published_or_final_version / Industrial Engineering / Master / Master of Science in Engineering

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / abstract / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1959 R44

M.Ing. (Engineering Management) / The turbo-generator unit is very important equipment for electric power production, which has a high rate of failure. As the capacity increases, condition monitoring and fault diagnostic play a crucial role to guarantee safe operation and cost efficiency. The Eskom generator fleet is fast approaching the end of the original designed life. Also in view of the recent constrained reserve margin, outage downtime, maintenance costs, resource management, and maintenance inherent problems, a systematic approach is required to optimise scheduled time-based maintenance to improve reliability and availability. The subject of turbo machine condition monitoring requires the development of new technologies to diagnose the turbo-generator problems. Condition is an underlying factor in the performance of machines. It is also an important predictor of future performance that the machine is in a good condition and will be reliable and perform better. It provides a reference for maintenance engineers on the current condition of the turbo-generator. Trends in condition monitoring can be used to determine whether turbo-generators are being maintained and that are meeting their expected service lives or whether their performance is deterioration faster than expected. In the industry, traditional maintenance philosophies have taken two approaches; the first approach is to perform fixed time interval maintenance, where the system engineers take advantage of relaxed production cycles to fully inspect all aspects of the turbo-generator. The second route is for engineers to simply react to the generator failure as and when it happens. All too many utilities operate largely in the reactive run-to-failure mode. The old phrase, “if it aren’t broken don’t fix” is perennial run to failure argument. Nonetheless, making use of today’s technology, a new scientific methodology is becoming popular to maintenance management. For the purpose of investigating the management of condition-based monitoring and diagnostic technology to optimise timed-based maintenance of large turbo-generators, Eskom Units installed with condition monitoring techniques were considered. The minidissertation culminated in the compilation of case histories based on Eskom turbo-generator fleet where the technology is being rolled out. The literature survey looked at current industry practices in areas such as total productive maintenance (TPM), technology management and support systems, return on investment (ROI) and maintenance management to compare what Eskom is doing to what in others in the field are doing. There is no research work currently that has been done that links maintenance to maintenance technology deployment enablers. The research incorporates a number of operational experiences where some Eskom turbo-generator units continue to operate with a known fault. Regular maintenance interventions introduce faults into the machine due to human error, the opening of units and the handling of components. Attention is given to the impact of two-shifting or cyclic operation on turbo-generators that were originally designed for base load condition. The time–based maintenance of these units is not taking advantage of condition monitoring information. Also, the installed condition monitoring techniques fall short of addressing twoshifting monitoring requirements. A number of lessons were learnt from the implementation of the condition-based maintenance technology on Eskom generator fleet. The theory of maintenance management underscores establishment of a good relationship between system engineers, maintenance personnel and the technology provider which is key to success of the technology. It further indicates that this relationship must go deeper than the mere technology provider and the end user of the technology service agreement. The maintenance engineers are taking key business decision for the well-being of machines and maintenance technology needs to demonstrate that it is creating value for the business. From the people perspective attention is required to staff motivation and providing balanced job satisfaction, whilst ensuring that employees feel part of an integrated organisation maintenance strategy rather than of being under thread of disempowered by the technology. A myriad of considerations have been identified to affect the effective execution of conditionbase maintenance strategy on Eskom generator fleet. There are multiple dashboards or standards indicators that can be used for maintenance management improvement. It has been established that the success of the implementation of condition-based maintenance rests in the concept of total productive maintenance approach. Within the ambit of TPM, the entire process of maintenance must be managed on the basis of maintenance programmes plan, which will have function of connecting the various maintenance programmes.

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Substantial savings in operations can be achieved by reducing the amount of wastewater that must be pumped and treated. Utilities have long dealt with the infiltration and inflow (I and I) issues in their system by televising their pipes and identifying leak points, but this primarily addresses only the infiltration part of “I and I.” Inflow, which creates hydraulic issues during rain events, leads to sanitary sewer overflows and can subject the utility to fines from regulatory agencies. As a result, dealing with the inflow portion of I and I is needed. The goal of this thesis is to differentiate inflow and infiltration from baseflow and to determine the effectiveness of different methods used to reduce inflow and infiltration in sanitary sewer lines. An analysis was conducted on the benefits and cost effectiveness of different inflow/infiltration approaches (slip-lining sewer lines, stormwater manhole inserts, replacing sewer lines, smoke testing, etc.) and cost savings municipalities can expect to receive from each. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

With the majority of bridges in the country aging, over capacity and costly to rehabilitate or replace, it is essential that engineers refine their inspection and evaluation techniques. Over the past 130 years the information gathering techniques and methods used by engineers to inspect bridges have changed little. All of the available methods rely on one technique, visual inspection. In addition, over the past 40 years individual bridge inspectors have gone from being information gathers to being solely responsible for the condition rating of bridges they inspect. The reliance on the visual abilities of a single individual to determine the health of a particular bridge has led to inconsistent and sometimes erroneous results. In an effort to provide bridge inspectors and engineers with more reliable inspection and evaluation techniques, this thesis will detail the case for development of a new inspection tool, and the assembly and use of one new tool called Fringe Interferometry