In my experience, the limiting factor is cycle time of the motors. It is tricky to capture stable vibration data for an FFT on something running for less than a minute. With infrared, short cycles do not usually allow heat to build. You might have success tracking the overalls for vibration and ultrasonics, maybe even use a system with event capture. If I recall correctly, most of the early failure modes were detected with motor current analysis done on a period cycle.
Something else to consider is what types of failures has your system experienced historically. Applying PdM technology from an RCA basis can really leverage your efforts.
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Christopher Olsen
Sr. EMR Technician
CHA Consulting, Inc
Fence WI
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2026 06:09 PM
From: Ryan McBride
Subject: PdM for Servo motors
Hi Everyone,
Are your reliability teams currently using predictive maintenance for servo motors? I would appreciate hearing about any success with continuous vibration monitoring, infrared, acoustic/ultrasound, or other PdM technologies to monitor machine health and provide early warning of failures.
I've seen an article on bench testing using a meter, but I'm specifically interested in real-world experience using predictive technologies in operation.
Testing Your Fanuc Servo Motor
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Ryan McBride
Manufacturing Reliability Manager
Schreiber Foods
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