Vibration analysis is a process of looking for anomalies and monitoring change from the established vibration signature of a system. The vibration of any object in motion is characterized by variations of amplitude, intensity, and frequency. These vibration signatures can be correlated to physical phenomena, making it possible to use vibration data to gain insights into the health of equipment.

Motors will likely experience high vibration levels at some point during their lifetime. Performing predictive maintenance through motor vibration monitoring can prevent issues resulting from a variety of motor faults, including those often found in motor bearings, gearboxes and rotors:

Bearing defects are often the source of vibration in machinery, but bearing condition monitoring can help keep identify these defects and determine when repairs or replacements are needed. Bearing defects can include excessive loads, true or false brinelling, overheating, reverse loading, normal fatigue failure, corrosion, loose or tight fits, and misalignment, among other potential problems. Gearbox Vibration Monitoring Another application for machine condition monitoring includes gearbox vibration monitoring. In gearboxes, impacting and friction can occur, and a single crack in a gear could cause a slight change in speed once the defective teeth are inside of the load zone. This will result in impacting, and if there is insufficient lubrication for the gear teeth, friction will also occur. Machine vibration monitoring can detect these instances of impacting and friction in predictive maintenance.

There are several causes of lateral vibrations in rotors, including instability and unbalance, along with other types of forces impacting the rotor. Cracks are often formed, frequently leading to reduced natural frequencies as a result of reduced rigidness. Rotor vibration analysis can monitor the rotor’s behavior to help locate a developed crack.