Proactive Maintenance Strategies Flashcards

A fan has repeated bearing failures and vibration at 1X running speed in the radial direction. What proactive action targets the root cause?

Answer: Dynamically balance the rotor to a defined tolerance

Radial 1X vibration usually means imbalance, and precision balancing removes the force that damages bearings.

Why are breathers with desiccant used on gearbox and reservoir vents?

Answer: To keep moisture and dirt out of the lubricant

Desiccant breathers block airborne moisture and particles, keeping the lubricant clean and dry.

In a root cause analysis, a team stops at 'bearing failed due to fatigue.' What is the problem with this conclusion?

Answer: It names a failure mechanism, not the latent or human cause to correct

Effective RCA continues to the physical, human, and latent causes so the issue can be permanently fixed.

What role does a bad actor list play in a proactive maintenance program?

Answer: It focuses defect elimination effort on the assets causing the most loss

Targeting the few assets responsible for most downtime or cost gives the biggest reliability return.

Which storeroom practice is proactive in protecting spare equipment reliability?

Answer: Rotating shafts of stored motors and pumps periodically to prevent false brinelling

Periodic shaft rotation protects bearings in storage from false brinelling and lubricant settling.

A team removes unneeded PM tasks and adds tasks that address real failure modes. What is this process called?

Answer: PM optimization

PM optimization reviews existing tasks against failure modes to remove waste and add value-adding tasks.

Which of the following is a proactive response to fastener loosening on vibrating equipment?

Answer: Using correct torque procedures and proper locking methods at assembly

Correct torque and locking at assembly remove the cause of loosening instead of finding it later.