A Survey on Condition Monitoring Systems in Industry

Advances in networking technologies are opening integration opportunities for Condition Based Monitoring (CBM) systems, presenting further possibilities for increasing CBM system functionality. This paper presents the results of a CBM Survey designed to determine present applications of CBM system within industry. Understanding how industry applies practices such as CBM in the work place offers valuable research results for CBM system providers, consultants and business users alike. The survey acts as a CBM application indicator for 2004. It targets 6 key areas: 1) Respondents’ company information, 2) The type of CBM technique/s applied by the respondents’ company, 3) Incentives that led the respondents’ company to implement their CBM system, 4) Technological and integration issues associated with respondents’ application of CBM, 5) Implementation issues associated with the respondents’ CBM system, and 6) Reliability and consequential maintenance awareness issues following implementation. An international response shows CBM to be a globally accepted maintenance practice. In addition to the survey results, the paper discusses developments in remote CBM systems using the Internet, with particular regard for developing suitable user interface designs.