Facilities management

Already at the end of the seventies, the first hospitals and airports started using SPM portable instruments to measure regularly fans and motors for air conditioning systems. Since then, many managers of other types of buildings with high-reliability demands have also joined the SPM crowd of users.

Facility managers running buildings for manufacturing in medical industry, clean room environments in electronic industry and data centres with safety-critical computer systems etc. today look upon condition monitoring as a must to secure reliability of the environment and ensure safe production. In recent years, high energy costs have forced building owners to look at reducing maintenance costs by changing from Planned Preventive Maintenance (PPM) to Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM). At the same time, tenants raise higher demands on environment and reliability in important sectors. This has led owners of high-profile office buildings like banks and call centres to invest in new strategies.

In October 2006, SPM Instrument UK, in cooperation with customer Centrica were awarded the British Institute of Facilities Management Innovation Award for developing the concept of “the talking building”. In addition to improved reliability, this concept can help realize proven savings of up to 30% in operating costs by putting the building systems online and creating the “talking building”. Equipment typically monitored with various methods within the framework of “the talking building” is machinery with rotating parts such as electrical motors and pumps, fans, air filters, boilers, and junction boxes, which are monitored for bearing condition, vibration, temperature balance, electrical safety, and more.

SPM equipment and methods for condition monitoring in FM are also used in bank buildings, shopping centres, clean rooms, data centres and laboratories.

"Condition measurement has previously been performed manually on the main fan of the climate control system. The installation of fixed sensors with Intellinova Parallel MB for condition monitoring has optimized the facility. The National Property Board (NPB) can now see trends through the control computer, which means full reliability." 

Ulf Lönnqvist, vibration engineer at Indoor Energy

Condition monitoring solutions for facilities management

SPM Instrument offers every piece of hardware and software equipment needed for an efficient condition monitoring solution in any building and across geographically dispersed estates, from the point of data collection all the way through to evaluated measurement data. On slowly rotating machinery, the SPM HD® measuring technique can be used with benefit. SPM HD uses RPM-based sampling frequency and algorithmic correlation techniques to ensure the highest possible signal quality and razor-sharp spectrums for analysis.

Portable instrumentation

Our range of handheld instrumentation includes equipment for shock pulse measurement, vibration severity measurement, and vibration spectrum analysis.

Intellinova online systems

With Intellinova, our unique HD condition-monitoring technologies can be fully utilized to successfully provide earlier warning of mechanical problems than any other monitoring technology.

Condition monitoring in explosive environments

Our high-performance portable and online equipment are also available for potentially explosive environments.

HD Technologies

High-definition condition monitoring technologies provide exceptional pre-warning times, maximizing the planning horizon for maintenance and repairs. In turn, this enables fully utilizing asset life, cutting repair costs, and minimizing the consequences of unplanned downtime.

“Centrica UK has substantiated savings of £8 per m2 in 20 call centres now equipped with this system.” 

Brian Amos, Centrica (formerly British Gas)

Case studies

Dynamic balancing of AHU fan

Rotor mass imbalance is a common cause of excessive vibration in rotating equipment and fans, and the benefits of rotor balancing are undisputed. Decreasing the level of noise and vibration in the machine, it can extend bearing life and increase equipment availability. This case study is an examp...

News

AstraZeneca expands online fan monitoring with systems from SPM

SPM has received an extensive order from Swedish biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for the Intellinova online system.

AstraZeneca secures operation of production-critical fans

Swedish biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is now investing in the Intellinova Compact online system to monitor the mechanical condition and lubrication status of several production-critical fans in its plants in Gärtuna and Snäckviken in Södertälje.

Intellinova Parallel MB secures indoor climate for 17th century warship Vasa

For the warship Vasa, the world's only preserved 17th-century ship, the indoor climate in the ship hall of the Vasa Museum is extremely important for the ship’s continued preservation. The Swedish National Property Board (NPB) has commissioned SPM partner Indoor Energy to provide maintenance and...

Portage County Water Resources introduces condition monitoring with SPM

Public utility department Portage County Water Resources in Ohio, USA implements condition monitoring to help ensure reliable operation of its water and wastewater facilities.

Indoor Energy starts collaboration with SPM, investing in condition monitoring with HD technologies

Initially, Indoor Energy invests in the portable instrument Leonova Diamond for vibration and shock pulse measurement with the patented HD technologies HD ENV and SPM HD, providing uniquely effective and user-friendly condition monitoring.