Phase Analysis

Link of video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxr_xqf5aRU&t=1412s

Let's look at what phase really is and the ways it is measured things can be defined as the
relationship between two events and is usually measured in degrees for example let's use this
shaft with a wheel fastened to each end and add an unbalanced weight to each wheel in line with
each other as we spin the shaft the unbalanced weights on the wheels for both ends of the shaft in
the same direction so both ends of the shaft are sent to be moving in phase with each other so if
we move one unbalanced weight to the opposite side of the wheel and spin it again the weights
pull on the shaft but each and is pulling in an opposite direction any condition where the wheels
are not pulling in the same direction is called outer phase in this particular case they're pulling
exactly opposite or 180 degrees out of phase if we can mount a sensor at each end of the shaft to
monitor the shafts motion over time they would record a trace of the shafts unbalanced this trace
would be a smooth sine wave for each wheel but while one wheel is pulling up the other is
pulling down so that the sine waves are moving exactly opposite each other or 180 degrees out of
phase when the weights are moved directly in line with each other again and the trace is
monitored for each wheel they would still be smooth sine waves but now they are in phase with
each other recall from another program introduction to vibration analysis that the trace is an
actual representation of the tires movement and that there is a direct correlation of the tires
unbalance weight to the location on the trace so when the tyre rotated a quarter turn or 90
degrees the trace moved one quarter of a full sine wave one quarter of a sine wave would be
from the top or bottom peak to the centre line or from the centre line to the top or bottom it is
important to understand that each revolution of the tire completes a full sine wave and like the
tire rotation the corresponding sine wave is a full 360 degrees when one weight is moved 90
degrees and the motion is traced the sine waves will be out of phase by 90 degrees with this
example we have been looking at the phase or relationship between the two unbalanced wheels.
These can be defined as the relationship between two events and is usually measured in degrees
for example let's use this shaft with a wheel fashion to each end and add an unbalanced weight to
each wheel in line with each other as we spin the shaft the unbalanced weights on the wheels for
both ends of the shaft in the same direction so both ends of the shaft are sent to the moving in
phase with each other if we move one unbalanced weight to the opposite side of the wheel and
spin it again the weights pull on the shaft but each and is pulling in an opposite direction any
condition where the wheels are not pulling in the same direction is called outer phase in this
particular case they're pulling exactly opposite or 180 degrees out of phase if we can mount a
sensor at each end of the shaft to monitor the shafts motion over time they would record a trace
of the shafts unbalanced this trace would be a smooth sine wave for each wheel but while one
wheel is pulling up the other is pulling down so that the sine waves are moving exactly opposite
each other or 180 degrees out of phase when the weights are moved directly in line with each
other again and the trace is monitored for each wheel they would still be smooth sine waves but
now they are in phase with each other recall from another program introduction to vibration
analysis that the trace is an actual representation of the tires movement and that there is a direct
correlation of the tires unbalance weight to the location on the trace so when the tyre rotated a
quarter turn or 90 degrees the trace moved one quarter of a full sine wave one quarter of a sine
wave would be from the top or bottom peak to the centre line or from the centre line to the top or
bottom it is important to understand that each revolution of the time completes a full sine wave
and like the tire rotation the corresponding sine wave is a full 360 degrees when one weight is
moved 90 degrees and the motion is traced the sine waves will be out of phase by 90 degrees
with this example we have been looking at the phase or relationship between the two unbalanced
wheels on a machine the phase is normally measured from a fixed or reference position on the
rotating shaft to the peak of vibration at the sensor the reference position can be a key way or any
other location but is most often simply a position marked with reflective tape our photo tag such
as this is then used which sends a light beam to the rotor when it strikes the reflective tape the
light is sent back to the photo tag which then sends a signal or pulse out to an analyzer that tack
pulse is then used as the reference location and
speed of the shaft the tach signal
generates a pulse similar to a square
wave notice it is not a true sine wave
but is flat for a brief duration equal
to the time the taxis the reflective
tape the time from one peak to the next
is the time between pulses from the
reflective tape each revolution of the
shaft some systems allow the tack poles
to be displayed directly on a vibration
waveform which can give you a clearer
picture of the phase relationship when
the vibration sensor is moved to the
opposite side we would expect the
