Dec 11
22
What’s laser vibration analysis? Properly speaking, there will always be some degree of motion whenever there are spinning parts. It is terrible because of related noise, discomfort, wastage of power and faster wear and tear in moving parts, leading to shortened life of components and parts. Vibration is noticed in all electric motors, engines, rotating machinery, moving belts and vehicles. Possibly you might have sometimes felt some juddering within your workplace elevator or escalator in the mall and the cause is vibration. Now that we know it exists in nearly every single item with moving parts, it will be fascinating to know why it takes place and what can be done about it.
Vibration or the oscillatory movement of parts in a miniscule scale, in any rotating or oscillating or reciprocating machinery because of inherent ‘imbalances’ existing at one or more points. By imbalance what exactly is meant is that the mass is not distributed equally in all directions. Rotating shafts may have eccentricity, which means the axis of rotation is not perfectly along the axis of weight distribution. There is no cause to get perplexed with all this, because technology is there to help you in detecting the causes, at what exact points these aberrations lie, what’s their extent and how much mass needs to be added or taken out to correct the problem. Welcome to the world of vibration analysis.
Vibration analysis can be done by several types of equipment, but one of the most modern and simplest to handle is the laser vibration analyzer. This directs a highly focused and low energy laser beam at the potential trouble spot within the rotating motor or other machinery and depending on the shift in frequency of the reflections received, the frequency and mode of vibration as nicely as the mass imbalance is indicated. If you think this is all too complex, let me tell you this is not rocket science. Indeed, you’ve probably already witnessed just such a procedure already, however unwittingly. Know how you had to watch the mechanic line up and true your wheel balance? Remember that carefully calibrated additions had to be made at predetermined locations? Strictly speaking, you do know how it works roughly. Everything about laser vibration analysis and the equipment depends on the type of job. We cannot imagine using the wheel balancing instrument to do the job for an aircraft engine weighing tons and rotating at 30,000 revolutions in a minute, can you?
