Maintenance, preventative

A tool kit composed of spanners, screwdrivers, etc. designed for HPLC systems is a useful addition to your laboratory. This can usually be purchased from the HPLC manufacturer or may even be supplied with the system. It will contain all of the necessary tools to allow you to undertake routine preventative maintenance (discussed next). If a tool kit does not come with the system, most of the spanners and screwdrivers can be purchased from your local hardware store. It is recommended that you keep a tool kit handy. 

In conjunction with the tool kit, it is prudent to maintain a supply of consumable items that can be used in an emergency or as part of a preventative maintenance programme. A list of common consumable items that you might expect to keep in the laboratory is given in Table 10.2. 

In the forensic environment, you might find yourself being asked to analyse a sample in relation to a large drug find or a sudden death. A suspect may have been incarcerated and your results are required quickly. When you are working to tight turnaround times, you need to be sure that your HPLC system works the first time without lengthy downtime due to breakdown of the system. The system therefore needs to be maintained as part 

Pump seals Column frits Rotor seal Lamp 

Pistons (sapphire) Check valves Syringe Needle Needle seat Loop Flow cell 

---

If maintenance is performed, there are two principal maintenance strategies preventive and breakdown maintenance. These are not mutually exclusive, and may be combined even in the same piece of equipment. Take for example a private motor car. The owner performs a mixture of preventive maintenance (by adding lubricating oil, topping up the battery fluid, hydraulic fluid and coolant) with breakdown maintenance (e.g. only replacing the starter motor when it fails, rather than at regular intervals). 

Preventive maintenance includes inspection, servicing and adjustment with the objective of preventing breakdown of equipment. This is appropriate for highly critical equipment where the cost of failure is high, or where failure implies a significant negative impact on safety or the environment. This form of maintenance can be scheduled on a calendar basis (e.g. every six months) or on a service hour basis (e.g. every 5,000 running hours). 

If the performance of the equipment is monitored on a continuous basis, then abnormal behaviour can be identified, and preventive maintenance can be performed as and when required this is called on-condition preventive maintenance. The condition of equipment may be established by inspection, that is taking it off-line, opening it up and looking for signs of wear, corrosion etc. This obviously takes the equipment out of service, and may be costly. 

Most emphasis is placed on a program of rigorous preventive maintenance. Appropriate climate conditions can help to prevent mold attack, which typically only occurs at elevated relative humidity. Storage furniture which provides an effective barrier for insects, regular inspection of the collections, monitoring of all collection areas with insect traps, and access control measures which minimize the chance of insect entry into the collection areas, are some aspects of an effective pest control management program (175). 

Developing a Simple Predictive and Preventive Maintenance Program... 

A PPM program is needed to avoid equipment failures, utiHty outages, and production intermptions. From a cost savings angle it is extremely important to do preventive maintenance in order to avoid breakdowns. Periodic inspections and a good lubrication program uncover conditions that could lead to breakdowns. When problems are found eady, they can be taken care of without work intermption and costly repairs. Sometimes faciHty managers are so afraid of downtime that preventive maintenance is done too often. In other cases production does not allow adequate time to provide proper maintenance. 

MaintainabiUty is a characteristic of design, installation, and operation, usually expressed as the probabiUty that a system can be restored to specified operable conditions within a specified interval of time when maintenance is performed in accordance with prescribed procedures. The ease of fault detection, isolation, and repair are all influenced by system design and are principal factors contributing to maintainabiUty. Also contributing is the supply of spare parts, the supporting repair organization, and preventative maintenance practices. MaintainabiUty must be designed into the equipment. Some factors to consider foUow. 

Monitoring by Electromechanical Instrumentation. According to basic engineering principles, no process can be conducted safely and effectively unless instantaneous information is available about its conditions. AH sterilizers are equipped with gauges, sensors (qv), and timers for the measurement of the various critical process parameters. More and more sterilizers are equipped with computerized control to eliminate the possibiUty of human error. However, electromechanical instmmentation is subject to random breakdowns or drifts from caUbrated settings and requires regular preventive maintenance procedures. 

Modification of Equipment. (/) Install equipment that produces minimal or no waste. 2) Modify equipment to enhance recovery or recycling options. (I) Redesign equipment or production lines to produce less waste. (4) Improve operating efficiency of equipment. (5) Maintain strict preventive maintenance program. 

During periodic maintenance, the vibration level should not exceed alert level (see Table 10-10). If the measured level exceeds the alert level then preventive maintenance should be performed, by diagnosing the cause of vibration and reducing the vibration level prior to continued operation. 

Ensuring that good housekeeping and strong preventive-maintenance programs exist and are followed... 

