Signum Moves Equipment Reliability Forward

with Advancement in Oil Analysis Alarming

Introduction
With the recent launch of ExxonMobil Marine Lubricant’s Enhanced Signum oil analysis program, result alarming took a
major step forward. Signum now has the capability not only to employ the traditional absolute alarm methods, but also to
incorporate trend alarming. This added capability will help customers maximize the effectiveness of their oil analysis
program, thereby optimizing both equipment and lubricant life and costs. This technical bulletin will help explain the
Signum alarm capability.

The Signum Oil Analysis report (Figure 1) provides an easily readable, color-coded performance assessment with one of
the following ratings:

■ Alert — Conditions exist that exceed acceptable limits or require corrective action. Steps should be taken to confirm
and correct the condition.

■ Caution — Conditions are present that may require monitoring or diagnosis to minimize impact on equipment and
lubricant performance.

■ Normal — Equipment, contamination, and lubricant conditions are within an acceptable range.

Sample Point Data

Sample point data that you provide during registration is used to interpret the
analysis results. By including equipment manufacturer, model, and other operating
parameters, a better overall assessment can be made for your application.

Sample Label Data

A completed sample
label provides critical Results Interpretation
information for processing
Proprietary control limits
and interpreting your
are applied based on
equipment’s condition.
your equipment
By including key data,
manufacturer, equipment
like equipment hours and
model, lubricant, and
date sampled, you help
application. Sample
establish reference
comments are provided,
points that assist in
as required, to help
condition trending.
identify potential
problems, list possible
causes, and recommend
actions for follow-up.

Analysis Results
The Signum Oil Analysis report provides an easy-to-read
color-coded display of your sample analysis results in order to:
■ Trend elements of equipment wear
■ Identify contaminants that may impact performance Figure 1. Example of a
■ Monitor lubricant condition Signum Oil Analysis report
The overall assessment of a Sample focuses on three areas that help identify:

■ Equipment Condition
■ Contamination Condition
■ Lubricant Condition

There are 2 types of alarms that can be displayed in a Signum Oil Analysis report:

Absolute Value or Level Alarming

As in the past, the Enhanced Signum Program utilizes fixed-limit alarms to help customers know when an abnormal
lubricant and/or equipment condition may exist. A fixed-limit alarm means that we have placed an absolute value or level
that will generate an alarm to the customer if a specific oil analysis parameter (such as iron, water, viscosity, etc.) exceeds
this value. This alarm can come at two different levels.

Typically, Signum has an absolute value at a lower level that triggers a Caution alarm and a higher value that triggers an
Alert alarm. At each level, Signum will generate a comment or set of comments that signals to the customer the abnormal
condition and can supply potential causes and recommendations to investigate or rectify the abnormal condition. Figure 2
illustrates how this works. ExxonMobil uses a combination of statistical analysis of historic data, our field application
experience, as well as input from Marine Equipment Manufactures to arrive at the alarm levels.

Figure 2. For the example shown, the limits for Iron on this particular
application/equipment/lubricant combination have been set at 175 for
a Caution and 250 for Alert.
The Iron level for sample #12 has exceeded the Normal range and will
include comments an on the report to indicate that it is in “Caution” status.

With the Enhanced Signum Program, we can now use multiple combinations of parameter conditions to trigger different
comments. Many labs trigger only based on one parameter, but Signum’s logic can factor the results of different measured
parameters to drive the report’s comments and recommendations.

In addition, if any parameter measured goes into a caution status, Signum will highlight the entire report as caution and
use a yellow coloring to help bring this to a customer’s attention. Similarly, if the report contains any parameter with an
alert status, then Signum will mark the entire report as an Alert and signal the customer to this in red coloring.
Trend Alarming
With the launch of the Enhanced Signum Program, ExxonMobil has added a new trend alarming feature to help customers
further optimize their equipment and lubricant reliability and costs. In contrast to the level alarm which, as previously stated,
is set at an absolute/fixed value, trend alarms are based on the historic data from the customer’s equipment.

The goal of the trend alarm is to signal to the customer that a significant change in a parameter level has occurred. This
adds value by giving early warning to a changing condition even before the absolute or level alarm is triggered (Figure 3).
In addition, if a parameter has a trend alarm and an absolute alarm, a customer can tell how severe the change in
equipment condition may be due to the degree that the level has changed (Figure 4). Also, since the trend alarm is
calculated using the equipment’s historic data, the customer receives customized alarming for their equipment. The graph
below illustrates how trend and level alarming complement each other.

Figure 3. While traditional alarming uses fixed limits and warns you when
the level of a result exceeds the pre-set limits, trend alarming uses a
sophisticated algorithm to identify a dangerous trend in the results before
the result exceeds the pre-set limits.
In this example, traditional absolute alarming would give a warning on
sample #12, while the trend analysis is able to identify a problem as early
as sample #10.

We calculate the trend alarms by applying a sophisticated statistical algorithm against the historic data of the specific
equipment. The trend alarm requires at least three previous data points to function. The more historic data exists, the better
the trend alarming will be. In addition, consistent sampling techniques will greatly improve the meaningfulness of the
alarming (as with absolute level alarming).

If Signum generates a trend alarm, the parameter measured and the report will receive an overall caution assessment and
a trending comment will be generated. If another parameter is in Alert in addition to a trend alarm the report will receive an
overall assessment of alert.
 Figure 4. In this example, sample #13 will display comments for both a
trend caution and an Alert for excessive Iron.
Unlike sample #10 in which the high Iron content also shows an alert, the
presence of both comments on sample #13 is indicating a very severe
problem. Not only has the iron level risen above the predefined limit, the
rate at which it’s increasing is also a cause for concern.

The Signum trend capability is set to Off as a default and ExxonMobil must turn this feature on for your equipment. This
functionality can be turned on at the customer level, vessel level, or the equipment level.

To summarize, the Enhanced Signum Oil Analysis program now offers you:

■ Lab facilities with reliable equipment and skilled personnel to bring you accurate and consistent results.
■ Strong heritage of hands-on application expertise.
■ Unparalleled knowledge of ExxonMobil lubricants.
■ Decades of experience and close OEM relationships.
■ Powerful analytical tools that help identify potential problems early.

These elements, and more, make ExxonMobil Marine Lubricants and Signum the best option for all your lubrication and
oil analysis needs.

If you have any questions or would like to take advantage of the new trend alarming feature, please contact your
ExxonMobil Representative.

ExxonMobil Marine Limited www.exxonmobil.com/lubes/marine

An ExxonMobil Affiliate, ExxonMobil House, Mailpoint 29, Ermyn Way, Leatherhead KT22 8UX, United Kingdom

© 2007 Exxon Mobil Corporation

The ExxonMobil logotype and Signum are trademarks of Exxon Mobil Corporation or one of its subsidiaries.
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