Training
Let’s start the conversation…
Training
Choose from our diverse range of training modules designed to meet your organisation’s unique needs, ensuring that your team receives specialised expertise and knowledge transfer.
The Pragmatic training methodology stands out in its commitment to deliver practical skills training in on-site sessions that uses your own equipment.
We dedicate time to understand your business and engineering needs, customising each course to eliminate unnecessary training expense, ensuring a seamless transfer of knowledge and focussing on the applications that are relevant in your industry.
Why is condition monitoring training important?
If you are making maintenance decisions on condition data, the competence of those collecting and interpreting the data is vital.
Our approach integrates extensive real-life experience and hands-on practice, enabling delegates to immediately apply theory into practical scenarios that benefit your operational throughput.
The Pragmatic Training Academy supplies comprehensive support to all our course attendees, in addition, we offer post-course support for three months, allowing delegates to email our experts with questions, ensuring continued learning at no additional cost.
Introduction to Vibration Monitoring (VA-Intro)
This course provides all the understanding and practical skills required for the student to successfully:
- Take consistent vibration readings from rotating machinery using a vibration data-collector.
- Upload the collected data to a database.
- Screening and basic interpretation of the collected data.
- Visual inspection of machinery to verify findings.
This course is intended for workers who will be responsible for vibration data collection in the field. The course is assessed, but at present is not certificated to international standards.
Vibration Monitoring Training – Basic Analysis of Machinery Vibration
This course covers the basic analysis of vibration data taken from rotating machinery, whether on a one-off basis or as part of a condition monitoring programme. The course covers all the knowledge and analytical tools required to successfully analyse all machinery vibration problems commonly encountered and includes training in a structured, practical approach to equipment fault diagnosis and root-cause analysis. The course is suitable for anyone who needs to identify the cause of machinery vibration problems with confidence. The course can be delivered in a classroom or on site, and is highly practical, involving the extensive use of real-life case histories and data. Students are encouraged to bring their own data for analysis. The course is assessed, but at present is not certificated to international standards.
Vibration Analysis Training – Advanced Troubleshooting
This course covers a range of advanced methods for troubleshooting machinery vibration problems. Compared to the basic course it covers the theoretical foundations of the subject in greater detail and provides hands-on practical diagnostic experience using case history data from real machines with a range of advanced analytical techniques such as:
- Operational deflection shape testing
- Modal impact testing for system response identification
- Design and application of Dynamic Absorbers
- Applying damping/machinery isolation
- Analysis of transient data during run-ups and rundowns
- Orbit analysis and applications
- Time-synchronous averaging
- Analysis of reciprocating machinery
- Advanced signal processing
The course is delivered in a classroom, but is highly practical, involving the extensive use of real-life case histories and data. Students are encouraged to bring their own data for analysis. The course is assessed, but at present is not certificated to international standards.
Vibration Analysis Training – Field Balancing
This course teaches all the information and practical skills required to confidently balance rotating machinery in the field. The course covers:
- Balance tolerances and standards,
- Critical practical steps to take before trying to balance a machine,
- Safety requirements when balancing,
- Single plane balancing using vector plots,
- Single plane balancing without phase,
- Two plane balancing using influence coefficients,
- How to recognise common pitfalls (and what to do),
- Practical aspects of field balancing.
Students get to apply all the knowledge learned in the classroom, balancing a table-top rotor rig.
Vibration Analysis Training – Transient Analysis for Critical Machinery
This course covers the knowledge and practical skills required to diagnose vibration problems with steam turbines, gas turbines, centrifugal compressors, turbo-expanders, large multi-stage pumps and generating sets. The course is aimed at experienced vibration analysts who wish to develop skills in this challenging area and rotating machinery engineers who need to understand the results of investigations into major machinery vibration problems. Students are encouraged to bring their own data for analysis. The course is classroom-based but makes extensive reference to material from real cases and covers:
- Overview of instrumentation used to monitor critical / high-speed machinery,
- Development of a simple rotordynamic model as a tool to understand machinery vibration behaviour,
- Explanation of data plots used to display critical / high-speed machinery behaviour (Including orbits, cascade & waterfall plots, Bodé plots, polar plot and shaft centreline plots),
- Structured approach to diagnosing machinery problems,
- Diagnosis and compensation of glitch and run-out using data under slow-roll conditions,
- Diagnosis of machinery problems: unbalance, misalignment, oil whirl / whip and other self-excited vibration mechanisms, rubbing, aerodynamic instability / rotating stall, bearing wear, cracked shafts and loss of bearing damping.
Basic Thermography Training – Effective Plant Inspection
This one-day course focuses on the practical skills needed for effective plant inspection using Infrared thermal imaging cameras. As these devices are becoming cheaper it is increasingly common to see them as part of the front-line maintainer’s toolkit, yet taking accurate measurements isn’t as easy as pointing them at the target and reading a value. There are several pitfalls that can mislead the unwary user and provide the wrong results. This course is aimed at front-line maintenance workers and supervisors and is delivered at your facility, using your camera. Up to eight people can be trained in one day. The morning session is classroom based with the afternoon session being plant based and live application focussed.
- Basic camera construction and operation for accurate measurement,
- Emissivity and reflectivity and their practical importance for accurate temperature measurement,
- How to recognise and cope with reflections,
- Applications of thermal imaging for electrical, mechanical, insulation and building systems (the content here can be adjusted to meet your plant’s requirements),
- Record keeping and trending using the software supplied with the camera.
Basic Oil Analysis Training with Lubricant Management
This two-day course focuses on the practical and analytical skills needed for an effective oil analysis and contamination control programme and is intended for front-line maintenance staff and supervisors and engineers who will be responsible for authorising maintenance action based on the results.
Many oil suppliers offer oil analysis as part of a lubrication supply contract, but to squeeze the maximum value out of this the user has to look beyond the computer-generated analysis and recommendations provided in the lab report. This course gives you the practical information and understanding you need to maximise returns from oil analysis. Topics include:
- Basic overview of oil properties and oil chemistry,
- How degraded oil leads to reduced machinery life – what should we be looking to measure?
- Sampling requirements for consistent data – practical steps for repeatable results,
- Common laboratory tests; data interpretation and alarm limits,
- How to extend oil and machinery life – putting the results into action.
Basic Ultrasonic and Acoustic Emission Training for Effective Plant Inspection
This one-day course is intended for front-line maintenance personnel and supervisors and focuses on the practical and analytical skills needed for effective use of ultrasonic / acoustic emission equipment for plant monitoring. Topics include:
- What are Acoustic Emission and Ultrasound and how do they differ from Vibration?
- Basic construction and correct use of ultrasonic / acoustic emission equipment for accurate and repeatable data collection,
- Hands-on familiarisation in a classroom environment,
- Fault processes that generate AE and Ultrasound. How to detect and diagnose them,
- Application case histories: Air, vacuum and gas leaks, lubrication problems, slow-moving equipment, electrical discharges, steam traps (the content here can be adjusted to meet your plant’s requirements).
- Practical hands-on application in live inspection situations in the field.
Condition based maintenance & awareness, management and applications
This course is suitable for both those new to the field and also aimed at those who don’t have direct responsibilities for condition monitoring but who will ultimately act on the results of a condition monitoring programme or influence the scope of a programme. It is designed to be delivered on-site with a mixture of classroom and field training.
The following job roles, among others, will benefit from this course:
- New CM practitioners
- Maintenance engineers and managers
- Reliability engineers and technicians
- Engineers responsible for interpreting and acting on CM
- Production supervisors who want to understand how asset condition impacts production plans
