Vibration monitoring

Mechanical systems or machines account for most plant equipment, vibration monitoring is generally the key component of most predictive maintenance programs. Beacuse most plants consist of electromechanical systems, vibration monitoring is the primary predictive maintenance tool.

Over the past 20 years, most of these programs have adopted the use of microprocessor-based, single-channel data collectors and Windows-based software to acquire, manage, trend, and evaluate the vibration energy created by these electromechanical systems. Although this approach is a valuable predictive maintenance methodology, these systems' limitations may restrict potential benefits.

Computer-based systems have several limitations. In addition, some system characteristics, particularly simplified data acquisition and analysis, provide both advantages and disadvantages. More