Overall vibration, severity levels

and crest factor plus

White Paper
By Dr. George Zusman, Director of Product Development, PCB Piezotronics
and Glenn Gardner, Business Unit Manager, Fluke Corporation

01/09/2011 09:10 AM
High Bearing
frequency Bearing vibration
4,000 Hz to
20,000 Hz 3 CF+ (CF+)

GOOD
Overall Vibration
Low frequency Overall
10 Hz to
1,000 Hz
0.42 in/s
(cal pk)
vibration

UNACCEPTABLE

Temperature Temperature IR Temperature Severity Scale

-20 °C to 68.7˚F GOOD No immediate repair is recommended.
200 °C ID :FAN1:BEARING1
TYPE :Axial Fan No immediate repair is required. Increase the
RPM :> 600 frequency or measurements and monitor the
SATISFACTORY
condition of the machine.

Have knowledgeable vibration technician

conduct more advanced testing at the earliest
UNSATISFACTORY opportunity. Consider taking maintenance
action during the next planned downtown or
maintenance period.
Introduction Have knowledgeable vibration technician
Mechanical Vibration is a notoriously difficult UNACCEPTABLE
conduct more advanced testing as soon as
possible. Consider immediate shutdown of the
subject matter to master. A quick glance at a machine to make repairs and prevent failure.
textbook in the field shows that the advanced
practitioner must master sophisticated concepts Fluke’s second vibration product, the 805 Vibration
in mathematics and physics in order to accurately Meter, was released in 2012. The 805 is an
collect and interpret vibration data. This has overall vibration meter, as compared to a spectrum
caused a major problem for industrial plants – analyzer like the Fluke 810. The 805 provides
the benefits of a vibration testing program are the user a simple overall vibration number for
well known, but far too many plants choose to both low frequency (10 – 1,000 Hz) and high
avoid vibration testing because of the perceived frequency (4,000 – 20,000 Hz) ranges. In addition
complexity. to the overall vibration value, the 805 provides a
Fluke aims to solve this dilemma by developing severity scale for both frequency ranges. The low
easy to use vibration products that yield significant frequency severity scale can be adjusted to reflect
benefits without requiring advanced training the particular type of machine being tested (pump,
by end-users. Fluke’s first vibration product, compressor, etc.), and is a great way to screen
released in 2010, was the 810 Vibration Tester for problems such as misalignment, unbalance,
(see picture on next page). The 810 is a vibration looseness, bent rotors, etc. The high frequency
spectrum analyzer that includes an automated severity scale, known as the “Crest Factor
diagnostic engine that identifies the four most Plus” scale, uses a novel proprietary method of
common root causes of abnormal machinery processing time domain vibration signals to identify
vibration: Misalignment, Unbalance, Looseness, bearing flaws. The 805 also provides the user a
and Bearing Faults. The 810 is dramatically easier non-contact temperature reading for all vibration
to use than existing spectrum analyzers because points tested. The 805 overall vibration meter is a
the interpretation of frequency spectrum data is screening tool. Once an adverse vibration condition
automated. The user simply sees a severity scale has been identified by the 805, it is recommended
for each of the four faults listed above. that the team perform more advanced testing to
 No repair action is recommended. Retest the machine
Slight
and monitor condition after maintenance.
(Months, even up to a year) - No immediate repair action
Moderate required. Increase the frequency of measurements and
monitor the condition of the machine.
validate the problem and identify the root cause of (Weeks) - Take maintenance action during the next
Serious
the vibration. planned downtime or maintenance period.
In this white paper, we’ll discuss the following (Days) - Immediate action is required. Consider shutting
topics: Extreme down the equipment and taking repair action now to
• The difference between frequency spectrum avoid failure.
analysis and overall vibration analysis.
• Overall vibration analysis and severity scales there are two common analysis methods that can
• Crest Factor Plus: High frequency overall be performed: spectrum analysis or overall vibra-
vibration analysis and severity scales tion analysis.
In spectrum analysis, the time domain signal
is transformed into a frequency domain signal
Vibration spectrum analysis vs. using an algorithm known as the Fast Fourier
overall vibration analysis Transform (FFT). A detailed description of the FFT
All vibration data is collected in the time domain. is beyond the scope of this white paper, but in
When using a spectrum analyzer or overall vibra- short it reconstructs the time domain signal using
tion meter, this time domain data is typically a series of harmonic sine waves. The amplitude
collected from a piezoelectric accelerometer. of each of these sine waves is then plotted against
The accelerometer is placed in rigid contact with the frequency of the sine waves. The result is
a vibrating machine. The machine vibration is known as a frequency spectrum plot. A sample
transferred to the accelerometer, which in turn frequency spectrum plot is shown on next page
strains the piezoelectric element within and cre- (Fig B). A properly trained vibration analyst can
ates a voltage signal proportional to the vibration. use the frequency spectrum to determine which,
This voltage signal is captured by the spectrum if any, machinery flaws exist. The analysis can be
analyzer or overall vibration meter. A sample time somewhat complicated, but a significant benefit
domain signal is shown on next page (Fig A). is that the root cause of the vibration problem can
Once the time domain signal has been captured, typically be identified.