The selection of materials to be used in design dictates a basic understanding of the behavior of materials and the principles that govern such behavior. If proper design of suitable materials of construction is incorporated, the eqiiipment should deteriorate at a uniform and anticipated gradual rate, which will allow scheduled maintenance or replacement at regular inteivals. If localized forms of corrosion are characteristic of the combination of materials and environment, the materials engineer should still be able to predict the probable life of equipment, or devise an appropriate inspection schedule to preclude unexpected failures. The concepts of predictive, or at least preventive, maintenance are minimum requirements to proper materials selection. This approach to maintenance is certainly intended to minimize the possibility of unscheduled production shutdowns because of corrosion failures, with their attendant possible financial losses, hazard to personnel and equipment, and resultant environmental pollution. 

Maintenance and Reliability Preventive maintenance requires that all engines be shut down at periodic intervals for inspection and repair. For properly maintained heavy-duty engines availability is over 97 percent, with maintenance costs of 2.50 to 5 per horse-power-year and lubricating-oil consumption of 1 to 2 gal/hp-year. While this represents a high degree of reliability, outages of heavy-duty engines are more frequent than those of electric motors or steam turbines. 

For further details of industrial operating costs see Annual Oil and Gas Kngine Fower Costs, published hy the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Engine manufacturers will supply recommended schedules for preventive maintenance. 

Tetracycline antibiotics have found wide application in animal industries for treatment, preventive maintenance and stimulation of growth of large horned livestock owing to what their residue amounts can be present at milk and meat of animals. Residue amounts of antibiotics are not toxic, however, capable to cause allergic reactions and to promote development of tolerance of the some people pathogenic bacterias. According with the legislative requirements of a number of the European countries it is forbidden to deliver to the population production polluted residual contents of tetracyclines. 

Blocked liquid Provide level switches for effluent collection effluent line result- vessels ing in flooding.. provide high level alarm in liquid effluent line Implement preventive maintenance checks ... 

Implement routine inspections, monitoring and preventive maintenance programs... 

Loose or mis- Preventative maintenance and operator prestart placed internal checklist hardware causes heat/sparks during plowing out. CCPS G-22... 

Loose drive belts Preventative maintenance checks, tightness and generating fric- protection from contaminants tional heat/static. check belt tension electricity. CCPS G-29... 

Hot running Preventive maintenance bearings., Monitor bearings temperature Purging and sealing to keep solvents out, if solvent (even vapor) exposure is possible Use improved bearing lubricant CCPS G-29... 

Running unbal- Preventive maintenance and operator checklist anced, vibration inspections due to worn bear-, effective vibration monitor/shutdown device ings or other mechanical problem such as product accumulation behind filter screen. ... 

Implement preventive maintenance on bearings for rotary, autofilter, and agitated pan dryers... 

Check and open vents by scheduled preventive maintenance... 

Heat build-up Ensure frequent preventive maintenance checks due to worn or on bearings overloaded, Monitor and alarm bearing temperature bearings. Ensure proper belt tension CCPS G-12 CCPS G-23 CCPS G-29... 

Hot bearings pro- Avoid by regular preventive maintenance (PM) viding a source of inspections, lubrication and belt checks Ignition., Ugg improved lubrication CCPS G-23 CCPS G-29 CCPS G-34... 

Provide appropriate preventive maintenance of instruments and field sensors... 

Preventive maintenance on vital equipment should be properly scheduled, carried out and documented. This program must be separate from the regulatory inspection. 

Does facility have a documented preventative maintenance program to minimize equipment downtime ... 

Is there a documented preventive maintenance program for major equipment ... 

Preventive maintenance on vital equipment, such as tractor units, tanks, pumps, hoses, hard arms, pipelines, and mooring facilities, should be properly scheduled, carried out and documented. This program should be separate from the regulatory inspection. Verify from records. 

Preventive maintenance Inspection or testing conducted on equipment to detect impending or minor failures and restore the equipment to its proper condition. 

Working recently as a pump consultant, I was in a failure analysis meeting with. i chief mechanic who had some 45 years experience. A preventive maintenance inspector came into the room and reported that he had to stop a pump the... 

I he focus of industrial plant maintenance has always been that the de,sign is correct, and that the operation of the pumps in the. system is as it should be. In this book, you will see that in the majority of occasions, this is not true. Most of us in maintenance spend our valuable time, just changing parts, and in the best of cases, performing preventive maintenance, trying to diminish the time required to change those parts. 

Combining the practice of preventive maintenance and total quality control and total employee involvement results in an innovative system for equipment maintenance that optimizes effectiveness, eliminates breakdowns, and promotes autonomous operator maintenance through day-to-day activities. This concept known as Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) was conceived by Seiichi Nakajima and is well-documented in his book Introduction of TPM and is highly recommended reading for all involved in the maintenance area. 

---