You must consider various methods of evaluating the equipment at your company if you want to establish a preventative maintenance program. However, don’t discount the advantages of monitoring for vibration as well. You may use tools like infrared scanning or perhaps sound analysis. Any industrial equipment will experience some degree of vibration. Still, some types of vibration need to be addressed right away since they have the potential to cause more problems for the equipment or even its breakdown.

Vibration could happen for a variety of causes. If any significant issues with the machinery are present, identifying the vibration through a vibration analysis survey will help. While vibration may not always be the issue, it frequently serves as an obvious warning sign that the machine needs repair.

When might vibration become a problem?

Most industrial machinery is built to function quietly and vibrationally as little as possible. Any abnormal machine vibration may indicate an underlying issue or a problem with deteriorating parts, and the vibration may also cause more damage if the issue is not immediately fixed.

While some machines are built with vibration as a feature, testing machines for vibration might allow you to see beneath the surface. The standard equipment in your building should function properly, including electric motors, fans, blowers, rotary pumps, and compressors—the lower the vibrations, the fewer issues arise with the machine parts.

What common factors give rise to vibration?

Various problems may cause vibrations with the main or possibly even secondary equipment. Listed below are a handful of the more typical issues:

• Wear: Vibration is likely to develop when machine parts, such as drive belts, ball bearings, or gears, start to wear. While some vibration is unavoidable, excessive vibration might signal deeper problems.
• Damage: Vibration may also result from parts of the machine that have been damaged, such as a drive belt that has to be changed, a chipped gear tooth, or a roller-bearing race that has developed pits.
• Imbalance: Vibration may occur when a heavy patch develops in rotating machinery due to imbalance. A filthy fan blade or manufacturing flaws could be to blame for the imbalance. The impact of unbalance is more pronounced at higher speeds. The worst-case scenario is a catastrophic failure brought on by excessive vibration, which leads to bearing failure, cracks, and other structural flaws. Thankfully, Bellwood offer dynamic balancing, which can help stabilize the machine.
• Misalignment: Vibration can quickly occur if the shafts are out of alignment. This problem may develop over time or have happened during an assembly at the factory.
• Component looseness: Vibration problems may result from loose components, although looseness may also result from vibration. The motor may sustain lasting damage due to looseness, such as wear on the equipment mounts or bearing damage.

conclusion

Even while vibration is inevitable in industrial equipment, some vibrations need to be addressed immediately because they may cause other problems for the machinery or even lead to equipment failure. Testing the equipment can help to find the issue that is causing it before a catastrophic breakdown occurs.