relationship to change about 180 degrees
and as we expected the tack pulse is now
at the opposite or in this case the
negative peak of vibration when the
sensor is moved to another location 90
degrees away we expect the phase to
change by 90 degrees also as this one
does there are some important concepts
to remember first phase is a
relationship of two events one is
usually a vibration sensor and the other
is usually attack poles for a piece of
reflective tape mounted on the rotor
since the signal from the photo tag is
used as the reference it should not be
moved in
time during data collection only the
vibration sensor should be moved from
one location to another the second point
is that the relationship is usually
measured in degrees thirdly our movement
of the sensor radially should produce a
shift in the phase by the same amount if
the phase does not shift by the same or
similar amount it is evidence of another
problem that is discussed in a later
section of this program we have been
using a multi-channel analyzer to view
the waveform and illustrate the concepts
of phase and phase changes however phase
measurements can be displayed in degrees
using a single channel analyzer the
signal from the photo TAC is input here
while the vibration sensor is not at the
same as for routine data collection the
road in the analyzer that recognizes and
calculates the phase angle is called
peak phase that is it measures the peak
of the vibration and records its
occurrence relative to the tach pulse
during the measurement the screen
displays the amount of vibration and the
phase angle in degrees although we can't
see the waveform and tack pulse here the
phase is displayed in actual numbers
without having to estimate the value
when the vibration sensor is moved 90
degrees the phase angle displays the
corresponding change now move or roam
the sensor to various locations on the
machine and record the phase angle to
get an accurate picture of the machines
movement for example when we measure the
phase on a machine in a vertical
direction across the coupling if the
phase is about the same then the machine
is moving together but if the phase
readings are about 180 degrees out it
indicates a misalignment condition more
examples and rules of thumb are shown in
a section static phase and machinery
conditions as you are making these phase
measurements the phase angle should be
steady as it is here some machines have
dynamic forces due to process variables
that may cause the phase to fluctuate
some when their phase stays within a 30
degree swing it is
usually considered steady however
another cause of an unsteady phase is
the presence of other energy being
included in the measurement view the
spectrum to ensure there are no Peaks
close to the one time speak because they
may interfere with the measurement their
phase measurements use the tack pulse as
the reference frequency and only monitor
the vibration in a narrow band around
the tack pulse frequency our miss
belt-driven fan there are at least two
frequencies that could be close to the
motor speed one is the fan speed
depending on the belt sheave sizes and
the other is a multiple of belt
frequency the motor speed is the peak at
sixteen hundred eighty-five cycles per
minute two other Peaks are nearby one is
approximately 1865 CPM and the other is
approximately 1400 CPM
if the specified bandwidth is too wide
it will include peaks of vibration from
more than one frequency creating a very
erratic and unstable phase when the
bandwidth is set to 10% it means that
all the energy within a bandwidth equal
to 10% of the tack pulse frequency will
be included for example if the tact
speed from the motor is 1685 CPM then
10% of that is 160 8.5 CPM so the
monitored bandwidth is 160 8.5 CPM wide
and will include all the vibration peaks
in this band this means the peak at 1865
CPM may be included in the data and
since its peak of vibration is a
different frequency from the actual
tacked motor speed it will cause the
phase to be very unsteady and move all
around not just fluctuate within a 30
degree window reducing the bandwidth to
include only the peak equal to the tack
speed stabilizes the phase reading and
provides a better picture of the
machines movement sometimes the phase
may still fluctuate in a 30 degree
window
maybe unacceptable in applications such
as balancing that require a precise
phase reading this fluctuating phase
reading can be averaged for a few
minutes until it is steady
however for normal phase readings the
average should be turned off to see the
instantaneous phase angle since the
phase angle tells the direction of
movement it can be displayed as a vector
when it is coupled with the amount of
movement a vector is a graphical
representation of amount and direction
some analyzers have the capability of
graphically displaying the vector the
display can show the instantaneous phase
the average phase as well as the limits
of its movement this provides a good
picture of the movement as the vibration
sensor is moved from one measurement
location to another we have shown the
usefulness of these measurements and how
they are a relationship between two
events however you need to know that
there are two methods or conventions in
industry for calculating phase one
Convention uses the tack pulse as the
reference point and begins counting the
angle as the rotor turns 10 20 30
degrees and so on
around the rotor to the peak of
vibration this convention which measures
