Condition Monitoring, Diagnosis and Maintenance of Mine Ventilation Fans

The methods and techniques involved in condition monitoring have over the years become widely adopted in many industries including mining industry. In today’s competitive climate, the economics of mineral production has become a critical factor and therefore, achieving cost effective plant maintenance is most important. It is in this context that condition monitoring is now considered to play an important role by sustaining reliable operation, high availability, satisfactory performance of industrial plant and machinery. The paper highlights the importance of condition monitoring. It delineates the vibration signature analysis techniques for monitoring the condition of mine ventilation fan. Since the mine ventilation fan resembles a mechanical system, the system’s vibration behaviour remains the key component for monitoring its working condition. The paper discusses in steps the methods to be followed for assessing the health of the fan starting from simply measuring the overall vibration level to the more sophisticated and accurate vibration signature analysis techniques.