Baker Hughes, a GE Company, has announced an agreement with Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) to co-develop VitalyX, a real-time lubricant monitoring system
VitalyX can be deployed in multiple industries using large machinery and the advanced cloud-based system is designed to detect and measure important lubricant properties in real-time while simultaneously converting the data into actionable insights.
ENOC has announced the project with BHGE leaders at BHGE’s Annual Meeting in Florence, with more than 1,100 customers in attendance.
Lubrication oil protects those assets and can be used to determine the overall health of a system. Real-time monitoring of lubricants also helps safeguard end users’ and operators’ equipment by offering a new level of predictive maintenance, thus enhancing efficiency, reducing downtime and improving asset’s lifetime. Without continuous monitoring, catastrophic failures due to fluid issues are a reality, for example, the cumulative cost of a top drive gearbox failure due to fluid loss can be up to US$1mn.
VitalyX’s advanced cloud-based solution can measure key lubricant chemical and physical properties in real time across an operator’s fleet while simultaneously converting the data into alerts and alarms to identify potential issues. The user-friendly dashboard can show fleet-wide data down to the individual asset level and stored either in a shared cloud or locally.
“Digitisation is playing an integral role in driving the transformation of the energy sector, and has contributed significantly to enhancing operational efficiency,” said Saif Al Falasi, CEO of ENOC Group.
J Boufarah, vice-president of BHGE’s measurement and controls business for the Middle East, Africa and India, noted, “Our co-development of VitalyX with ENOC will pioneer innovative solutions in lubricant monitoring that delivers productivity gains and cost savings that can be scaled across their fleet globally.”