the reference pulse to the peak of
vibration is called true phase another
convention measures from the peak of
vibration to the tack pulse and is
called reverse phase all CSI equipment
uses the true phase Convention when
balancing you will need to know which
convention your system uses so that
correction rates will be located
correctly but for most general phase
measurements it is not necessary other
tools that can be used for making phase
measurements are a strobe light and a
vibration sensor the signal from the
sensor is sent to the strobe light
causing it to flash at the rate of the
vibration in order to use this method
for diagnosis either the signal must be
dominate at shaft turning speed or it
must be filtered to cause the scroll to
fire at the shaft speed the rotor must
be marked with either a reference mark
or the angle
when the rotor has a reference mark then
the phase angle must be read from
stationary marks from 0 through 360
degrees when the rotor is marked with
the angles then use a fixed point on the
machine as the reference point then as
the sensor is used to roam the machine
the phase angle can be read directly
from the rotor and the machine have been
manually recorded whether you use a
strobe or a photo tach and analyzer the
rotor must be marked or most of our
examples we will use the photo tackand
an analyzer those measurements can be a
good analysis tool to ensure they
provide the best information the phase
should be steady it may be necessary to
view the spectrum to make sure the
bandwidth does not include other Peaks
that are close to running speed and
cause erratic phase readings remember to
keep the photo tack in the same position
for all the phase measurements on the
machine
phasor analysis can be used for two
specific operating conditions one is a
static condition that is the machine is
operating in a steady state with only
small fluctuations in speed and load the
other is a transient condition that is
the machine is changing in either speed
or load the most common transient
application is during a startup or Coast
down but here we will use static phase
measurements to diagnose machinery
conditions such as unbalance
misalignment bent shafts and
bearings mechanical looseness resonance
as well as a brief overview of operating
deflection shapes there are six radial
and six axial phase comparisons used in
diagnosing machinery conditions the
radial comparisons are horizontal to
horizontal for each component vertical
to vertical for each component
horizontal to horizontal across the
coupling and vertical to vertical across
the coupling the axial comparisons are
from component to component across the
coupling in to end of each component and
side to side for each component because
there are so many variables it is
sometimes easier to understand the
machines movement when the phase angles
are recorded on a sketch of a machine
then when making the comparisons draw
arrows to indicate the relative
direction of movement
when diagnosing an unbalanced condition
in a machine we are usually referring to
the unbalance of a component that is
either the drivers such as a motor or
the driven unit such as a pump fan and
so forth like the unbalanced wheels that
pull on the shaft unbalance in the
machine component pulls the shaft
generating a bump each time the shaft
turns this type of unbalance produces
movement in the same direction along the
shaft therefore phase readings in the vertical
direction from one end of a component to
the other will be in phase the
horizontal readings on the component
should also be in phase and axial
readings across the coupling should be
in phase as a rule of thumb when
diagnosing machinery conditions most
actual machinery phase measurements will
not be exactly in phase or exactly out
of phase but should be within 30 degrees
phase measurements from the horizontal
to the vertical position at the same
bearing location should shift 90 degrees
since the sensor is moved 90 degrees
these conditions are typical of a static
unbalance condition static unbalance is
a condition when the rotor is unbalanced
so that when it is at rest in a
frictionless bearing the heavy spot will
swing to the bottom another type of
unbalance may actually be statically
balanced so that the rotor will stay in
any position when it is at rest but when
it is spinning it exhibits unbalance
this is because each end of the rotor is
unbalanced the unbalanced amount is the
same at each end but in opposite
directions so that the rotor is balanced
while it is still when the rotor is
spinning centrifugal force causes the
unbalance weights to pull on the rotor
in this case they would pull in exactly
opposite directions
this type of unbalance is called couple
unbalance so for a couple unbalance the
vertical to vertical readings or the
horizontal to horizontal readings would
be one
eighty degrees out of phase any
combination of static and couple
unbalanced is referred to as dynamic
unbalanced their phase change from
vertical to vertical or horizontal to
horizontal could be any combination
depending on the amount and location of
the unbalanced for dynamic unbalanced
couple unbalanced and static unbalance
the axial readings across the coupling
should be in phase again in phase is
normally considered to be within 30
degrees another consideration in phase
measurements especially the axial
direction is the direction of the sensor
most of today's sensors both
accelerometers and velocity sensors use

