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You’re scanning overhead pipework in a compressor room when your acoustic camera shows a bright hotspot on a steel support beam. You walk over, listen carefully, and check the surface. Nothing. No hiss, no vibration, no leak. The image looks convincing, but the source is not actually on that beam. This is one of the most […]

When a power plant in Bursa, Turkey completed a major mechanical overhaul of its steam turbine, one critical task remained before the unit could return to operation – aligning the turbine and generator shafts with high precision. Our Turkish partner, PEAK Teknik Mühendislik, was called in to do the job. The overhaul included extensive work […]

Uneven Heating = Distortion & Premature Failure When heating is uneven, the Outer Diameter (OD) and Inner Diameter (ID) expand at different rates. This differential expansion can cause warping, ovality, improper shaft fit, increased vibration, and premature bearing failure. Bearings must expand uniformly to slide onto the shaft without undue force. If the ID expands […]

Anyone who has spent time in the field of machine repair has most certainly heard of “thermal growth”. This is the unavoidable act of materials expanding as they heat up or contracting as they cool down. Thermal growth is a well-known phenomenon that is dealt with extensively in alignment procedures. Components growing or shrinking with […]

Runout, in regard to industrial machinery, is most commonly defined as a deviation from a rotor’s true circular path or concentricity in a machine shaft or coupling.  Visually, the shaft or coupling (or both) will typically  “wobble” slightly throughout their rotation. Runout typically causes a loading/unloading cycle that’s repeated during every rotation of the shaft.  […]

Acoustic cameras turn invisible sound into visible images. This guide explains how they work, where they’re used, and how to choose the right one for your application. What Is an Acoustic Camera? An acoustic camera is a device that locates and visualizes sound sources in real time. It combines a microphone array – typically 64 […]

Sometimes unbalance can be caused by a shaft key being too long.  When a shaft assembly goes to the balance machine, the assembly is normally balanced with a half key installed.  The coupling and key have been removed and a half key installed into the keyway on the shaft.  The straight portion of the shaft […]

Compressed gas is used everywhere. While there are several different types of compressors to pressurize gas, here we will talk about the reciprocating type which is widely used in all types of industry. Laser measurement and alignment of these types of compressors is essential both during the installation phase and to ensure reliable operation for […]

Vibration data is, at its heart, complex. Analysts require many years of experience in both reviewing data and a high-level understanding of the machinery. The two skills are not typically closely aligned, one being a deep technical understanding of the physical and electrical characteristics of a machine in a given process, the other a more […]

Throughout my career, I’ve had a lot of co-workers.  For the most part, as technicians, we all generally wanted the same things when it came to our work experience. To increase our value by expanding our skillset, giving ourselves an opportunity for career growth. To be confident in our organization and know that the job […]

Caution: While unbalance always causes vibration at 1× RPM, 1× RPM vibration is not always caused by an unbalance. Other problems are: Misalignment: Misalignment can cause a 1× RPM component in the data, but it also generates a 2× RPM component and sometimes an elevated axial vibration at 1× RPM. Bent/Bowed Shaft: Generally, this fault will […]

When it comes to condition monitoring, wireless technology is becoming ubiquitous for sensing applications.  But many analysts still have a tried and tested portable monitor in their arsenal, so this begs the question, why should wireless sensors be used, and is there still a place for the more traditional route-based option? When to break free  […]

A while back, a German company that provides gas contacted Easy-Laser GmbH to participate in the troubleshooting of a machine that showed high vibrations levels. The machine was a geared compressor supplying nitrogen gas for the process. As part of the investigation, the compressor owner asked us to provide thermal compensation values for the alignment. […]

My thoughts on this subject had their genesis from instruction I was fortunate to receive years ago from two different individuals. One was teaching an advanced analysis class at the time, and he included orbits on roller bearing systems. His point was to try and understand the forces acting on the rotor more comprehensively. Soon […]

Not too long ago, I was called out to balance a supply fan on an air handler at the local zoo.  I arrived on site and immediately noticed the heavy vibration coming from the air handler.  I collected some vibration readings, shut the machine down, and locked it out.  After looking through the vibration data […]

In almost every heavy industry, you will find rotating machinery. You could say that rotating machinery makes the industrial world go round. Unless, of course, it doesn’t. When rotating machines go awry, it can be nothing less than catastrophic. At the very least, when there is misalignment, the result is unwanted heat, noise and vibration, […]

If one expects to start a “long term” investment in production equipment, and one expects to achieve maximally profitable long term Return on Investment (ROI), one should know that one must have a properly designed and constructed foundation. As is obvious, if one has foundation problems at home, one must spend a lot of one’s […]

Guest post by John Lambert at Benchmark PDM Recently I have been seeing the P to F interval curve popping up a lot on my LinkedIn feed and in articles that I have read. It was a concept that I was first introduced to when I was implementing Reliability Centered Maintenance into the Engineering and Maintenance […]

What is the difference between Brinelling and False Brinelling? What causes Brinelling and False Brinelling? Brinelling Brinelling is named after the Brinell scale of hardness.  In the Brinell hardness test, a small ball is pressed into the surface of a material using a specific amount of force. The size of the indentation that occurs in […]

Introduction Large commercial chillers are the backbone of many facilities, supplying thousands of tons of cooling through extensive piping networks. But even when the equipment itself is built to last, the structures that support it may not be. During routine vibration data collection, our team identified excessive vibration not on the chiller, but on the […]