# Condition Monitoring

**URL:** https://kaizumi.com/dictionary/condition-monitoring

**Description:** Condition monitoring tracks equipment health indicators in real-time to detect degradation and predict failures before they occur.

**Category:** tpm

**Tags:** equipment, metrics, advanced

## Definition

Condition monitoring is the continuous or periodic measurement of equipment parameters to detect changes indicating developing faults. Technologies include vibration analysis (detecting bearing and rotating component issues), thermography (detecting electrical and mechanical heat patterns), oil analysis (detecting wear particles and contamination), and ultrasonic testing (detecting leaks and electrical discharge). Condition monitoring enables predictive maintenance by providing early warning of equipment degradation.

## Examples

### Manufacturing

> Vibration sensors on critical motor bearings track amplitude and frequency patterns. When patterns deviate from baseline, the monitoring system alerts maintenance. The team identifies bearing wear two weeks before failure would occur, scheduling replacement during planned downtime.

### Healthcare

> Thermal imaging of electrical panels identifies hot spots indicating loose connections or overloaded circuits. Quarterly scans catch issues before they cause failures or fires. One scan identified a connection that would have failed within days.

### Administrative

> Server monitoring tracks temperature, fan speed, and power supply efficiency. Trending analysis identifies cooling degradation before it affects performance. Proactive fan replacement prevents the thermal throttling that would have slowed operations.

## Key Points

- Technologies: vibration, thermography, oil analysis, ultrasonics, electrical testing
- Enables condition-based (predictive) rather than time-based maintenance
- Requires baseline data to detect meaningful changes
- Most effective for degradation-based failures with detectable signatures

## Common Misconceptions

**Condition monitoring catches all failures.** Some failures (random, infant mortality) don't produce early warning signals. Condition monitoring excels at wear-out failures with gradual degradation. It's one tool, not a complete solution.

**Installing sensors equals condition monitoring.** Sensors produce data; condition monitoring requires analysis, trending, and action protocols. Data without interpretation and response capability doesn't prevent failures.

## Related Tool

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Source: https://kaizumi.com/dictionary/condition-monitoring
Licence: free to quote and cite with attribution to Kaizumi.