Each compressor stage
Every rotating assembly is measured on its own: first stage through the last, so a problem is located, not just detected.
Technical services · Vibration analysis
Vibration analysis, stage by stage.
Advanced vibration analysis evaluates bearings, rotors, gears, alignment, mechanical looseness and imbalance on every rotating assembly, the drive motor and the gear train, so developing problems show up while they are still small.
What we measure
Where the readings come from.
Drive motor
Drive-end and non-drive-end readings on the main motor, which shares the gear train with the compressor.
Bull gear and alignment
Alignment-related signatures through the motor and bull-gear assembly, trended over time.
Onboard monitoring, corroborated
The compressor’s own vibration instrumentation is checked against independent field measurements.
What it tells us
Signatures, and what they mean.
- Running-speed harmonics with a raised broadband noise floor
- Consistent with early bearing degradation and increasing internal bearing clearance.
- Dominant higher-order harmonics (for example, the fifth)
- Mechanical nonlinearity, looseness or clearance effects that may not yet show in overall amplitude.
- Elevated blade-pass frequency with broadband energy
- Flow disturbance, reduced impeller-to-stationary clearance, or a minor impeller rub.
- Alignment-related signature through motor and bull gear
- Coupling movement, thermal growth or foundation effects worth trending before they grow.
- Abnormal pattern at the motor non-drive end
- Can indicate developing rotor bar problems, which load the gear train if left alone.
From a recent assessment
Below the alarm limit is not the same as healthy.
On one recent unit the first-stage spectrum was clean: low-amplitude components only, no running-speed harmonics, no bearing defect frequencies. The third stage told a different story, with a dominant peak at the fifth harmonic of stage running speed and a raised broadband noise floor around it.
The amplitudes were still under the alarm thresholds. But the spectral pattern, not the absolute amplitude, is what carries the information, so the recommendation was continued monitoring and a bearing inspection scheduled into the next planned outage.
What you receive
Evidence, not a sales pitch.
Vibration analysis is one of four disciplines read together in every condition assessment. One finding can be noise; several pointing the same way is a diagnosis.
- A written assessment for every stage, the motor and the gear train
- The spectra behind each finding
- A plain disposition per compressor, from cleared for full operation to inspect now
- A baseline that future surveys are compared against
The other disciplines
Thermal imaging Abnormal heat, stage-to-stage imbalance, bearing, cooling and lubrication problems. Learn more Oil analysis Wear metals, contamination, oxidation and moisture inside the machine. Learn more Performance & surge testing Pressure, flow, efficiency and how much operating margin is left. Learn more
Find out what your compressors actually need.
A condition assessment reads vibration, heat, oil and performance together and gives every machine a plain verdict.