September 2020

37 www.drivesncontrols.com September 2020 FOOD AND BEVERAGE n A bsolut Vodka, one of Sweden’s most iconic brands, has a single production line that serves the whole world. This makes reliability vital, especially in mash preparation – a continuous process that is critical to the distillery’s operations. Every year, Absolut produces about 130 million bottles of its vodka, using Swedish winter wheat that is digested, fermented and then distilled. Historically, the high cost of installing vibration monitoring equipment has been the biggest obstacle to improving reliability at the distillery. After researching various methods to optimise condition-based monitoring and maintenance, the distillery, located in southern Sweden, decided to install smart sensors on motors in its mash preparation area. “We realised they had the potential to give us the continuous monitoring we wanted, but using inexpensive and less complex wireless communications,”explains Absolut’s maintenance supervisor, Jonas Nilsson. The ABB Ability Smart Sensors, each about the size of a mobile phone, measure vibration, temperature and other critical factors on rotating machines. They are designed to be installed on motor housings. Soon after the sensors had been installed in the mash process, an abnormal vibration curve was detected on an agitator motor, indicating a possible bearing failure. Detailed analysis confirmed that there was indeed a faulty bearing. Detecting the defective bearing before it failed allowed Absolut to fix the problem during a planned shutdown, avoiding lost production caused by unexpected downtime. The sensors also uncovered a second possible problem – significant vibration in a pump on the mash preparation line. At first, Absolut’s engineers thought it might be another bearing issue, but it turned out to be a valve that had shifted, accidentally resulting in the pump cavitating. “The sensors offer us an easy way to gain a deeper insight into our mash preparation, with the possibility to find even small problems and address them before they become a major issue,” says Absolut automation engineer, Tony Knutsson. “By understanding the condition of our equipment, we can plan maintenance activities and align them with planned production stops.” The Absolut engineers see potential benefits of using similar smart sensors on other items of equipment. As a next step, they are targeting motors located in difficult-to-reach areas of the plant. n By installing smart sensors on motors in its Swedish distillery, Absolut has been able to avoid unexpected downtime Smart sensors avoid headaches at Absolut plant Themotion plastics ® effect: longer service life and a reduction in costs ... and always at least one of the two: this is the goal of all igus ® products. Tribo-plastics for motion, efficient production, and logistics, provide over 200,000 customers with "cost down, life up" benefits. The igus ® range includes flexible energy supply systems with special dynamic cables, and tribological engineering components such as plain bearings, ball bearings, linear systems, 3D printed parts. All igus ® products are available ex stock, and the life can be easily calculated online. s ® citsalpnoitom igus ® Caswell Road Northampton NN4 7PW Tel 01604 677240 sales@igus.co.uk plastics for longer life ® UK-1179-motion plastics 86x264.indd 1 01.07.20 14:25