pressure-sensitive crystals as the

internal sensors when the crystal is

squeezed due to the impact of the

vibration a signal is generated and sent

to the analyzer as waveform data for

most sensors the impact of a vibration

toward the sensors is the positive side

of the waveform movement away from this

sensor is the negative side of the

waveform or 180 degrees away because of

this there is a difference of 180

degrees when the sensor is flipped from

one side to the other so it is very

important to take into consideration the

sensor orientation especially on axial

measurements if the orientation is not

the same be sure to subtract 180 degrees

from the measurement to correct for it

in another program on the process of

alignment we pointed out that there are

two types of shaft misalignment one is

angular misalignment and the other is

offset misalignment in angular

misalignment as the shafts rotate the

coupling firmly holds the ends causing

them to bump once in a radial direction

as they attempt to correct themselves

the rotation forces the shafts to push

away from each other in the axial

direction because of this phase ratings

in the vertical or horizontal direction

from one end to the other will be 180

degrees out of phase across the coupling

there is no phase shift in the

horizontal or vertical direction however

in the axial direction there is a

180-degree change across the coupling it

remember to account for the direction of

the sensor for these axial readings when

shafts have an offset misalignment

condition the coupling pulls one shaft

one direction and the other shaft the

other direction radially forcing them to

match up this condition produces a

180-degree phase shift across the

coupling in the vertical or horizontal

directions the axial readings across the

coupling are in phase because the

coupling is pulling on the shaft their

feet closest to the coupling act as a

pivot point the location of the feet

relative to the measurement point then

affect the vertical or horizontal

readings across the couplings so that

they may be in phase or out of phase in

all these alignment measurements be sure

to allow a thirty degree difference for

determining in phase and out of phase

conditions

shafts and bearings can have

the same phase characteristics under

certain conditions and therefore may be

difficult to differentiate bin shafts

fall primarily into two categories with

very differing phase characteristics one

is AB into the rotor between the

bearings the other is a bend of the

rotor at the coupling a rotor which is

board between the bearings actually has

an unbalanced condition but exerts axial

force on the bearings the bin causes one

side of the rotor to be longer than the

other forcing the bearings out during

part of the rotation and lets them flex

in for part of the rotation this makes

it appear as if the ends of a shaft are

moving in opposite directions while for

a straight shaft the ends are moving

together the phase data for a bent shaft

pin will be 180 degrees out in the axial

direction from one end of the shaft to

the other be sure to account for the

direction of the sensor because of the

axial movement associated with a bent

shaft the axial direction provides the

most information for other axial

measurements should be made assuming a

clock face over the end of the bearing

or machine the measurements should be

made at 12 o'clock 3 o'clock 6 o'clock

and 9 o'clock positions a cocked bearing

will exhibit approximately a 180 degree

difference from the 12 o'clock position

to the 6 o'clock position 180 degree

phase shift will also be present from

the 3 o'clock position to the 9 o'clock

position again

these measurements are normally within

30 degrees when a shaft is bent at the

coupling end it moves in the same way as

a combination of angular and offset

misalignment condition where phase data

will have a 180 degree change across the

coupling and vertical to vertical or

horizontal to horizontal measurements

the axial measurements across the

coupling may have any phase relationship

depending on the coupling type

the amount the shaft is bent our bearing

cocked on a shaft has the same phase

characteristics as a shaft that is bored

between the bearings as the shaft

rotates it tends to force the cocked

bearing to correct its position because

it cannot be forced into a correct

position the bearing can actually force

a bend of the shaft and exhibit

characteristics similar to a bent shaft

the axial direction will produce vanes

data 180 degrees out from side to side

or top to bottom of the bearing

mechanical looseness can exhibit both

directional and erratic phase

characteristics the directional phase is

associated with loose bolts mountings

base plates at other non rotating

components erratic phase readings are

normally associated with looseness in

the rotating elements when a component

is loose at the mounting positions the

foot tends to hammer against the bolts

and the base plate measure the phase of

the bolt the foot the base plate that

even the floor to determine the movement

a loose mounting produces a 180-degree

phase shift from the bolt to the foot

from the foot to the base plate if there

is no phase shift between two of the

components such as the floor to the base

plate there is not a looseness problem

there erratic or unstable phase

measurements can be associated with

rotating element looseness during normal

phase measurements if the phase is very

unsteady not simply slowly rotating or

staying within a certain window then

check the spectrum for peaks near the

one x peak and verify that the bandwidth

is narrow enough to include only the one

x peak also check for a looseness

spectral pattern that is multiple

harmonics of the turning speed peak the

