Two Minute Tips
Why Rotor Blade Failures in Steam Turbines Demand Attention: A Data-Driven Perspective
Steam turbines are the workhorses of thermonuclear power plants and large ships, but their efficiency and safety hinge on one critical component: the rotor blade. Last-stage rotor blades (LSRBs) are prone to failure due to prolonged exposure to high-speed wet steam (HSWs). These failures aren’t just costly—they can lead to catastrophic accidents, with fractured blades causing cascading damage to other components running at high speeds.
- Khalid Farooq Khattak
- Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited
Avoiding Bearing Failure Through Proper Grease Management
More than 60% of bearing failures are due to lubrication, and grease failures contribute more than the oil. Whenever the bearings are replaced in the housing, mostly the housing is fully packed with the grease without keeping empty space and started operating the bearing after the housing end cover is sealed.
- Pratap Kambley
- Caravan Reliability Services
Understanding Critical Speed in Rotating Machinery
This article explains the concept of critical speed in the world of mechanical engineering and key points such as natural frequency, resonance and avoidance.
- Motaz Abdelsalam Mohamed
- Mobius Institute
Vibration Monitoring for Paper Machines
Every minute of unplanned downtime for a paper machine represents lost revenue. Maintenance and reliability engineers monitor vibration to avoid costly repairs and breakdowns by detecting early warnings of faults such as imbalance, misalignment, looseness, and lubrication issues.
- Peter Eitnier
- Wilcoxon Sensing Technologies
What’s the Better Bearing: Shield or Sealed?
Very frequently, I receive a common question from customers and followers: Which bearing is best, shielded or sealed? To provide better understanding, I created a simple document that compares shielded bearings and sealed bearings.
- Pratap Kambley
- Caravan Reliability Services
Understanding Piping Vibration: Types, Detection, and Solutions
Piping vibration is a critical issue that can affect the integrity and performance of industrial systems. Let's explore the different types of piping vibrations, how to detect them, and effective solutions...
- Motaz Abdelsalam Mohamed
- Mobius Institute
The Art of Bearing Failure Analysis
Bearing Failure Analysis is an "art", but not all who does the bearing failure analysis is an "artist". While I was conducting a bearing failure analysis of a large size spherical roller used in a crushing application, moisture corrosion was the main reason for the bearings to fail...
- Pratap Kambley
- Caravan Reliability Services
Bearing Failure Modes and Monitoring
Detecting bearing failure modes at higher frequencies, and earlier in their progression, is key to extending the bearing life and ensuring the reliability of a machine. Bearing failure generally progresses through four main stages and across a wide range of frequencies.
- Peter Eitnier
- Wilcoxon Sensing Technologies
Overhung Cooler Fan by Phase Analysis
Phase analysis is a key tool in checking the health of machines by looking at their vibrations. It measures how the timing of vibration signals line up with each other, usually from different parts of a machine. This helps find problems like parts not lining up right, balance issues, parts being loose, or gear problems.
- Muhammad Muneeb Babar
- Al Jouf Cement Company