day updates included.

In some instances, the initial and subsequent surveys can identify possibilities for refurbishment rather than replacement of vulnerable hoses.

This process alone can save typically 30% to 70% of the replacement with new costs.

Where appropriate, hoses can be collected for reclaim on a routine basis - adding further to the on-going savings.

It's possible that in the process of surveying and logging hoses, improvements can be made by selecting new types of hoses or better materials.

Application improvements often arise from the thorough examination of a plant.

Installation procedures can be reviewed and again, improvements sometimes materialise even from rudimentary procedures such as the fitting of couplings.

Complementary hose equipment such as washdown stations, steam mixer valves, quick release couplings, Camlocks and so forth can be specified or improved upon.

Hose tagging delivers the benefit of being able to track and trace hoses throughout their lifetime.

This provides the third party or outsourced supplier with invaluable data and product or application history, but can also be used in-house by plant engineers charged with planning routine maintenance.

Tags can be simple brightly coloured and clearly legible labels, but the tagging methods are one field where modern technology has enabled advancement.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has become a buzz term of recent years and has been highlighted by such applications as pet tagging for overseas visits, point of sale and stock inventory data as well as security for products such as pharmaceuticals and medicines.

In short, RFID is the new bar code.

Once applied to hoses, site surveys can be completed by simply strolling the site and recoding data from each tag as it is passed.

One area of opportunity RFID technology brings, is in the tracking and planning of plant and product maintenance.

Nowhere is this possibility highlighted more clearly than in mission critical processes, such as in the foods and pharmaceuticals sectors.

In these industries, many manufacturers now fall under the US FDA 21 CFR 11 legislation relating to traceability and system validation.

Failure to comply with this strict legislation can result in goods being barred from the American market.

This being stated, there is a cautionary counsel.

Businesses must time their entry into RFID systems carefully.

Technology alone cannot provide a full solution, it needs consideration and planning if an RFID system is to pay off and provide a good return on investment.

Implement RFID applications step by step in order to ensure that disruption is minimised for customers and make the most out of existing systems.

Make sure that the company infrastructures are prepared, since data integration is a huge challenge.

It is vital that back-end applications are ready to receive support and store higher volumes of data in new formats, that data is synchronised externally if there are multiple internal systems and most importantly, that data is clean before RFID tagging is implemented.

Some sages suggest that one cannot manage what cannot be measured.

While this may be a rather sweeping statement in many walks of life, it is an adage for plant maintenance.

By taking a few simple steps, process plant managers can avoid the pitfall of losing output for the want of a hose.

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