2 Fluke Corporation Calibration and documentation for process manufacturing: Costs, benefits and feasibility
 FFT

Figure A Figure B

Overall vibration analysis, by contrast, is much also show how the Fluke 805 vibration meter
simpler. In overall vibration analysis, the time specifically helps to overcome the three limitations
domain data is used to calculate one single overall of a conventional vibration pen.
vibration value. This single value can be used as
an indicator of the overall health of the machine. The three limitations of overall
(Note: there are multiple methods available for vibration analysis
calculating the overall vibration value. They The first limitation of Overall Vibration Analysis
are described in the appendix for the interested is that different machines have different healthy
reader). The benefit of overall vibration analysis is levels of overall vibration. Rotary blowers, for
its simplicity – there is only one number to exam- example, have very high overall vibration levels
ine. However, there are three limitations of using even when they are in a healthy state. This is
overall vibration analysis that are worth noting: caused by the basic mechanical design of the
• Different machines have different healthy levels machine, which consists of two parallel shafts
of overall vibration. with interleaving lobes rotating in synchronization
• Certain machinery flaws, particularly bear- to compress air. By comparison, single-end
ing flaws, will not impact the overall vibration suction centrifugal pumps (which have only one
value until significant damage has occurred. rotating shaft and an impeller rotating inside of
• Overall vibration analysis does not identify the a volute) tend to have very low overall vibration
root cause of vibration levels in the healthy state. An overall vibration
Despite these limitations, overall vibration level of 0.300 in/s on the centrifugal pump
meters are still very valuable as a screening tool. is indicative of a problem with the machine,
Technicians can use them to trend values over whereas that same vibration level on a rotary lobe
time, and if any adverse trends are identified a compressor indicates a healthy machine.
more thorough analysis (such as spectrum analy- The second limitation of overall vibration analysis
sis) should be performed to validate the problem is that certain machinery flaws, particularly
and identify the root cause. bearing flaws, will not cause an alarm in the
It is noteworthy that Fluke has designed the 805 overall vibration level until significant damage has
vibration meter to help mitigate these limitations, occurred. When a bearing is first starting to fail
as discussed on the next page. due to a flaw on the outer race, inner race, or ball/
roller, very short duration spikes will appear in
Overall vibration analysis the time domain each time the flaw makes contact
and severity scales with an adjacent bearing component. These
As discussed in the previous section, there are spikes have very low energy, and therefore cause
three key limitations of overall vibration analysis. very little change to the overall vibration value.
In this section we’ll explain a bit more about each As the bearing damage progresses, the spikes
of these limitations, and then show how an overall will continue to increase in energy along with the
vibration meter can be an effective vibration baseline vibration of the machine, and ultimately
screening tool despite the limitations. We’ll will cause the overall vibration value to increase
3 Fluke Corporation Overall vibration, severity levels and crest factor plus
prior to catastrophic failure. However, it would the device and the 805 will provide you with a
be ideal to identify a bearing flaw early on in the severity scale showing how severe the overall
process when the spikes still have low energy, vibration value you’ve measured is. Please see
and overall vibration analysis is a poorly suited the appendix for a listing of the 37 machinery
tool to accomplish this. types (categories) covered by the Fluke 805.