wave form of a looseness condition will

have a very non repetitive pattern due

to the random impacts as the rotor is

rattling around

mountings during a balanced job the

phase readings may be steady and then

become erratic after a correction weight

is applied this is because a looseness

condition existed at the beginning of a

balanced procedure with a force of

unbalanced pulling of the rotor holding

it in a firm position and masking the

looseness once the force due to

unbalance is reduced substantially the

rotor exhibits looseness as the dominant

condition which then minimizes the

effectiveness of further balancing when

performing phase analysis on a machine

remember that looseness can exhibit a

directional phase of 180 degrees between

components and erratic phase indicating

rotating element looseness in another

program residence detection we used a

tuning fork to illustrate the fact that

everything has at least one resonant

frequency and that residents can amplify

the forcing frequency by more than ten

times another characteristic is that the

phase changes as the machine speed is

increased or decreased to pass through

the resonance frequency this phenomena

of a 90 degree phase shift at resonance

provides another tool to detect

a resonance problem for example normally

when the sensor is moved from a

horizontal to a vertical position there

should be a corresponding phase change

of about 90 degrees however if the phase

change is 0 or 180 degrees it indicates

a directional resonance condition the 90

degree shift due to resonance causes

what should have been a 90 degree change

to be either a 0 or 180 degree change

throughout these examples we have been

ignoring the vibration amplitude however

to determine which of these directions

has the resonant condition it may be

necessary to compare the amplitudes of

both readings a good rule of thumb is if

the amplitude ratio between the two

radial measurements is 1 to 3 or greater

it is a good indication of a resonant

condition

it is not uncommon for one to be 10 or

more times higher than the other the

measurement with the highest vibration

amplitude is the location of the

resonant condition when this phase

condition exists then inspect the

component for integrity such as cracked

wells which affect the resonant

condition there have been many instances

where cracked bearing pedestals and

supports have been reweld and and upon

restart the machinery vibration returned

to acceptable levels another indication

of a possible resonance condition is

erratic phase readings depending on the

stiffness of a machine the resonant

frequency may have very little damping

this means that if the machine speed

excites a resonance even small changes

in speed drastically affect the phase

causing it to be very unsteady if this

condition is suspected perform tests to

verify whether it is resonance in

summary resonance can be detected with

phase analysis due to its phase

characteristics which can be directional

or very erratic

an operating deflection shape is as the

name implies a graphical representation

of a machine's motion at operating speed

since phase measurements provide both

the direction and amount of movement

they can be used for multiple points on

a machine to illustrate how it is moving

many phase measurements are required and

they must be entered into a software

program to animate the measurements make

a grid sketch of the machine locating

the specific points for making

measurements record the phase readings

for each of these points the operating

deflection shape can then be animated

and turn to see how each element is

moving from this you can get an idea of

the flexing taking place in the machine

static phase measurements can provide

much information about the machines

condition and when multiple phase data

points or input into a software program

that animates the data you can actually

see the movement that is taking place in

the machine

static phase measurements provide

another tool for diagnosing many

machinery conditions remember that

because phase measurements provide

amount and direction they can be

displayed as vectors to show the

machine's motion use the six phase

comparisons in the radial direction and

the six phase comparisons in the axial

directions be sure to take into

consideration the orientation of the

sensor the directional phase comparisons

as well as some erratic phase conditions

point to specific machinery faults all

of these measurements have been using

the one x shaft speed and filtering out

all other frequencies however a multiple

of attack false frequency can be

monitored by entering that number here

which then invokes a filter around that

band this feature is valuable for some

applications for example if a horizontal

measurement has a high three times peak

but the vertical is very low at the

three times peak then monitor the third

order and compare the phase relationship

at this frequency there should be a 90

degree phase shift between the two but

if there is a 0 or 180 degree change

between them then a resonant condition

exists in this section we have addressed

unsteady phase and erratic phase but

there is another problem that sometimes

occurs especially on motors and that is

walking phase a walking phase is one

that moves through the 360 degrees of

the circle it is usually fairly slow so

that at first the measurement may seem

fairly steady but over the period of a

minute or two the phase has walked the

entire circle this phenomenon occurs

when two dominant Peaks are close

together within 20 CPM such as

electrical line frequency at 3600 CPM

and a shaft speed of 3595 CPM usually

the closer the two frequencies the

slower the phase walks on frequencies

this close it is sometimes impossible to

