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Maintenance engineers in critical environments charged with condition monitoring have long wished the bolts themselves could start the conversation.
Valley Forge and Bolt
Now they can. Valley Forge & Bolt has taken its SPC4® Load Indicating Technology to a new level with the latest addition to the company’s RTM™ (Remote Tension Monitoring) series of meters — the latest is the 720R: UHF Band RTM™ Meter, a wireless bolt monitoring system. The UHF Band RTM™ Meter operates in 433/868/915 MHz frequencies, which includes the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) frequency UHF Band RTM Meter.
This wireless sensor detects and collects the tension level in a bolted joint as read by the company’s SPC4® fastener. Users can also program the sensor to take measurements at prescribed intervals and send alerts if a bolted joint falls out of chosen tension parameters.
There are several scenarios in which the 720R UHF Band RTM™ Meter’s capabilities will pay dividends for users, but the first is that the meter facilitates close monitoring of new fasteners during and immediately after install. The early hours after an initial tightening sequence can be critical to long-term performance because an unexpected loss of tension can affect bolt life.
“The facility manager can set the reading intervals for rapid readings, down to once every second, or for every 10 minutes. You can see immediately if a fastener is losing tension and correct it,” said James Brooks, Valley Forge & Bolt’s head of engineering and business development. “Conversely, after enough time has passed and they are satisfied that the tension is holding, the manager can quickly and remotely adjust the reading intervals to be farther apart.”
All bolts with the 720R UHF Band RTM™ Meter can be set to broadcast alerts when a chosen tension threshold is crossed.
“Select a tension percentage that is close to your application’s danger or alert zone,” said Brooks. “If needed, a window with upper and lower tension percentage limits can be created. An alert can be sent as an email or as an audible alarm. The user has total flexibility.”
For the first time, the bolt is starting the conversation about whether it needs maintenance or inspection. Managers can also program alert windows during “interest” periods, such as times of suspected greater vibration in a process, to gauge how fasteners are reacting.
Never Before Seen Features
With a web-based user interface, users can change parameters for each wireless sensor remotely. “These features have never before been available in a bolting wireless product,” said Brooks. “The 720R UHF Band RTM™ Meter is a game changer.”
The user interface is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and now includes a brand-new tile format and layout, together with a global data export to csv.
Valley Forge and Bolt
The new tile format has the bolt tension load percentage centered and large so that it is easy to see immediately. The tiles are also color coded, indicating several things; Green tiles indicate that the meter is transmitting data within the target load range, Red tiles indicate that the meter is transmitting data outside the target load range, Yellow tiles indicate that the meter has a low battery and Grey tiles indicate that meter has not sent data for an extended period of time.
Valley Forge and Bolt
There are also tiles that display two load percentages for “Groups” of Meters. The figures displayed are the lowest measuring Meter and the highest measuring Meter within the group.
The Data You Need, When You Need It
The global data export is a new button added to the settings column which accesses a new page to configure new data exports or download previously generated ones. Several options here allow the user to select meters for data export, also the parameters for data export.
Finally, the UHF band attribute will improve battery life and enable increased distance from the meter to the collection device. SPC4® fasteners make it possible to measure the actual tension from within a fastener, providing real-time knowledge of critical joint tension and performance from installation through fastener life.
For more information, visit vfbolts.com.
