Capability Spotlight: Centaur Condition Monitoring

Hydro’s Centaur is an IoT condition monitoring solution developed by rotating equipment experts with a specific focus on detecting equipment failure modes and providing impending warning of incipient problems. Centaur includes the necessary hardware, software, and dedicated engineering support to successfully trend equipment condition and avoid unplanned downtime.

The Problem

Industrial users have relied on analog gauges and route-based data collection methods for decades. These methods often lead to inaccurate or incomplete readings and can expose workers to elevated safety risks, especially in hazardous environments. More importantly, traditional methods do not provide the benefits that continuous monitoring does, such as early detection and warning alerts, remote support for troubleshooting and diagnostics, and improved MTBR/MTBF.

Our Solution

A complete picture of equipment health can only be revealed by capturing a continuous stream of data and using both analytical power and subject matter expertise to turn this data into actionable information. Centaur achieves this by combining digital vibration, temperature, and pressure sensors, cloud-based software, and the experience gained through 50 years of developing aftermarket solutions for rotating equipment.

A critical piece of Centaur’s ability to reduce users’ cost of asset ownership and avoid unnecessary downtime is its dedicated engineering team, who provide proactive monitoring oversight, monthly health reports, and advanced analytical support. These rotating equipment experts perform root cause analyses of concerning trends and alarm events, which include recommended action steps to remediate suspected issues long before they become costly failures.

The Difference

In contrast to traditional IOT companies, Centaur was developed with the input of rotating equipment experts. As an unbiased presence in the aftermarket, Hydro has amassed experience over a broad spectrum of manufacturers, designs, and applications.

This expertise influenced hardware and software design, ensuring that Centaur is capable of effectively detecting and identifying known equipment failure modes. Some examples include the measurement of phase data and a frequency range capable of detecting bearing fault frequencies.

How it Works

The Benefits

  • Increased accuracy: Provides more precise pressure readings, maintaining safe and efficient operations.
  • Greater data collection frequency: Allows creation of detailed pressure profiles and trends, supporting identification of anomalies that indicate potential issues.
  • Increased worker safety: Eliminates need for workers to access dangerous or hard-to-reach areas and provides earlier warning of potential safety issues.
  • Predictive maintenance: Enables condition-based maintenance by tracking performance degradation over time.
  • Cost savings: Reduces cost of equipment ownership by preventing potential issues and reducing downtime.
  • Trending efficiency: Detecting and trending performance degradation facilitates more informed decisions on equipment operation and maintenance.

Ready to learn more about Centaur? Contact us or apply for a free trial.

Podcast: The Coolest in Pump Testing and Condition Monitoring

 

We agree with Empowering Pumps, pump testing and condition monitoring are the coolest!

Listen to the latest Empowering Industry podcast, where Charli Matthews chats with our Director of Condition Monitoring and Test Lab, Ares Panagoulias, about his history with the Hydro Test Lab, how he got pulled into the world of pumps, and the new innovations he is heading with our Centaur condition monitoring division.

Watch to the interview below, or listen to the podcast here.

Learn more about the Centaur condition monitoring solution and and Hydro’s Performance Test Lab.

Podcast: Solutions Spotlight with Ares Panagoulias

Ever wondered how to better understand equipment health but struggled with climbing the mountain of data available to come up with actionable information?

Listen to the latest podcast from Chemical Processing magazine, where our Director of Condition Monitoring and the Test Lab, Ares Panagoulias, talks about how to avoid data overload while still becoming more predictive in your asset management strategies.

Listen to the podcast below, or read the interview here.

Learn more about the Centaur condition monitoring solution and read some case studies of successful implementations of condition monitoring.

What Happens When Things Go Bump in the Night?

What happens when an alarm is signaled from our Condition Monitoring System? Is the software customizable to customers’ needs? Glad you asked.

It all starts in the home of our Centaur engineers – the Monitoring and Diagnostic Center, where dedicated personnel are checking the status of monitored equipment 24/7. These vibration and pump subject matter experts keep an eye on concerning trends and use the digital twin interface to identify areas of concern. Continue reading

Meet Centaur, Hydro’s Wireless Condition Monitoring Solution

Hydro, Inc. introduces Centaur, its Wireless Condition Monitoring Solution. Centaur provides users with remote monitoring allowing for operators and engineers to observe equipment performance in real-time enabling predictive analytics, vibration monitoring, and temperature readings to optimize critical asset maintenance strategies.

Centaur offers advanced data analysis support, backed by Hydro’s diversified and unbiased pump knowledge base, which spans across a broad spectrum of manufacturers and designs. With highly customized dashboards and automated alarm notifications, Centaur can alert users before a critical asset experiences a failure or previously unforeseen event.

The benefits realized with Hydro’s Wireless Condition Monitoring Solution are:

  • Real-time data – not dependent on the next route cycle
  • High-frequency data collection – no more missed events or issues
  • Increased safety resources available for data analysis – reducing in-field data collection time increases availability for analysis
  • Customizable alerts and alarms give users the assurance to operate their machines without concern
  • Maintenance schedules can be optimized based on machine condition

For over 50 years, Hydro has been providing customers with creative engineering solutions to complex pump problems. Now, Hydro offers 360° support for customers’ rotating machinery with Centaur: Hydro’s Wireless Condition Monitoring Solution.

Do you have concerns regarding your critical asset reliability? Visit https://hydroinc.com/centaur or call 1-800-223-7867 to learn more about Hydro’s suite of services.