Predictive Asset Analytics: The Future of Maintenance
Authors: Rabia Hagar 
Published: December 2021

Major Overhauls (MOH) of major Rotating Equipment is an essential activity to ensure equipment and overall plant's productivity and reliability requirements are met. This submission summarizes Maintenance cost reduction and MOH extension benefits on an integrally geared centrifugal Instrument Air (IA) compressor through a first of its kind Predictive Maintenance (PdM) solution project in ADNOC.

Appropriate planning for Major Overhauls (MOH) in accordance with OEM, company standards and international best practices are crucial steps. Digitalization continues to transform the industry, with enhancements to maintenance practices a fundamental aspect. Centralized Predictive Analytics & Diagnostics (CPAD) project is a first of its kind in ADNOC as it ventures into on one of the largest predictive maintenance projects in the oil & gas industry. CPAD enables Predictive Maintenance (PdM) through Advanced Pattern Recognition (APR) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies to effectively monitor & assess equipment performance and overall healthiness. Equipment performance is continuously assessed through the developed asset management predictive analytics tool. Through this tool, models associated with the equipment were evaluated to detect performance deviation from historical normal operating behavior. Any deviation from the historical norm would be flagged to indicate condition degradation and/or performance drop. Moreover, the software is configured to alert for subtle changes in the system behavior that are often an early warning sign of failure. This allows for early troubleshooting, planning and appropriate intervention by maintenance teams.

Using the predictive analytics software solution, an MOH interval extension was implemented for an integrally geared centrifugal IA compressor installed at an ADNOC Gas Processing site. The compressor was due for MOH at its traditional fixed maintenance interval of 40,000 running hours in Nov 2019. Through this approach, the actual performance and condition of the compressor was assessed. Its process and equipment parameters (i.e. casing vibrations, bearing vibrations, bearing temperatures and lube oil supply temperature/pressure, etc.) were reviewed, which did not flag any abnormality. The compressor's performance had not deviated from the historical norm; indicating that the equipment was in a healthy condition and had no signs of performance degradation. With this insight, a 15 months extension of the MOH was achieved. Furthermore, a 30% maintenance cost reduction throughout the compressor's life cycle is projected while ensuring equipment's reliability and integrity are upheld. A total of 7 days maintenance down time including work force and materials planning for the MOH activities was deferred. The equipment remained in operation until its rescheduled date for MOH.

Through the deployment of predictive analytics solutions, informed decisions can be made by maintenance professionals to challenge traditional maintenance practices, increase Mean Time Between Overhauls (MBTO), realize the full potential of a plant's process & utilities machinery and optimize operational costs of plant assets.