For HVAC/R contractors, building facility managers, or building owners, Predictive Maintenance is crucial in every day operations. Shortages of HVAC/R technicians has been a topic of concern for a number of decades. As service providers are becoming over tasked, one of the first services to be placed on the back burner is preventive maintenance. This can quickly turn into a self-inflicted emergency repair that simultaneously depletes precious available manpower. Within the realm of preventive maintenance, complex systems and machines are required to effectively communicate to service personnel what the problem is, and (with the proper tools at the technician’s disposal) how to fix it. When a first responder shows up, the system or machine should be able to offer a list of high probability solutions to the problem. Down time and return service calls and warranty returns are all driving up expenses.
The need for protecting systems and machines while also providing communication and diagnostics is a necessity. This all equates to simple diagnostics for rapid problem solving. Traditionally, field service management solutions have been too cumbersome and inflexible to enable organizations to quickly and easily reap the benefits. Requiring a technician to utilize a laptop (sometimes in bad weather on roof tops) with a proprietary piece of software for only one brand of equipment, continues to add cost and downtime. A mobile work force needs a mobile-driven strategy as well as predictive analytics enabling prescriptive maintenance. “Skills can be leveraged anywhere, any time with the capability of modern mobile technology” – drastically improving first time fix rate or FTF. With the rapid rise of IoT and Industry 4.0, sensors and integrated technology on equipment is enabling more efficient field service. Instead of performing maintenance when an error occurs, if the type of fault is recorded with predictive analytics and remote monitoring equipment is enabled through IoT technology, faults can be detected before they occur. This drastically increases the First Time Fix Rate (FTF) when service providers are called. Field service solutions should be able to find and collect patterns of critical performance data from past actions and then use this information to create rules that highlight how repairs and services can be improved which play directly into operational efficiency. This, in turn, directly empowers service engineers by providing them with the right tools and information at their fingertips to better perform their job. By combining modern condition monitoring sensors and technologies with its industry expertise, KRIWAN provides condition monitoring directly at the site for individual machine analysis AND Remote condition monitoring.
This can be quickly and easily implemented on the vast majority of compressors within the HVACR industry. If we are to meet this demand for connectivity, we need to maximize our efforts and strategies to ensure that all available technologies and resources are utilized to their fullest possible potential. Today, Internet Of Things consists of approximately 5 billion devices and is expected to grow to 26 billion devices by the year 2020. All of the KRIWAN data collected through various KRIWAN Diagnose devices can now be passed on to the new Modbus Gateway INT600 DM, and read into the refrigeration controller or building automation controls. With five inputs, the gateway can process entire systems together, and send the data stream to the system or building controller. Each input on the Modbus Gateway can be connected to a chain of INT69 xxx Diagnose and INT280-xxx Diagnose oil level regulators. Since 1979 Modbus protocol has remained simple and robust. It has since become a de facto standard communication protocol, and it is now a commonly available means of connecting industrial electronic devices. This in turn reduces the need to employ proprietary hardware and software as well as specialized resources which aren’t communicating with one another.
This allows a maximum of 10 devices in a refrigeration rack to be connected to a single gateway. The set-up is fully configurable, and can be modularly adapted to suit the requirements on site. Also shown is the INT69 UY Diagnose Phase Monitor, which protects complex systems from undesired power grid conditions. This new concept means that the refrigeration system installers can simply turn on the diagnosis system and run the Modbus cabling to the system or building controller. This enables remote monitoring / Data logging and provides for on-site diagnostics as well as collecting predictive maintenance data through the building or system controllers in use. The KRIWAN approach to Intelligent System Diagnostics provides flexibility and power to all levels, making HVAC/R systems more reliable, more efficient, and easily integrated and most importantly predictive.
