Machine Protection Systems

Protect Your Critical Assets in Real-Time

Real-time machinery protection with integrated condition monitoring, isolated from your control network

Machine Protection Systems

Critical rotating equipment — turbines, compressors, fans, and pumps — can’t afford unplanned downtime or catastrophic failure. Cutsforth has partnered with Alta Solutions to deliver a fully-integrated, real-time machinery protection system built for the assets that matter most.

The system pairs real-time shutdown protection with integrated condition monitoring, so you get both safety-critical protection and the diagnostic visibility to understand why an event happened — all from one platform.

No compromise between protection and insight.

Assets Monitored

System Benefits

Protect your critical assets and personnel
Avoid catastrophic failures and limit further damage
Drop-in replacement for legacy systems
Monitoring system isolated from control network

Customer Testimonials

"Safety wise, [Brush Condition Monitoring] is a great system. We're not changing our brushes as often and our guys don't have to stick their hands in the machines to change them. We're able to change the brushes on an as needed basis, instead of an arbitrary number of brushes each month. We're seeing some O&M savings as well. We're probably able to save about 1/3 of our O&M budget since our operators aren't having to go out and check on the brushes as often. Our operators really like the system."

John Wilcox
O&M Superintendent
AEP Dresden (OH)

"I used to spend about 50–70% of my time traveling to analyze issues. Now, with InsightCM, that's down to about 20%. It's also valuable to us and our customers to not have to wait 4–5 hours to start a 500MW unit. Everybody wins."

C.R.
Vibration Analyst
Midwest Power Plant

“We have nothing but great things to say about the Cutsforth brush systems here. Low costs, easy to maintain and no issues whatsoever.”

P.B.
Maintenance Superintendent
Midwest Power Plant

"The Cutsforth team arrived on time and had all required tools. They were done on time even with an unexpected circuit board issue."

P.L.
Project Lead Energy Supply
Midwestern Power Facility

System Architecture

The AS-360 Compact Machinery Protection System comes in configurations up to 8 slots and 28 channels. The AS-7000 Rack-Based Machinery Protection System fits in a 19-inch rack with up to 18 slots and 64 channels.

The Gateway Interface is completely isolated from the control system through a one-way ethernet connection. The monitoring system sits on your business network, passing vibration and other signals directly to InsightCM over ethernet.

Compact and High-Channel Count Options Configurations range from small form factor to rack-based systems with up to 64 channels
Broad Measurement Range Air gap, axial position, radial vibration, eccentricity, differential expansion, speed and reverse rotation, temperature, and more.
Drop-In Upgrade for Legacy Systems Designed to replace aging or obsolete systems. Drop-in replacement for the BN 3500 with same dimensions and connectors.
Integrated with InsightCM The central hub for all your multi-physics monitoring data where you can view and diagnose potential faults from one screen.

InsightCM Multi-Physics Monitoring Platform

Integrate monitoring data with InsightCM without impacting your critical machine protection system:

Configure data collection based on time interval (per minute, per hour, per day)
Trigger data capture when engineering units change or alarm limits are met
Automatically calculate vibration data features that indicate faults: peak-peak, Overall, 1X Mag/Phase, 2X Mag/Phase, subsynchronous, custom bands, and more…
Configure run-up and coast-down settings

Protection Features

The Gateway Interface is completely isolated from the control system through a one-way ethernet connection. The interface module has a variety of built-in protection and status features and indicators:

Universal Sensor Capability
Buffered Outputs
Module OK Status LEDs
Channel Status LEDs
Activity Status LED
Alarm Status LEDs
Relay Status LEDs
Recorder Outputs (4-20 mA)
Intelligent Relay Outputs (Boolean Logic)
Controls connectivity vis Modbus TCP

Measurements

Both systems have a wide selection of measurement capabilities to keep you informed of the condition and performance of your critical assets:

Air Gap
Axial Position
Radial Vibration
Shaft Absolute Radial Vibration
Eccentricity
Acceleration and Velocity
Aero Derivative Acceleration and Velocity
Differential Expansion Single
Differential Expansion Complementary
Differential Expansion Single Ramp
Differential Expansion Dual Ramp
Case Expansion Single
Case Expansion Pair
Valve Position
Speed and Reverse Rotation
Zero Speed
Temperature (i.e., 10 mV/deg C)

Drop-In Upgrade Compatibility

Replacing aging or obsolete protection systems is straightforward. The AS-7000 is a drop-in replacement for the Bently Nevada 3500. The form factor matches the same dimensions, and the sensor inputs use the same connectors.