Rotary Lobe Blower Vibrations
Introduction:
The general vibration severity charts
derived from Rathbone vibration severity
charts provide guidelines for machines
basically having mass unbalance--
turbomachinery, electric motors etc. The
German specification VDI 2056--Criteria
for Assessing Mechanical Vibrations of
Machines-- provides vibration guide lines
for machines with rotating masses
(turbomachinery) and machines having
mass effects which cannot be balanced
(reciprocating machines), but does not
specifically address rotary lobe blowers
(also known as Roots Blowers) with
inherent fluctuating dynamic bearing loads
and torques.
API Standard 619, Rotary Type
Positive Displacement Compressors for
General Refinery Services, limits the
vibration level to 0.1 in/sec peak, which is
quite ambitious.
Based on experience, practical
acceptable vibration levels lie somewhere
between API 619 requirement and VDI
2056 allowance for group D reciprocating
machines.
Principle of Operation:
In order to understand the vibration
generating mechanism in the Rotary Lobe
Blower, principle of operation is explained
as follows.
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Rotary lobe blowers use two double lobe
impellers (two tooth gears) mounted on
two parallel shafts rotating in opposite
direction and kept in synchronization
through a set of timing gears. The
impellers rotate within an elongated
housing and transfer air/gas from the inlet
side to the discharge side against the
system pressure. The leakage of the air/gas
from the discharge to the inlet side is
controlled by use of minute operating
clearances.
The operating principle of a conventional
rotary lobe blower is shown in Fig-1. The
blower inlet is located on the right side
and the discharge is located on the left.
The bottom impeller, the drive impeller,
rotates in clockwise direction and the top
impeller, the driven impeller, rotates in the
counter clockwise direction. In position 1,
the bottom impeller is delivering volume
A to the discharge while the top impeller
is trapping volume B. In position 2, top
impeller has trapped volume B which is at
inlet pressure condition. In position 3,
volume B is exposed to the discharge
pressure and the higher-pressure discharge
air rushes into volume B. This sudden
back flow of air creates pressure pulsation
which contributes to noise and vibrations.
For one complete rotation of the drive
shaft, four equal volumes are discharged
producing a pressure pulse with a
frequency of four times the blower speed.
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 Torque Pulsation’s:

Fig-3 shows impeller pressure loading.

The torque requirements for individual
impellers depend on the location of the
sealing point on the lobes.
Fig-2 shows torque variations as a
function of impeller rotation. In position 2
of Fig-1 the drive impeller is vertical and
the torque required to overcome the
pressure loading for this impeller is
minimum. But for the driven impeller in
the horizontal position, the torque is at
maximum. At 45° position, torque
requirements are the same for both FIGURE 3
impellers. Each impeller torque shape has
two peaks per revolution and combined
produce a pulsating toque shape with four
peaks per revolution.
TORQUE

COMBINED

DRIVEN IMPELLER

DRIVE IMPELLER

0 30 60 90 120 150 180

IMPELLER ROTATION (DEG)
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 2

Gear Loads:

The timing gears transmit the torque

necessary to power the driven impeller.
The varying impeller torque produces
varying gear loads.

Bearing Loads:

The pulsating driven impeller toque

generates pulsating timing gear loads.
These gear loads combined with varying
impeller pressure loads produce impact
loads on the bearings.

