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Reliability Engineering Services

Reliability plays a critical role in reducing total cost of ownership

Westpower’s reliability engineering services offers turn-key support for your facility and rotating equipment, creating more reliable uptime and predictable operating outcomes.

Leveraging over 25 years of rotating equipment experience, our reliability engineers help you focus your efforts where it matters most. We accomplish this by using the latest techniques and taking on-site measurements related to the actual behaviour of your facility, machinery and supporting systems.

Our reliability engineering services help to mitigate small and excessive vibrations, overheating, unusual noises, cavitation, coupling misalignment and failures, cloudy oil and other lubricant issues as well as mechanical seal issues and failures.

Our reliability engineering services include: Condition Monitoring Services, Field Equipment Performance Testing, On-site Customer Training, Vibration Analysis & Troubleshooting, Root Cause Failure Analysis, Engineering Design Review, Engineering Consultancy, Lubrication Assessment & Technical Support, Mechanical Seals Assessment & Technical Support and Equipment Audits & Surveys.

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Deteriorating pump performance can have a significant impact on your total cost of ownership. Westpower’s field equipment performance testing provides insight into how your rotating equipment is performing compared to its OEM specifications. Performance testing is recommended for assets in critical applications, especially for multistage (BB3 and BB5) pumps.

Our reliability experts can provide on-site customer training and engineering support tailored to your operational and system requirements.

Vibration analysis is a diagnostic technique that facilitates mitigating the effects of equipment failures. It enables timely awareness of the state of machinery when correct instruments, processes and knowledge are applied. The most common applications of vibration analysis in rotating machinery are for the diagnosis and correction of a rotor mass unbalance, misalignment, gear, and bearing faults. However, if not done correctly, vibration analysis could prove to be a costly and counterproductive.

Our qualified team of engineers are certified ISO Category 2 (or higher) vibration analysts. Services can be offered as part of an on-going condition monitoring program or as ad hoc troubleshooting to identify and eliminate particular failure modes on rotating equipment, piping or structures. Up to 15% of all failures and resulting downtime is caused by vibration induced fatigue in structures.

Westpower can conduct comprehensive assessments, including visual inspections, bearing temperature surveys, motion amplification measurements and vibration measurements to urgently assess any areas of immediate concern. The Westpower Reliability Toolbox of Vibration Monitoring and Analysis equipment include:

    • Machine Sentry Mobile System IIoT platform
    • CSI Vibration Analyzers
    • Machine Sentry Mobile (MSM-1) condition monitoring and analysis system
    • Machine Sentry Fixed (MSF-1) sensors for semi-continuous monitoring
    • RDI Iris M Motion Amplification Camera for analysing the movement of structures, machinery and other equipment
    • Pruftechnik Vibration Analyzers
    • Machine Sentry Online (MSO-1) 8 channel system for continuous system monitoring
    • High Speed Data Acquisition Systems (Up to 32 channels – more available if needed)
    • Instrumented Hammers for resonance testing and modal analysis

Westpower understands the importance and challenges faced in keeping critical equipment running without issues. That is why our team of rotating equipment experts are qualified and equipped to mobilize to customer sites for onsite root cause analysis and troubleshooting. Our approach combines practical site experience for assessment of failure modes with theoretical studies/simulations as needed.

Westpower takes a holistic approach to root cause analysis by comprehensively assessing equipment design, installation, operation, and maintenance, which are the foundations of equipment reliability. The Westpower Reliability capabilities have grown to include the following:

    • Visual inspections
    • Resonance Testing and Modal Analysis
    • Pumping System Performance and Operation Analysis
    • Multichannel data collection and analysis
    • System dynamic analysis
    • Rotor dynamic analysis
    • Motion Amplification Analysis
    • Acoustical Analysis
    • Pulsation and Surge Analysis
    • Experimental Modal Analysis
    • Operating Deflection Shape Analysis
    • Pipeline Vibration Compliance Analysis
    • Oil Sampling and Analysis

Our toolbox of monitoring and analysis equipment includes:

    • Machine Sentry Mobile System IIoT platform
    • Pruftechnik Vibration Analyzers
    • CSI Vibration Analyzers
    • Machine Sentry Mobile (MSM-1) condition monitoring and analysis system
    • Machine Sentry Fixed (MSF-1) sensors for semi-continuous monitoring
    • RDI Iris M Motion Amplification Camera for analysing the movement of structures, machinery and other equipment
    • Machine Sentry Online (MSO-1) 8 channel system for continuous system monitoring
    • FLIR Thermal Imaging Cameras
    • Portable Ultrasonic Flow meters
    • High Speed Data Acquisition Systems (Up to 32 channels – more available if needed)
    • Instrumented Hammers for resonance testing and modal analysis

Increasing your rotating equipment reliability is accomplished by better designs, better quality repairs and assembly, better installation and commissioning and better operations. Our multi-disciplinary engineering team has extensive knowledge designing rotating equipment and their supporting systems across various industries and applications.

Don’t have the necessary specialized engineering personnel in-house? Westpower can supply a range of on-site services provided as part of a contract or on a pay as you go basis. If required, highly experienced engineers can be based at your site, eliminating all of your maintenance concerns.

Lubrication plays an important role in your equipment’s’ reliable operation, often solving real problems such as overheating, increased energy consumption, arctic duty and severe service. Westpower’s lubrication assessment and technical support services help extend your equipment’s lifecycle and eliminate costly unplanned downtime. We assess and recommend the best lubricants specific to your operating conditions as well as the proper storage, handling and inventory practices.

Westpower’s mechanical seals assessment and technical support aims to maximize Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) and minimize inventory of your mechanical seals. Our team determines the optimal seals and systems specific to your application as well as all required industry standards to improve the efficiency of your assets.

