Predictive maintenance of fuel system
Customer:
Task:
Machinery: 
Solution:
Result: Predictive maintenance of fuel system
Customer:
manufacturing company, Sierra Leone
Task:
1) fuel consumption measurement
2) fuel system remote monitoring
Machinery:
pumping station, industrial diesel water pumps
Solution:
DFM CAN fuel flow meters + DUT-E CAN fuel level sensors
Result:
1) 5,000 USD saved by predictive maintenance
2) fuel theft has stopped
3) reduced wear out rate of the equipment
Customer
Manufacturing company has production facility in Sierra Leone. The facility requires huge volumes of water for cooling the equipment. Production facility owns pumping stations, placed on the banks of nearby river.
The key for uninterrupted facility operation is constant water supply by pumping stations.
Machinery
The stations are composed of industrial diesel water pumps. Pumps are driven by diesel-powered 300 kW engines. The machinery are used for taking water from the river and pumping it to the tanks located within production facility premises.
Tasks
Fuel consumption and engine run time monitoring
Prevention of fuel theft and misuse.
Engine diagnostics based on fuel consumption
Solution
DUT-E CAN is a capacitive fuel level sensor, installed into a fuel tank of a vehicle or stationary unit. In this case, DUT-E was installed into feed fuel tanks of each pumping unit.
DFM D CAN is a differential (two-chamber) fuel flow meter, which is installed into the supply and return lines of a fuel system, thus ensuring direct fuel consumption measurement.
Both units – the fuel flow meter and the fuel level sensor – have digital CAN J1939/S6 interface. The interface is the most advanced type, since it provides decent number of operations parameters:
- fuel level, fuel volume, fuel temperature in the tank
- overall fuel consumption
- fuel rate and fuel temperature in feed and return lines
- engine run time in “idling” and “normal” operation modes
- fuel usage in “idling” and “normal” operation modes
Altogether, the fuel monitoring system composed of DFM flow meter and DUT-E level sensors provides over 50 fuel-related parameters.
Technicians, who installed fuel monitoring system, have connected all the units, including data logger/terminal unit, over a single wire – S6 Technology. The advantages of S6 Technology are in reducing installation efforts and eliminating risk of mistakes, saving time for connecting and powering up all the devices within the network, and ensuring 100% compatibility between the devices.
Technicians, who installed fuel monitoring system, have connected all the units, including data logger/terminal unit, over a single wire – S6 Technology. The advantages of S6 Technology are in reducing installation efforts and eliminating risk of mistakes, saving time for connecting and powering up all the devices within the network, and ensuring 100% compatibility between the devices.
Result
Fuel theft from pumping station was an initial issue for the customer. That issue was easily solved since DFM and DUT-E left no room for any manipulations – fuel level sensors immediately alarm fuel drain from the tank, while the fuel flow meter ensures no one can take diesel from fuel lines.
But it appeared, that bigger concern should be proper pumping stations predictive maintenance. Data from DFM fuel flow meter revealed, that at some point fuel rate in supply and return lines started to descend without any obvious reason. At the same time, real fuel consumption jumped by 15%.
In-field inspection by maintenance team’s head shown the fine filters were clogged. One of the reasons – unstable fuel quality. Because there were no alternative fuel suppliers, the only solution was to set-up automatic alarming system, which promptly informs when fuel rate is decreasing below certain threshold and fine fuel filters replacement become inevitable.
Keeping an eye on fuel rates in supply and return lines have resulted in optimizing maintenance schedule for other parts of the pumping station. Indirectly, it has reduced wear out rate of the stations and saved the manufacturing company money for repairs and renewing equipment.
The aftermath of 15% increase in fuel consumption is 2,620 USD weekly extra costs per pump for buying diesel fuel. So, the fuel monitoring system allowed achieving:
- direct savings on reducing fuel consumption
- indirect saving on longer machinery lifetime
- reducing risks of sudden breakdown.
