Applying Traditional Condition-based Monitoring of Paper Machines to Monitoring for Paper Quality & Runnability, 2000 Process Control, Electrical & Info. Conference Proceedings

William P. Broussard--Traditional on-line monitoring instrumentation is condition-based—that is it addresses vibration, temperature, pressure, speed, and other parameters of bearings, rolls, shafts, blades, etc. within a machine to predict when a component would fail. This allows maintenance to replace a faulty item during a scheduled down time, thus dramatically reducing or eliminating unplanned down time. The cost / benefit of this technology is historically well-understood and yields high Return-on-Investment rates (typically 2x - 11x the initial implementation cost).

Condition Monitoring Technology has developed to a point that it can now be used to additionally determine what components within a paper machine are contributing to the production of sub- quality paper. Issues, such as roll barring, basis weight variability, moisture variability, caliper, and opacity can be correlated with a defect frequency. We will call the application of this newly developed technology Adaptive Monitoring Technology (AMT).

Using FFT (fast-fourier transform) spectral analysis and TSA (time- synchronous averaging), the system can provide the paper maker with feedback that correlates defect frequencies with percent contribution and trends. Statistical thinking is employed to help identify causes of variations. By identifying the problem through correlation, a change can be made to stabilize the process.