Support & FAQs

Analyst Inside monitors rotating assets like pumps, motors, fans, compressors, and turbines. It monitors vibration to provide a very early indication of a developing problem, typically well before machine damage, failure, or production shutdown occurs. Analyst Inside creates a baseline of your system’s normal vibration signature, automatically sets hundreds of alarm points, then monitors and alerts you if the machine begins to degrade. When it sees an issue developing, it sends you a text and/or email message.  It can also set a tag in your PLC that includes help to isolate the problem, recommended action, and urgency for taking that action.

Analyst Inside works best on machinery that runs in relatively steady states for long periods of time. It can support machinery that runs at different speeds, or runs in different states that would affect vibration, such as different loads or different pressures (for fans & pumps).  It would not work well with machinery that constantly changes speed or state, such as a robot that moves back & forth. We’re happy to discuss your application with you and verify it will work. 

No knowledge of vibration analysis techniques is required to use the system.  Simply configure the system with the type of machine being monitored and location of sensors and that’s it.  All alerts (emails and text messages) describe the issue in “plain English” along with recommended actions.

Installing the accelerometers and data acquisition equipment can usually be completed in a day if properly planned.  Configuring the Analyst Inside module (basically telling it what type of machine is being monitored and where the accelerometers are located) can be completed in a few hours.  Once the system is configured it takes about 25 hours for Analyst Inside to baseline the system’s current vibration signature.  Once the baseline is completed, Analyst Inside automatically goes into active monitoring and will alert you if it detects any issues. 

Analyst Inside can be configured to send email and/or text messages to as many users as you see fit.  All alerts generated by the system can be viewed on a webpage served up by the Analyst Inside module. 

Analyst Inside provides a webpage served up from the module (as opposed to a separate server on the Internet somewhere) that lists all active alerts on the machines being monitored as well as a separate alarm log with a history of all alerts generated.  Additional information on the status of the machines and sensors is also available.

Yes.  If you want to evaluate a machine that went into alarm further, we offer a list of analysis techniques that led to Analyst Inside issuing that alarm. 

NO!  All data and analysis are done on the Analyst Inside module on premise.  No data leaves the plant.  Even the webpage that provides alarm information is served up by the Analyst Inside module eliminating the need for any data to leave the plant for an external web server on the Internet.

No. Analyst Inside is designed to provide very early, descriptive analytics regarding machine degradation. It is NOT a shutdown system, nor is it designed to react to sudden, catastrophic events.  It can, however, help to identify early warning signs prior to these. 

No, but it can help YOU to predict how soon you need to take action. Analyst Inside will progress through five levels of notification. Users can see how rapidly the progression through each is occurring and use that to estimate how quickly the machine is degrading. However, machine degradation is not always linear! 

Yes. There is a pause button on the web interface that can be used to suspend active monitoring of the machine while maintenance is being performed (and avoid any potential nuisance alarms).  Once maintenance has been completed, press the resume button to start active monitoring again. 

Different operating conditions (otherwise known as “states”) can affect the vibration of a machine.  Examples include changes in motor load, direction of motor (forward or reverse), temperature, ramp up/ramp down, idle, etc.  You can define the states of your machine in your PLC, then tell Analyst Inside which states to monitor.  Analyst Inside will learn the machine’s behavior while operating in each state and set alarm levels for each state independently of the others.  If you don’t have states defined, don’t worry…Analyst Inside will still work fine.

It depends. Analyst Inside needs to baseline how the machine is behaving and then it monitors for degradation from there. The machine doesn’t need to be running at optimal performance to enable Analyst Inside to work properly, and we have used it on notoriously “noisy” machines effectively. However, we recommend repairing your machinery first to get it running well, then applying Analyst Inside so it creates a baseline when the machinery is running correctly.

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