Online Asset-Management Tool for Drivetrain Couplings Offered as a Subscription Service

Emerson Industrial’s Power Transmission Solutions group has introduced the first online tool for tracking location, life history and latest-revision drawings and installation instructions for all critical drivetrain couplings owned by its customers, whether the units are installed or in spares inventory.

Developed by Emerson’s Kop-Flex business unit, the Web-based tool, known as the Asset Management Program (AMP) for couplings (Coupling AMP), accurately identifies couplings, graphically displays their location in a specific drive, identifies parts/couplings at the site that are interchangeable, makes assembly drawings a click away and gives a detailed service history and action to be taken during service intervals. Moreover, the program makes the information available 24/7 on the Internet. Developed by a worldwide engineering team experienced in coupling design, maintenance, repair and troubleshooting, the Coupling AMP provides in-depth information on components critical to the operation of major systems such as compressors, turbines and pumps.

According to Parimal Deshpande, Senior Industry Specialist for Kop-Flex,  plant engineers plan shutdown maintenance with tight timeframes, yet they struggle to identify couplings by make, model, serial number, stock code, manufacturer’s part number and the like. Emergencies only add to this disorganization, he says.

“Engineers may take parts from new or old couplings and use them in repairs. This is not only bad practice because of balancing issues, but it makes it almost impossible to track where all these parts went, and what’s been stripped from old or new couplings, etc. In a couple of years, they have no idea what’s happening. It’s very difficult to track the service history of couplings. Customers told us there’s no commercially available software designed with a friendly, useful system to organize the needed information the way they’d like to access it.” Coupling AMP, Deshpande says, addresses that void.

This new online coupling asset-management tool is a subscription service maintained by Emerson. It begins with a survey of a customer’s site by a Kop-Flex representative where all relevant data is collected. Kop-Flex then populates the Coupling AMP for the customer and provides a user name and password. Edits and additions are handled via e-mail to Kop-Flex.

The new offering will be introduced and demonstrated at the Turbomachinery Show, September 22-25, in Emerson’s booth 1231. The demonstration site is available at http://amp.emerson-ept.com, with the login and password of “turbouser.” Users can see two plants and two rotating equipment assemblies in each, with sample data.