A new book from the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT), titled: An Introduction to Condition Monitoring and Diagnostic Technologies, edited by Professor A Hope and Mr D Whittle, introduces the reader to the wide range of technologies that can be used for the condition monitoring (CM) and diagnostics of structures, plant and machinery through surveillance, monitoring and analysis.
Condition monitoring forms a vital part of the asset management process. It involves the measurement and monitoring of specific parameters that may give an indication of machine health or a fault condition, through an increase or decrease in the measured values or by other changes to characteristic values over a period of time. Techniques collectively referred to as CM have a common objective of knowing and understanding the health and condition of a machine and indicating the early signs of deterioration or malfunction and changing wear trends.
This new title contains eleven chapters and provides a general introduction to CM and diagnostic technologies. The opening chapter covers the challenges involved in setting up a condition-based maintenance programme and this is followed by several chapters that describe the most widely used CM techniques and diagnostic technologies, including vibration analysis, oil analysis, wear debris analysis, acoustic emission, thermal imaging, ultrasound condition monitoring, motor current signature analysis and electrical condition monitoring, optical condition monitoring and laser shearography.
A further chapter introduces the wide range of international CM standards currently in use and, although the book is essentially an introductory text, an additional chapter is included on the important topic of prognostics.
The individual chapters are written by experts who are well-known in their particular fields of expertise. The book provides a useful introduction to the subject for undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students, as well as researchers, academics, condition monitoring practitioners and those overseeing the asset management process.
An Introduction to Condition Monitoring and Diagnostic Technologies is available to purchase now from the website of the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing at www.bindt.org priced at £66.75 plus p&p (300 pages, A4, soft cover, ISBN 978 0 903132 76 3). A discount is available to members of BINDT.