Quarries benefit from vibration analysis
14/07/2025
Multotec is helping quarries rethink vibration analysis with equipment from the UK.
The old-school methods of vibration analysis rely on sight, sound, touch and guesswork. Marc Barraclough, Product Manager at Multotec, has seen how old-school methods can fail quarries. In one case, a customer usually conducted a vibration analysis audit once a month. A bearing failed a week after their most recent audit, causing unplanned downtime while maintenance was performed to repair it.
“Even though all their assets get tested every month by a vibration analyst, failures can happen in that period,” said Marc.
Multotec plans to send vibration analysis into the next frontier for quarries seeking to optimise their operational efficiency.
The company has partnered with Sensoteq, a UK-based wireless machine health provider, to supply vibration analysis solutions. Multotec is offering these solutions to the Australian quarrying industry, helping quarries to make more informed decisions about their equipment.
“Using something such as Sensoteq in comparison, where it is updated all the time, that is much less likely to happen,” Marc said. “Your Sensoteq solution is updated live, so if a bearing starts to fail, you receive an early warning.”
Vibration analysis is a predictive testing method that measures the overall health of a machine or components of that machine. To do this, the minute vibrations of the machine are compared from when the machine is running well to the vibrations during operation.
Changes in vibrations, including emitting high-frequency vibrations, can indicate possible future failure as bearings, brushes and lubricants lose their effectiveness. This method can be used to monitor any quarry equipment except for static screens, which are solitary. All of the vibrations from the equipment can be measured and monitored and the data can be used to make informed decisions about maintenance. However, the manual methods used by vibration analysts can create room for failure between the periods of the analyst’s audit.
Few quarries can afford unplanned downtime and even fewer want to pay for avoidable maintenance. That is where real-time vibration analysis from Multotec and Sensoteq can help.
“By the time a bearing gets warm or noisy, it is nearly going to fail. By that time, it is too late to plan something to have the bearing changed out without affecting production,” Marc explained. “Whereas, if you can pick it up early and see that something is wrong, then you can start to plan a shutdown in advance.”
Multotec supplies the quarrying sector in Australia with two main solutions from Sensoteq: the Kappa X and the Tau E.
The Kappa X enables quarries to monitor non-moving machinery with rotating elements, such as motors, pumps, gearboxes, fans and compressors. It has a 10 kHz bandwidth for detecting vibrations and is powered by a replaceable battery, which has a lifespan of five years. The recording parameters can be adjusted to suit the machine and it is versatile due to its small footprint and mounting methods.
The Tau E is designed to measure and monitor the responses of machinery that moves during operation through orbit or stroke. It also has a bearing version to detect bearing faults in the moving parts of the machine. Furthermore, customers can access a boltable version of the Tau E if it suits their application.
Marc believes that these two solutions have moved vibration analysis from being a maintenance application to a productivity enhancer.
“Everyone is seeing vibration analysis as machine health and how to keep the machine working as long as possible, but these solutions allow you to access data which over time will give you great insights,” he said.
“The technology is advanced in terms of the vibrations that we can pick up, but it is the data itself that will be important in the long term. Users will be able to compare the vibration analysis on a screen or conveyor, for example, and then compare it with their data about how the plant was running at that particular time and understand their machines.
“They will be able to understand how their machines perform under different circumstances as well as all of the maintenance data. It will provide a greater insight into how their site works.”
Sensoteq’s solutions can be run via the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)/Ethernet gateway or WiFi/Ethernet gateway. The GSM gateway uses 4G GSM to communicate with the Sensoteq Cloud or Ethernet when GSM is unavailable.
The WiFi gateway can connect to the local network via WiFi or Ethernet for internet access or to the site’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) network via Modbus or Profinet.
The Analytix online platform showcases all of the site data, from the overall site health to the numbers on individual machines. Operators can also set alarms when machine numbers fall outside set parameters.
Sensoteq protects all cloud information through industry-standard secure measures. This ensures that quarry operators have peace of mind knowing their data is safe and accessible when needed.
Marc explained that Multotec wanted to work with more quarries to show them the benefits they could unlock through Sensoteq equipment.
“The sensor’s abilities are at the top of industry standards and they are unparalleled for features,” he concluded.
