About Us
We are located in the Denver Metro area in the eastern foothills of the Rockies in the State of Colorado, USA.
On the west our skyline is marked by the Colorado Rocky Mountains and their famous Fourteeners (*) and on the east by the beginnings of the Great American Plains the bread basket of the world. A little south of us is the US Air Force Academy in the foothills of Pike’s Peak the point of inspiration of Katharine Lee Bates who looking at the awesome view was inspired to write the famous poem “America the Beautiful” To the North rolling hills will take you to Fort Collins home of WWV the long & short wave clock transmitter that synchronizes clocks all across North America before you reach Cheyenne, Wyoming, Cowboy Country.
We are surrounded by the tops of some the world’s higher mountain peaks which inspire us to innovate and reach heights of excellence in everything we do. And innovating is what we have been doing for the past thirty years having received many US patents with many pending in the US and abroad. Our heritage is in science and engineering with emphasis in industrial applications. In the late 80’s we identified a problem in compressed air leak detection in industrial plants where the existing instruments used were unreliable and requiring multiple adjustments making it difficult, time consuming and prone to error in locating accurately leaks. An earlier version of our PSX series incorporating two of our patents solved this problem and helped plants save thousands of dollars in energy from leaks. Instruments we developed created revolutions in their markets. In the early 90’s and with the EPA publishing stricter rules for commercial HVAC/R systems a pressing need was developed for high performance ultrasonic leak detectors at a very affordable price. The ancestor of the PS-i filled this need and to this day it is the number one ultrasonic leak detector for HVAC/R worldwide. The PS-i was the basis of the J-41416 specified by General Motors as a mandatory tool for its dealers and authorized service centers worldwide for the IM-240 inspections as well as leak detection in vehicles powered with natural gas.
The push to predictive maintenance from the old run-to-failure philosophy required more sophisticated instruments and in the late 90’s we introduced the PS-1100/2100 series which were the first digital ultrasonic leak detectors and condition monitors on the market. These instruments, which have been completely redesigned in 2011/12, together with our Infrared and Contact Thermometers as well as our Oil & Fluids Analysis services help maintenance personnel see the whole picture of a machine or a plant. Each instrument or service provides another piece of the maintenance puzzle and when assembled together the whole picture can be seen. Choosing PlantScan you will gain a partner, not a vendor. A partner that will guide you to take as small of a step as you are comfortable with, or as big of a leap as you can dream of to reach your goals in your plant or business. Thank you.
(*) Fourteeners are mountain peaks that reach or exceed fourteen thousand feet in elevation. Colorado has 53 of these peaks. http://www.14ers.com/
Why PlantScan?
- Proven Track Record (since 1989) with over 30 years of innovation- 15 US Patents
- High Quality and Reliability of Products
- Scientific Approach to Maintenance Technology Applications
- In-House R&D
- USA Based
What can PlantScan do for me?
Today’s Plants are very complex interconnected & interdependent systems which require multiple types of measurements to assess their condition to diagnose problems and to predict their future state. It used to be adequate to trouble shoot an electrical panel with a simple multimeter, until inverters, TRIAC, PLC controlled and networked devices became part of it. It used to be adequate to troubleshoot an air compressor with a screw driver until screw types (Roots) appeared turning at much higher speeds. Similarly old mechanics would “diagnose” faulty steam traps with a rubber hose or use bubbles to find air and gas leaks.
Old Tricks though cannot provide management with numbers and processes that cannot be measured cannot be managed or controlled. Today management needs to know not only the current condition of a plant or a key machine, but its future condition also. Reputations and brands depend on the ability to deliver quality products on time and on budget. Accepting a large order from a key account when you do not know the condition of your plant is simply a gamble. It is like going on a long road trip with a car that has not been serviced for some time and whose mechanical condition is unknown. But just like cars that only a few years ago the only high tech device in them was the radio, (now most have computer networks) plants became extremely complex requiring diverse technologies to ascertain their condition. Maintenance used to be a nuisance and an afterthought to plant operators; it was a cost, a problem, a headache and never a profit center.
We at PlantScan think that maintenance should be viewed as a profit center because money invested in a smart predictable way will save thousands more in unplanned downtime. Downtime costs a lot more than the cost of parts and man-hours. It costs in lost production, in ruined raw materials, in lost profits and in customer dissatisfaction. These concepts may be known to some degree but surprisingly many people ignore them. Years ago fabric manufacturers would buy very sophisticated machines that could measure the thread tension and adjust the weaving parameters with servo systems. They were very happy with the output of the machines, but would ruin them by over greasing their bearings. Then the new bearing would fail prematurely because the maintenance person (who had to know and fix everything) was never told how to extract the old and how to insert the new bearing correctly. And even if a specialist would come in and service the machine its true condition was unknown after many failed attempts. The health condition of machines is like a puzzle picture. Each piece of the puzzle is as important as any other and all are needed to make up the picture. This is the approach we take at PlantScan. Teach people to collect and sort the puzzle pieces of their machines and help them see the big picture. Ultrasound is one of these very important pieces. Ultrasound will give an early warning of bearing failures especially in low speed applications. But it is just one piece of the puzzle. Machine temperature is another piece of the same puzzle and so is the surrounding temperature and its spatial distribution. Another piece of the puzzle is Lubricant and Fluid Analysis which is like a blood test for a machine. The distribution of wear elements in the oil or coolant together with the data from the other measurements will provide valuable information on its condition. Although we do not yet offer vibration analyzers or thermographic cameras (to be added in the future) the addition of these two puzzle pieces will make the picture a lot clearer and provide an assessment condition that can be relied upon. Key to seeing this picture is the understanding that each data piece has its own shape, size and place. Each one will provide you with some information which by itself may be an indication of a changing condition but unless the change is extreme may not be enough to predict a future state.
At PlantScan can help you collect the puzzle pieces, analyze them and find where they fit so you can see the whole picture.