What do we know about vibration?
We encounter vibration in our daily lives in many places, we feel vibration when we are waiting in a traffic jam on top of a flyover, we feel it when we ride a train. It can sometimes be experienced as an earthquake and at other times the panes of our windows vibrate when a noisy vehicle passes by.
Vibration in machines
Vibration is present in many machines which have rotating or reciprocating parts like pumps, compressors, motors, car engines, turbines, etc. It is important to learn more about the nature of this vibration and how it can be useful to us and also the various ways in which we can measure it, assess it and control it.
How do we define vibration?
Vibration is simply the to and fro movement of a body from its mean or resting position.
Mostly vibration is undesirable unless it is in your back massager and a nice attendant is helping you relax with it. Sometimes there are industrial uses of creating vibrations like in large sealing operations or in settling concrete slurry when laying a slab. It could also be used to shakedown powder that sticks to the walls of industrial vessels or compact Earth in road building. However, such intentional vibration apart, the undesirable vibration causes accelerated wear and tear, consumes energy that can be saved, and is generally considered a nuisance.
Pay attention to the story
Interestingly vibration in a machine is also something that tells a story about what is happening inside the machine. When we understand that story, we can take appropriate corrective action and save a lot of money by preventing sudden and unexpected breakdowns. Long before a machine breaks down, changes occur in its vibration. The technique of analyzing these changes is extremely useful in not only rectifying the underlying causes but also in predicting problems.
Types of Vibration
There are two types of vibration - random and periodic.
Random vibration is that which is in response to a randomly applied force. Such vibration is non-deterministic which means that we cannot predict if it will be there in the next few minutes. This type of vibration decays and dies out as soon as the force causing it has disappeared.
Periodic vibration is the main area of our interest, this type of vibration is a repetitive form of vibration which is essentially a response to one or many cyclical forces which continue to stay over a considerable period. Such vibration has a repetitive property and in its simplest form, there is a specific time period associated with it.
Baseline Technologies offers state-of-the-art instruments for vibration measurement, analysis, and in-position balancing. Details of the same can be found on our website www.baselinetechno.com
