Vibration: A Very Broad Technology

Don Sanger | Senior Application Engineer, IVC Technology

 Save To Library

• Vibration technology has a lot of adjustability from a frequency analysis perspective. You can adjust your frequency coverage, set up specific envelope frequencies, and even set up different lines of resolution to look for specific issues.

  Vibration technology has a lot of adjustability from a frequency analysis perspective. You can adjust your frequency coverage, set up specific envelope frequencies, and even set up different lines of resolution to look for specific issues.

  

  Having said that, if the vibration parameters are not set up to capture the data where the failure mode exists, you won’t see it. To arbitrarily say that vibration didn’t find a failure mode, means very little unless we know that the technology was used to its fullest possible capabilities.

   

• Was the database set up correctly?

  

  Many of the database reviews that IVC Technologies gets called in to assess aren’t set up correctly to capture the failure modes. The databases don’t go high enough in the frequency spectrum and don’t use resolution properly.

  

• Many of the database reviews that IVC Technologies gets called in to assess aren’t set up correctly to capture the failure modes. The databases don’t go high enough in the frequency spectrum and don’t use resolution properly.

  

  The first thing in any approach to predictive maintenance (PdM) or condition-based monitoring (CBM)services is to identify the possible failure modes and then decide what technology is applicable and how it should be applied. Maybe you will need to set up and view something in acceleration as opposed to looking at it in velocity. A solid understanding of the characteristics and nature of the failure mode will determine what will be required.

  For instance, a pump has a different set of failure modes than a gearbox or rolling element bearing, so your vibration measurements have to be set up to apply to those specific applications.

  Knowing how to set the proper parameters for the failure modes in any given equipment type is critical to using vibration technology and getting the most out of your investment.

• Do your people know what is inside the machines they’re measuring?

  

  Most people don’t even know what is inside of a machine when they set up a vibration database. If you don’t know what is inside, what the internal configuration is, and what the machine is commissioned to do, then the database will have little chance of being set up correctly.

• Most people don’t even know what is inside of a machine when they set up a vibration database. If you don’t know what is inside, what the internal configuration is, and what the machine is commissioned to do, then the database will have little chance of being set up correctly.

  

  Case in point, we use the time waveform often to look at the waveform pattern to determine how much energy is being developed in a bearing. If for instance, you’ve got a fan that is moving material, then the waveform becomes pretty useless because it’s been impacted by the process of the fan.

  

  In this instance, we have to rely more on the frequency content, and we have to disregard the time waveform.  Not possessing a full understanding of the variabilities with vibration and how to set them up correctly in the database is most of the battle we find when we perform database assessments.

  Using the right condition-monitoring technology for the equipment and possible failure modes will ensure you’re getting correct data to make decisions. This allows you to keep your facility’s critical production assets in optimal health and reliably provide the products and services your customers count on your company to provide.

Tags: vibration, frequency, PdM, predictive maintenance

Subscribe

Login

Notify of

new follow-up comments new replies to my comments

Label

{} [+]

Name*

Email*

Website

Δ

Label

{} [+]

Name*

Email*

Website

Δ

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments