What is Vibration Analysis?

Vibration Analysis is used to detect early precursors to machine failure, allowing machinery to be repaired or replaced before an expensive failure occurs.

Early detection of mechanical fatigue and breakdown

1. All rotating equipment vibrates to some degree, but as older bearings and components reach the end of their product life they begin to vibrate more dramatically, and in distinct ways.

2. Ongoing monitoring of equipment allows these signs of wear and damage to be identified well before the damage becomes an expensive problem.

Accurately monitor the health of your plant machinery

1. Commtest's portable and permanently-mounted vibration analysers are used in this monitoring process. Our vibration analysers record machine vibrations using sensors such as accelerometers and tachometers.

2. Accelerometers are the 'ears' of our instruments, and are connected to rotating machinery such as electro-mechanical drives and gearboxes. The vibrations and movements of the equipment is then recorded.

3. These recordings are later transferred to a computer and analysed using our Ascent® software, visually displaying vibration waveforms. These recordings can be compared over time, and the gradual development of new vibrations that might indicate wear detected at their earliest stages.

Decrease downtime and increase savings

1. This process is generically known as 'condition monitoring'. When used correctly, it can result in huge cost savings when compared to traditional maintenance methods.

2. Traditional maintenance methods are predictive: components are replaced on a fixed schedule whether worn or not; and reactive maintenance: in which components are repaired only after they have broken down,

3. Neither of these methods is ideal, although both are very common throughout the heavy industry sector, and both tend to incur much higher costs than those methods that use vibration analysis.

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