separate them to include only

speed

another powerful analysis tool is

tracking phase through transient machine

conditions transient conditions are

those that are changing over time such

as during a startup or Coast town the

data collected can then be displayed in

bode plots or a Nyquist plot the bode

plots are the amplitude versus rpm and

the phase versus rpm a Nyquist plot

combines the two plots to show the

amplitude and phase vector for every

machine speed the coast down data

provides very good information for

determining resonant frequencies because

as the shaft rpm crosses a resonant

frequency the vibration amplitude is

recorded as well as the phase details

for setting up and collecting startup

and coast of data are included in

another program resonance detection and

are not repeated here here we will show

examples of coast downs and interpret

the results this coast down plot has two

high areas of vibration that at first

seem to indicate there are two

resonances however when viewing the

phase plot the phase changed at one of

the high amplitudes but not the other

without a phase change the machine did

not go through a resonance the high

vibration at this frequency is from some

other source in areas where multiple

machines are running the high vibration

could actually be from another machine

in this example the high vibration is

from a severe unbalanced condition in a

nearby machine we know that there should

be a 90 degree phase change as the RPM

moves from one side of residence to the

resonant frequency then there is another

90 degrees as the RPM continues past the

resonant frequency however sometimes the

phase plot will show on 360 degree phase

change and the amplitude versus rpm plot

looks normal for resonant Commission

this occurs because two systems are in

resonance at the same frequency our

typical example is when there are

several machines of the same type nearby

such as a row of identical pumps or fans

a coast down they indicate a good phase

shift at a particular frequency and we

would expect a high vibration at the

same frequency however the amplitude

versus rpm data does not have an

increase at that frequency but may even

have a low area or hole this indicates

the presence of some mechanical damping

such as a tuned dynamic absorber the

dynamic absorber is designed to remove

the vibration at a particular frequency

and this indicates it is doing a good

job when there are two phase shifts it

indicates there are two resonances in

the system both phase shifts will be in

the same 180-degree hemisphere these

bode plots can reveal good information

about the machine conditions especially

the resonance frequencies and the

amplification range the amplification

range is the frequency range where the

vibration is amplified due to resonance

the Nyquist plot is a polar

representation of the recorded phase and

amplitude each point is then the vector

location of the unbalanced amount and

direction for each rpm during the coast

down or startup the loop should be 180

degrees of phase change from one end all

the way around to the other with the

resonance frequency being at the halfway

point there may be other circles with a

180 degree phase change along this

circle which are other resonances in the

system to collect good phase data

without holes or gaps for machines with

quick start ups or Coast downs increase

the bandwidth to get faster samples and

data phase data from transient

conditions such as Coast downs or

startups provide information about

resonant conditions and frequencies that

may be difficult to acquire by other

means this information can help you in

determining appropriate operating speeds

and residual unbalance

multichannel analyzers can perform the

same functions as a single channel

analyzer and more they have the ability

to track and display two signals at the

same time and then compare them even

drawing a phase comparison between the

two earlier in this program we used a

multi-channel analyzer to display the

tach pulse directly on the waveform as

we roam the machine with a sensor we

could see clearly the phase change from

point to point

however for phase analysis probably the

most powerful technique is called cross

channel phase which allows you to use

two or more vibration sensors for phase

measurements a big benefit to this is

the Machine process does not have to be

interrupted to market with a reference

tape or be pre marked with the phase

angles but instead uses the actual

vibration data from one sensor as the

reference and compares it to the data

from another sensor essentially it

performs the same function we

Illustrated with the two sine waves from

the unbalanced wheels that is it

compares the peaks for a particular

frequency to determine if they are in

phase or out of phase the time

difference is calculated to determine

the exact phase relationship between the

two the reform energy may seem to be

very busy and intimidating for us to

perform any calculations but the

analyzer can display the data as a

spectrum then we can select a particular

frequency of interest and have the

analyzer display the calculated phase

relationship notice that we can select

any frequency in the spectrum for the

phase comparison because this capability

is here there is also the ability to

display the phase relationship for every

frequency in our phase spectrum this

spectrum has frequency as the x-axis but

as phase in degrees as the y-axis now we

move the cursor to a particular

frequency on the reference spectrum and

read from the phase spectrum the

corresponding phase angle in order to

use this cross channel phase effectively

certain setup consider

patience must be made first the two

sensors must be using the same units

such as G's secondly the sensors must be

