Vibration analysis or vibration monitoring is a procedure that analyses patterns in vibration data and analyses vibration intensities. It is often performed directly on the time waveform of the vibration signals and also on the frequency range generated by performing the Fourier Transform on the recorded signal.
Time domain analysis on historically recorded vibration waves reveals when and how severe anomalous vibration events are happening by retrieving and studying metrics such as root-mean-square (RMS), peak amplitude, standard deviation, crest factor,kurtosis, skewness, and many more. Time domain analysis can assess the overall status of monitored targets.
What Is Vibration and What Are the Different Kinds of Vibration?
Vibration is a physical phenomenon that occurs in all operating spinning machines and moving objects, irrespective of their state of health. Vibration can be caused by a variety of factors such as rotating shafts, meshing gear teeth, rolling element bearings, rotating electric fields, water flows, ignition events, architectural resonance, and angular rotations. Because of its pervasiveness, vibration is an excellent tool for determining the operational state and status of spinning equipment and structures.
Vibrations can be expressed in various ways, such as movement, acceleration, and velocity. Displacement represents the distance travelled by the measuring site; velocity indicates the speed of the motion; and acceleration is self-explanatory. The three forms are all commonly employed, particularly acceleration, which has the broadest frequency range and is often used in dynamic fault diagnosis.
How Do You Calculate Vibration?
Vibration can be monitored using a variety of sensors. There are sensors engineered to gauge displacement, speed, and velocity centred on different types of vibrations. They use various measuring systems such as piezoelectric (PZT) detectors, microelectromechanical detectors, proximity detectors, laser Doppler vibrometers, and other vibration monitoring devices.
What Is Vibration Analysis Capable of Detecting?
Vibration levels can be monitored using time domain vibration measurement. Suitable operation vibration limitations can be specified using long-term operating and maintenance records or by referencing to recognized standards. If the limit is exceeded, it is possible that the machine’s overall health is degrading and faults have occurred.
Frequency domain vibrations analysis is particularly effective in detecting unusual vibrating sequences. For example, a fracture in a roller bearings outer race will cause frequent impacts with bearing rollers. This info is typically concealed and obscured in time waveforms by vibrations from other components. The regularity of the impacts can be observed and hence the presence of bearing flaws detected by analysing the frequency spectrum.
What exactly is a VMS?
A VMS or vibration monitor system is a comprehensive system that can acquire vibration data based on predefined criteria such as sample rate, vibration intensity, record length, record intervals, and frequency bandwidths. The solution must be able to interpret the recorded vibration and convert it into intuitive indicators for factory workers, maintenance personnel, or asset managers.
The system must not interfere with the normal functioning of the equipment or structures being observed, and the system’s advantages should outweigh the costs of implementation.
