As with most industries, the cost of breakdowns or unplanned maintenance in production and ancillary machinery in the pharmaceuticals industry can be very high. Manufacturers are therefore using vibration monitoring to assess the health of machinery used in production, such as milling, granulation, coating and tablet pressing. Equipment includes motors, pumps, conveyor belts, mixers, vacuum dryers, cappers and fillers.
Production takes place under conditions of strict hygiene, so vibration sensors need to be hygienically sealed to operate in sterile environments and able to withstand wash-down of equipment. Monitran’s standard accelerometers and velocity transducers are sealed for life with an IP rating of IP67, making them immune to high pressure water jets or occasional immersion for very short periods. They are also resistant to high humidity, oil, grease and most industrial chemicals.
Sensor outputs can be fed into an MTN/5000 microcomputer controlled multichannel condition monitoring system. This constantly shows each sensor status through a colour display and initiates alarms when necessary. Full integration with other control systems and types of sensors is also possible.