in phase that is they must read the same

phase angle for a given point to check

for this place the two sensors side by

side on a machine and check the phase

between the two they should read exactly

the same or within 10 degrees of each

other now select one sensor as the

reference and the other as the roaming

sensor in some multi-channel analyzers

the X channel must be the reference in

systems using a and B channel references

the a channel typically is the reference

channel then make the measurement

storing the data for later retrieval and

analysis with the multi-channel

instrumentation the same 6 radial and 6

axial comparisons should be made as with

a single channel analyzer in making

these measurements two significant

differences exist between a single

channel and a multi-channel measurement

first the reference is portable that is

it may be moved depending on the need so

for a horizontal to horizontal
comparison it must be in one of the
horizontal positions and for a vertical
to vertical comparison it must be moved
to one of the vertical points and so on
the second difference is the
multi-channel has the ability to look at
any frequency of interest another
advantage is the data is stored as
spectral and waveform data allowing you
at your convenience to perform any
analysis including cross channel phase
which is only one of many multi-channel
functions a case history involving
multi-channel phase data to solve a
vibration problem on a high pressure
centrifugal pump illustrates the value
of phase analysis the pump header
repeatedly cracked causing a shutdown of
the manufacturing process our temporary
brace was installed to help remove the
strain on the header but it cracked
again no other work has been done on the
machine and the process speed and
machine configuration were not changed
since cracked wells are typically
indicates of resonant frequencies excited from
some other forcing frequency there must
have been internal changes in the
machine to generate a forcing frequency
now it is the job of the analyst to
determine the resonant frequency and the
source of the problem initial data was
collected on the pump body in the
vertical and horizontal directions
amplitudes in the horizontal direction
on the pump housing exceeded 50 G's
amplitudes in the horizontal direction
on the coupling end of the motor at
motor shaft speed were in excess of 1.2
inches per second the apparent problem
frequency identified during this data
collection process was the running speed
of the motor fifty nine point five Hertz
new questions now arise is the one times
turning speed of the motor the cause of
the problem if so what change occurred
in the machine to cause this
where are the resonant frequencies since
the data indicated that one times
turning speed was the possible cause of
the problem the decision was made to
gather impact data to determine the
resonant frequency phase data was
provided using a multi-channel analyzer
the data from the impact test in the
vertical direction does not coincide
with a one times turning speed of the
motor from the initial data when the
horizontal impact data was gathered it
became apparent that the one times
turning speed was exciting the resonant
frequency in the horizontal direction in
an attempt to find the changes in the
machines integrity the angelus found a
significant phase shift 143 degrees from
the horizontal to horizontal position
across the motor to the gearbox coupling
at one times turning speed the 143
degrees phase shift across the coupling
indicated a misaligned or locked
coupling all other measurements were
normal since amplitudes exceeded 1.2
inches per second at the horizontal
direction and the vertical to horizontal
comparison did not indicate an
unbalanced condition the coupling was
considered to have a fault upon
inspection the coupling type which
should have been lubricated had no
lubricant caused
the coven to lock up in a misaligned
position and forcing the extreme motion
in the machine replacing the coupling
resulted in a reduction of vibration by
a factor of 10 the phase data provided
the ability to identify the resonant
frequency and the source of excitation
these measurements could have been taken
with a single channel analyzer
however the reduced time to collect the
data and ability to have the same time
reference for the comparisons made the
use of a multi-channel analyzer the tool
of choice
phase and phase analysis are powerful
tools that can a you the analyst in
making accurate diagnosis of machines
and machinery components because static
phase measurements indicate a machine's
motion and particular frequencies such
as operating speed you can use it to
confirm machinery conditions such as
static and dynamic unbalanced offset and
angular misalignment AB in shaft and bearing mechanical looseness and mounting rotating element looseness and
resonance the phase data can be entered into an OD s program to animate the motion at operating speeds
transient phase data provides the necessary information about resonance frequencies and can be displayed as
bode plots or a Nyquist plot multi-channel phase can provide the phase relationship at every frequency of the
spectrum while many areas have been covered we've only highlighted the most common phase characteristics and
measurement practices we realize that unique design and applications necessitate special considerations for phase
measurements and analysis thank you for joining the thousands who recognized CSI training as leading industry
with quality information instruction and application of PDM and RBM techniques whether use single or multi-
channel analysers of the collection and analysis of phase data we are confident that the application of these tips
and techniques will help you succeed and phase analysis projects we look forward to assisting you achieve success
in your future endeavours