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 Bearing Loads (continue):
Consider loading of gear end driven
bearing shown by Fig-5A. As the drive
impeller rotates from vertical position thru
30°, the bearing load vector jumps from
01 to 02 suddenly changing direction and
producing impact at the bearing. As the
impeller rotation progresses, the bearing
load amplitude as well as the direction
continues to change.
The impacting bearing loads set up a
complex vibration pattern exciting natural
frequencies of blower components.
Elements Generating Vibrations in
Rotary Lobe Blower:
(1) Blower inherent characteristic---
(a) Impacting bearing loads excite
component/system natural
frequencies.
(b) Pressure pulsation set up
vibrations at four times the
running speed.
(2) Rotary lobe blowers use very close
clearances between the impellers and
the housing. The impeller contact will
setup vibrations as follows:
(a) Impeller to impeller frontal lobe
contact--if contact is between only one
set of lobes, the vibration frequency
will be 1X RPM, if both sets of lobes
contact, the vibration frequency will
be 2X RPM.
(b) Impeller to cylinder contact-- the
vibration frequency will depend on the
number of impeller tips contacting the
cylinder, which could range from one
to four times the RPM.
(c) Impeller to head plate contact-- the
vibration frequency will be erratic and
unsteady.
(3) Damaged gears will generate
vibrations at mesh frequency, number
of teeth times RPM.
(4) Damaged bearings will generate
vibrations at ball pass frequency,
fundamental train frequency and ball
spin frequency.
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(5) Rotor unbalance and bent shaft will
generate vibrations at 1X RPM.
(6) Blower/driver coupling misalignment
will generate vibrations at 1X RPM
and 2X RPM.
(7) Acoustic resonance in the blower
inlet/discharge piping will generate
vibrations at 4X RPM.
(8) Operation of rotary lobe blower at or
near system torsionals may cause
impeller lobe contact and increased
vibrations.
(9) External piping if not properly
isolated will transmit vibrations into
the blower.
(10) Foundation design and method of
mounting has considerable effect on
blower vibrations.
Vibration Criteria:
(1) Units of measurement: Rotary lobe
blower vibrations are measured in
inches/sec. Measurements of spike energy
is not recommended for judging blower
condition because the rotary lobe blower
has inherent impacting bearing loads.
(2) Measurement locations: Vibrations
should be measured at the bearing
locations on the housing.
The following table provides an
appropriate assessment guideline for
rotary lobe blowers rigidly mounted on
the stiff foundations.
Unfiltered Vibrations Assessment
(in/sec peak)
< 0.45 Very Good
> 0.45 thru 0.62 Good
> 0.62 thru 1.0 Satisfactory
> 1.0 Review Required
If the blower is operating at “review
required” levels then the installation must
be fully evaluated to determine the source
or cause of vibration and the cause shall
be corrected.
Vibration Criteria (continue):
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 In general, blower vibration levels
should be monitored on a regular basis
and the vibration trend observed for
progressive or sudden change in level. If
such a change occurs, the cause should be
determined through spectral analysis. See
recommended monitoring locations.
The blower vibrations will be
transmitted into the motor, speed reducer
etc. and more so if they are mounted on
the common blower baseplate. Allowable
vibration levels into these accessories
should be obtained from the vendors.
General guidelines for designing for
blower vibrations:
(1) Install blowers on sole plates that have
been grouted into rigid and heavy
foundations. For foundation design,
consult “ Compressed Air and Gas
Handbook” published by Compressed
Air and Gas Institute, 1122 East 42nd
St., New York, NY, 10017.
(2) Use pressure lubricated blowers with
oil cooling versus splash lubricated.
The pressure lubrication of
bearing/gears has dampening effect on
the vibrations.
(3) Rotary lobe blowers are generally
used up to 5200 FPM timing gear tip
speed. Operation of blowers at lower
speed will generally yield lower
vibrations.
(4) Make sure that the piping system is
free from acoustic resonance. Refer to
Fig-6
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L
F IG . 6
The sections of the pipe between the
blower inlet/discharge and silencers can
set up acoustic resonances. To avoid these
resonances’s certain pipe lengths must be
avoided as discussed below.
For a pipe closed at one end and open at
the other, the acoustic resonant lengths are
given by
mc
L= m=1,3,5,---
4f
L= pipe length in feet
f= resonant frequency in cycles/sec =
4 XRPM
pulse frequency =
60
c= velocity of sound in ft/sec= kgRT
k= specific heat ratio
g= gravity constant = 32.2 ft/sec2
R= gas constant = 53.3 for air
T= gas temperature in °R
It is recommended that the silencers be
mounted within 0.8c 4 f feet from the
blower flanges.
(5) Use rotary lobe blowers with Whispair
TM
feature. (Whispair is a
trademark of Dresser Industries Inc.). The
function of this proprietary feature is
explained in Fig-7.
The discharge side of the cylinder has
two slots that open into the two closed
pockets A and B alternatively. These slots,
at certain impeller positions, allow
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 discharge pressure to bleed into pockets A
and B that are at lower inlet pressure. The
progressive build of pressure into these
pockets almost to the level of discharge
pressure reduces the back flow of
discharge air the instant these pockets are
exposed to the discharge resulting in
reduced pulsation’s, noise and vibrations.
As shown in position 1, the bottom
impeller is delivering volume A into the
discharge chamber. At the same time,
space B between the cylinder wall and the
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top impeller is filling with another and
equal volume at inlet pressure. It is about
to be sealed off by from the inlet. In
position 2 the volume B is sealed off from
the inlet and discharge air is entering
volume B through the slot passage as
indicated by flow arrows. The volume B is
pressurized to the value almost equal to
the discharge pressure gradually. In
position 3, volume B is delivered to the
discharge chamber. Because of the almost
complete pressure equalization through
the slot, only a small pulsation is result.
Figure 7
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 Common Causes of Vibration –Rotary Blower
1 X RPM:
Unbalance Impeller Lobe Contact
Machine Looseness Misalignment
Bent Shaft Strain, Soft Foot
Impeller Strip Rub Resonance
2 X RPM:
Machine Looseness Impeller Lobe Contact
Bent Shaft Misalignment
Impeller Strip Rub Strain, Soft Foot
4 X RPM:
Pressure Pulse
10 X RPM:
Machine Looseness
Cylinder Strain
Resonance
Higher Frequencies:
Cylinder Strain
Resonance

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