A gauge to measure the coating thickness of magnetic coatings on non-magnetic base material has been developed by directly measuring the magnetic flux density between the coating and the permanant magnet. Magnetic induction method was found to be inadequate for measuring magnetic coating thickness which is greater than 0.4 mm. Magentic flux density was measured by Hall effect sensor and calibration curve was constructed by using the data acquired from 10 standard reference samples. The developed gauge can be used to measure non-magnetic coatings over magnetic substrate as well. The relative standard error was found to be 2.1% for nickle coatings on copper substrate.

The paper introduces an algorithm for increasing the speed for building up the general system model on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) basis. It finds that input/output configuration of the field analysed which realizes the most accurate estimation and explores the maximal number of dependencies among the related system parameters. The availability and the estimation capabilities of the needed system models are especially important for technical diagnostics in order to be able in differentiating between conform and nonconform situations. The performance of the novel solution is tested and evaluated under a field specific analysis applying the classical equations from the cutting theory. Experiments were done also for cutting diagnosis based on real measured parameters under varying conditions. These validations showed good empirical performance and practical applicability of the algorithm introduced. As result, the proposed algorithm increased significantly the speed of the model building stage.

The use of simulation tools for industrial system analysis is continuously increasing in Oil & Gas applications, (such as the development of lubricating systems). In particular Virtual HazOp (acronym of Hazard and Operability) analysis is an important tool to optimize the plant in terms of diagnostics for Maintainability, Safety, Risk assessment and management. Also the use of simulation tools can drastically increase speed, efficiency and reliability in the design process of safety critical systems. Authors, in collaboration whit GE-Nuovo Pignone, have developed a library of customizable models of thermal-hydraulic components, through an innovative thermal-hydraulic library, that is an extension of the Simscape libraries in Matlab-Simulink™. Furthermore, this tool is optimized for Fixed Step solvers to make easier the simulation of complex interactions with digital logic components, controllers and the fast prototyping of Real Time code. Aim of the proposed tool is non-destructive testing for production purposes. Results of the Virtual HazOp analysis are presented, according to the simulation of the model carried out, and automatically performed through a graphical user interface. In this work, two case studies are then presented: a lubrication system of an auxiliary system of a rotating machine and a RunDown Tank applied to a rotating machine.

Node synchronization can be implemented in an Ethernet network using time protocols; e.g. IEEE 1588. Active network components like switches and routers influence a precision of the synchronization because they affect the packet delay in the network. Therefore, the delay is not constant and also the delay in one direction is not equal to the delay in the opposite direction.
This paper presents a low-cost device that can precisely measure the packet delay in both communication directions and, at the same time, calculate network parameters; e.g. the packet delay variation, the path asymmetry and dependency of the delay in opposite directions.
Measured values can be used to determine the usability of the network for the IEEE 1588 implementation and to predict the quality of the synchronization in a network. These measurements are important to achieve a precise synchronization in a low-cost network infrastructure.

This paper presents a method of acoustic analysis of electric motors in noisy industrial environment. Acoustic signals were measured by the microphones arrays called acoustic camera. Measurements by acoustic camera allow localization of sound source and by that separate sounds of interests from background noise. Results of acoustic analysis are compared with vibration measurements. Vibration monitoring is a well-known technique used in condition monitoring and in this work vibration measurements were used as a reference signal for assessment of the value of acoustic measurements. Vibration signals were measured by piezoelectric accelerometers. Two induction motor cases were examined — healthy motor case and combination of static eccentricity with soft foot case. As presented in result section acoustic analyses appear as valuable techniques for condition monitoring of electric motors even in noisy industrial environment.