What is Predictive maintenance?
Predictive maintenance is a proactive maintenance approach that uses equipment data to catch early signs of wear or degradation, so maintenance happens in time and the failure never occurs. It differs from fault detection and diagnostics, which deals with faults after they happen.
What it is
Predictive maintenance looks for changes that come before failure: rising vibration, a new sound signature, temperature creep, increasing energy draw or longer run times. When a trend points toward failure, maintenance is scheduled before the equipment breaks down.
It sits between time-based preventive maintenance, which services equipment on a fixed schedule, and reactive maintenance, which waits for failure. The goal is to service equipment when its condition calls for it, and to stop failures before they happen. Claims for predictive maintenance should be backed by evidence that it works on the specific equipment.
Who it applies to / where it is used
Predictive maintenance is used on critical rotating and HVAC equipment such as chillers, compressors, pumps, fans and air handlers, in hospitals, data centers, airports, manufacturing and dairy plants, where unplanned downtime is costly.
How it is measured / what evidence it needs
The evidence is a failure that did not happen, so records need to show the early sign, the action and the outcome.
- Condition data such as vibration, temperature, current and run hours
- Trend thresholds or models that flag early degradation
- Maintenance actions scheduled from those signals
- Equipment outcomes after the intervention
How Aqueduct helps
Aqueduct stops failures before they happen on equipment where it can show this working, and routes the maintenance into the customer's CMMS.
- Compressor, pump and fan condition trends through aQ PredictIQ
- Energy drift detection that signals degradation, alongside aQ EnergySmart
- Maintenance recommendations routed into the customer's CMMS
- Outcomes tracked so the approach is proven per asset type