In field technical problem solving involves understanding the application from a holistic system standpoint, doing seal failure analysis and root cause failure analysis to identify the real issues and then working collaboratively with the customer and seal OEM to find and implement effective solutions.

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INDUSTRY DESCRIPTION CHALLENGE SOLUTION
Major Midstream oil & gas company in the Montney Region Field Pump Performance Testing and Mechanical Integrity Evaluation Noticeable degradation in pump performance. High cost of assessment from pump OEM service provider. Analyst travels from USA to Western Canada Westpower Reliability Engineering local outfit offered field performance testing and mechanical integrity analysis
Southern Alberta Municipality of approximately 35K people IIoT Route-based Condition Monitoring Municipality needed to reduce risk exposure by changing to predictive based maintenance. In-house expertise with predictive maintenance was not available. Machine Sentry IIoT route-based vibration condition monitoring program implementation.
Major oil & gas company in with conventional storage in Hardisty Alberta Field Diagnostics, Resonance High vibration in critical butane single stage horizontal overhung (OH2) pump preventing the completion of commissioning of a critical unit. Field vibration diagnosis, Impact Testing, confirming resonance. Collaboration with pump OEM to develop bearing housing brace to increase system stiffness and eliminate system resonance
Major oil & gas company; pipeline operations in Alberta, Canada Piping System Design/ Feasibility Evaluation Oversized pump in critical process operation had reliability issues from constant low flow operation. Customer contemplated installing a pump recycle line to compensate for low flow operation System hydraulic design analysis using AFT Fathom software to assess recycle line feasibility. It was concluded that a recycle line would not be feasible, saving the customer over 1 million dollars in piping design and MOC process.
Major midstream company: pipeline operations in Consort Alberta, Canada Field Engineering Diagnostics
Root Cause Analysis
Turnkey Piping Modification		 Excessive vibration of piping on gear pump leading to failure of fittings and tubing on PSVs, environmental release. System was shut down, resulting in costly losses from production downtime. Field vibration analysis of piping system, including natural frequency testing. Simulation done to develop solution including suction dampers on pump and modification of piping system to increase natural frequency away from pump Gear Mesh Frequency
Independent Power Producer with 9 locations across, BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan, Southeast BC. IIoT Condition Based Maintenance, Route-based
IIoT Operator Routine Program development		 Computerized Maintenance Management System did not exist. Mostly reactive maintenance mixed with preventive. Paper-based operator routine system was sufficient for a single site, but customer required a system that allowed for central planning and execution. Machine Sentry IIoT Condition Monitoring System implementation: central maintenance management and migration of all paper-based operator routines to cloud-based system. Enabled: central planning and maintenance management, efficient tracking of operator tasks and defect elimination.
Midstream company: Drayton Valley Alberta, Canada Consulting Services
Field Research and Development		 The impact of pushing pump flow operation beyond design specifications Allowed the customer to determine the integrity of the pump during the desired increase flows. Solution included live monitoring of process parameters along with vibration signatures.
Small Energy Solutions Provider Engineering Consulting Services
Field Research and Development		 Customer developing a proprietary machine for use in the energy industry required Field testing and monitoring of the device to aid in its research and develop. They, however, did not have the expertise and equipment within their team. Westpower Reliability provided bespoke monitoring and testing solutions tailored to the customer’s requirements.
SAGD Oil and Gas facility, Cold Lake Alberta Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA) Poor reliability of critical OH4 (vertical inline rigidly coupled) pumps including several catastrophic failures of pump shaft. Customer needed to get to the root cause of failure Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA) including analysis of operating data, maintenance history, vibration signatures, and dimensional checks on pump. High solids in process fluid were found to be the cause of failure. Corrective measures were proposed.
Major Power Producer, Saskatchewan, Canada Vibration Analysis by Motion Amplification Study (VAMAS) Excessive vibration at 1X running speed experienced on critical Boiler Feedwater (BFW) pumps. Customer needed pump expertise to diagnose the problem and recommend plan for correction. Motion Amplification study of the BFW pump. MA was able to identify structural looseness of pump drive motor bolts. Consequently, a corrective plan was proposed.
Major Power Producer with sites across BC and, Alberta, Near Fort St John, BC Pump Performance Testing and Mechanical Integrity Evaluation (PPTMIE) Customer needed a cost-effective solution to determine state of aging pump assets including three critical boiler feedwater pumps. In-house expertise was not available to provide a solution. Field Pump Performance Testing and Analysis on all critical pumps at the site. With competitive rates the customer was able to get an assessment of the state of all pumps at an affordable cost.
Major Power Producer in Saskatchewan Vibration Analysis by Motion Amplification (VAMA) Excessive vibration on several forced draft fans. Preliminary screening by customer’s engineering team revealed vibration at running speed. Further screening needed to determine cause. Motion amplification study to further assess the root cause of high 1X vibration. Several root causes were identified including insufficient support stiffness for an ageing 600 HP motor base. Recommendations were made to replace the motor base.
Leading Pulp and Paper producer, Grand Prairie, Alberta Vibration Analysis by Motion Amplification (VAMA) Excessive vibration identified on a critical process roots blower. Vibration signature identified at running speed (1X). Further testing was required to diagnose the root cause of the vibration observed. Motion Amplification study revealed cracks in foundation sub-frame. Management team was able to see, in real time, the screening done with MA. Sub-frame upgrade and replacement was recommended.
Major Chemical Processing Plant in Joffre, Alberta Structural Integrity Evaluation by Motion Amplification (SIEMA) Critical process reciprocating compressors were scheduled for base/foundation repairs. Customer required an assessment of foundation bolts prior to repairs that will serve as a reference for comparison after repairs. Motion Amplification study of reciprocating compressor hold down bolts, quantifying looseness, and severity of fault.