This article focuses on the process involved in machinery health monitoring. Operators need know only about certain things for which they can take immediate action: a cavitating pump, an overheating motor, a severely vibrating train, a failing bearing. They do not need knowledge of longer-term concerns like imbalance or misalignment, the domain of maintenance gurus. Likewise, management needs information about overall plant health and the priorities of various repairs, but it does not want to know that a circulation water pump is exhibiting mild axial misalignment or another pump elsewhere is beginning to cavitate.
A Field bus that Chooses
