You are here:
GlobalSpec.com > Manufacturing and Process Equipment > Heating and Cooling Equipment > Industrial Fans and Industrial Blowers > Comparison of Duct-Mounted Vibration and Instantaneous Airgap Torque Signals

Vane axial fans find frequent applications in nuclear environments. Their failure can result in unplanned outages, health and safety costs and extensive damage to supplementary equipment. The preferred method of diagnosis, vibration measurements on the bearing’s housing, cannot take place due to the fact that these fans are mounted inside of ducts. This paper shows the results obtained in a controlled laboratory environment in which two different field friendly predictive maintenance methods were compared. The first investigated method is connecting accelerometers to the outside of the duct in which the fan is mounted. The second method is investigating the instantaneous airgap torque as calculated via Park’s vector theory. Frequency components of the signals were compared during baseline and faulted conditions of the fan. Two cases, unbalanced load and a fault in the outer race of the bearing were diagnosed with the both sets of field friendly instrumentation. This investigation’s results show promise to change the way in which Predictive Maintenance is performed for these loads in the near future.

Comparison of Duct-Mounted Vibration and Instantaneous Airgap Torque Signals (.pdf) - Test and Measurement