Active Vibration and Physics-Based Health Management

Mechanical Solutions, Incorporated’s (MSI’s) Phase II effort will develop a health monitoring system for compressor trains and other plant equipment. This system will be primarily based on vibrations as gathered from accelerometers and eddy current sensor probes, but may also monitor other types of data such as temperatures, pressures, and acoustic signatures. In addition, MSI will evaluate the feasibility of determining shaft rotational natural frequencies from electrical excitation produced naturally in systems which include a wound rotor motor and include such a capability with the monitoring system, if feasible. This system will provide Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) personnel with tools to compliment their core vibration-based machinery diagnostics in determining the health of plant machinery. This in turn will assist analysts in locating and characterizing faults, prioritizing maintenance, and predicting useful life of plant components. BENEFIT: Successful development of the proposed predictive maintenance system would allow MSI to market such technology in many industries. The algorithms will be applicable to pumps, compressors, turbines, fans, etc., for use in energy producing, environmental control, general manufacturing, and transportation industries.