Vibro-Consult AG

Case-Studies

Bearing Alignment Problem (Switzerland)

Initial situation

In a bulb turbine (generator-gearbox-turbine design), there were inexplicable vibration phenomena at the certain guide bearings. After several hours of operation, one bearing was even found to be totally damaged. The task was to find out what was the cause of this problem.

Procedure

In order to understand the complicated dynamic (vibrations) and static (movements) behavior of the machine, the machine had to be equipped with various probes. A special monitoring system collected all the information and made the collected data available to the specialists for evaluation.

Result

The evaluations came to an astonishing result: The machine was standing on different foundation parts, which had different temperature behavior. When the machine heated up, the bearing positions shifted so that the shaft hit certain guide bearings.
With this knowledge, the bearing alignment was recalculated and adjusted. Smooth operation could now be started.