by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Mar 12, 2021 | Asset Management, The Bloch Files
Angular contact ball bearings are used in millions of pumps and many other fluid machines. The rolling elements in these bearings are separated by cages. The main function of those cages is to maintain equal distances from ball to ball and to do so with minimum...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Mar 5, 2021 | Asset Management, RAM Tools & Methods, The Bloch Files
Years ago, I had to learn about the associated filter-related terms “Beta Ratio” and “Beta Efficiency.” I had read that we can calculate fluid-filter efficiency after ascertaining the Beta Ratio. By convention, Beta Ratio is a measure of a filter’s efficiency....
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Feb 27, 2021 | Asset Management, Plant Operations, The Bloch Files
Articles on “Eliminating Cooling Water from General Purpose Pumps and Drivers” date back to about 1976. The rationale for dispensing with cooling water in the bearing housings of most process pumps was later explained in many books. However, despite the...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Feb 21, 2021 | Electrical Reliability, The Bloch Files
Unless you’re hiding in a cave, you probably will have heard what happened when severe winter weather hit Texas over the past week (starting Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021). It’s been an unimaginable catastrophe for all 254 counties in the state and the millions of...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Feb 12, 2021 | Asset Management, Safety Matters, The Bloch Files
The overwhelming majority of small-turbine-overspeed-trip devices are mechanical: They incorporate a spring-activated trip bolt that moves out and contacts a trip lever whenever a preset overspeed is reached. The overspeed trip setting is selected at the time of...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Feb 6, 2021 | Newsletter Column, The Bloch Files
Today (in 2021) as in 1975, I count bright Failure Investigators and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) among my trusted briefers and updaters. One of them recently sent me a 58-second YouTube video clip (TikTok Edition) of a hole-test exercise that caught my attention. In...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Jan 30, 2021 | Motors & Drives, RAM Tools & Methods, The Bloch Files
Reliability specialists are encouraged to make good use of industry standards. Well-written standards improve equipment uniformity and quality. Take, for example, standards from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). Their foreword explains scope...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Jan 23, 2021 | Asset Management, The Bloch Files
The preface to one of my books (Pump User’s Handbook) alluded to the area of pump-failure statistics. Such statistics are often translated into MTBF (mean time between failure). For what it’s worth, and so as to not become enmeshed in arguments, in the early 2000s,...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Jan 17, 2021 | Newsletter Column, The Bloch Files, Workforce Issues
Lean times are here again. Travel is out, and for good reason. Training is on hold, as it has been on several occasions since 1950. We know this because tough times have descended upon us before. What’s different now is the driving public has become the shut-in public...
by Heinz Bloch, P.E., Editor | Jan 9, 2021 | Plant Operations, The Bloch Files, Workforce Issues
Years ago, a reliability-engineer acquaintance wrestled with a possible cardiac problem. He decided to observe its development and progress on a portable blood-pressure monitoring machine. Toward the end of its usefulness, the device had been giving him readings that...
