• Company: Gulfmark UK
• Industry: Marine
• Services: Vibration Analysis, Remote Data Analysis, Cloud-based Reporting
• Location: Aberdeen, United Kingdom
• Cost-Saving: £295,000

The Overview

Our engineers detected a bearing fault on an input shaft to the thruster. The bearing was deteriorating over time and it was recommended that it should be replaced during a scheduled port call. The cost of replacing in-situ bearing compared to overhauling the thruster unit equaited to savings of £295,000.

The Situation

GulfMark tasked us with rolling out a Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) programme throughout their fleet with the goal of improving their maintenance strategy and reducing maintenance costs.

The Challenges

Monitoring support bearings within tunnel thrusters is a complex task due to the difficult-to-access location of the thruster bearings. Our engineers utilised multiple CBM technologies to determine the asset condition and remaining lifespan.

The Solution

The correct application of technology enables Gulfmark to optimise its maintenance planning to avoid costly stoppages whilst offshore and means that the exact fault location can be pin-pointed avoiding a complete dismantling and overhaul.

The Results

Our engineers detected deterioration in the first support bearing on the input shaft to the thruster.

The thruster was monitored over a period of time to determine the rate of deterioration.

The rate of change detected indicated that the bearing needed to be replaced.

The bearing replacement and general inspection was completed during a port call with minimal interruption to the vessel’s operations.

Upon inspection the poor condition of the input bearing was confirmed - see figure 1.

Figure 1: First support bearing from the input shaft on the thruster