The third limitation of overall vibration analysis 2. The Fluke 805 uses a new proprietary algorithm
is that once a severe level of vibration has been known as “Crest Factor Plus” that identifies
detected, it is not possible to determine the root bearing flaws much earlier than a simple overall
cause of this vibration using overall vibration vibration meter is capable of. The Crest Factor Plus
analysis alone. Frequency spectrum analysis, algorithm utilizes high accuracy high frequency
by comparison, allows the experienced analyst measurements, and is described in the next
section.
to identify the likely root cause of the vibration
by looking for patterns in the spectrum that 3. The Fluke 805 includes the ability to download
results to an Excel template for tracking and
are indicative of flaws such as unbalance,
trending. Although a spectrum analyzer is the
misalignment, looseness, bearing damage, worn best tool for determining the root cause of a high
or loose belts, etc. vibration condition, the tracking and trending of
overall vibration values is a great way to identify
The value of an overall vibration meter machines which may have flaws and should be
Despite the limitations listed above, there are considered for more advanced testing.
many advantages to overall vibration analysis,
including: Crest factor plus and high frequency
• Overall vibration analysis does not require severity scales
extensive training to implement. Nearly any Certain machinery flaws (bearing flaws in particular)
technician can utilize an overall vibration meter, don’t reveal themselves in an overall vibration value
which enables the testing of a much broader until significant damage has already occurred. This
base of machines at a plant. occurs for a simple reason: the early warning signs
• An overall vibration meter, when used as a of a bearing failure are very short duration spikes
screening tool, can very effectively identify in the time domain signal. Since these spikes are
machines which should be given more in-depth short in duration, they carry very little energy, and
vibration testing. Any machine that shows an therefore they don’t have a significant impact on the
adverse trend in overall vibration level over time, overall vibration value.
or that shows an abnormally high overall value In an effort to better identify early signs of bearing
in any one test, should be tested further using damage, some overall vibration analysts began
more advanced techniques. using the Crest Factor, which is defined as the ratio
• Overall vibration meters are inexpensive – they
of the Peak / RMS of a time domain signal (where
can be purchased for about one tenth the cost of the RMS = Root-mean-square). The Crest Factor
a vibration spectrum analyzer. was actually very good for identifying early signs of
bearing failure, because the significant difference
In addition, to these advantages, Fluke put in a between the short duration peak value and the
tremendous amount of effort into designing the RMS value caused the Crest Factor value to increase
805 Vibration Meter such that the limitations rapidly during the early stages of bearing failure.
of an overall vibration meter are mitigated. For However, a problem occurred as the bearing damage
example: worsened. The significant bearing damage caused
1. The Fluke 805 includes a severity scale for the RMS value of the time domain signal to increase
overall vibration for 37 commonly found significantly. Since RMS is in the denominator of
industrial machinery types (categories). When the Crest Factor ratio, this actually caused the Crest
using the 805, simply select the machine Factor value to decrease. Counter-intuitively, the
category you are testing from the list within value of the Crest Factor would decrease as bearing
damage worsened. The analyst who saw a low
High
01/09/2011 09:10 AM
Bearing Crest Factor value could not be certain whether the
Bearing
frequency vibration bearing was healthy or near failure - clearly not an
4,000 Hz to
20,000 Hz 3 CF+ (CF+)
acceptable state of affairs.
GOOD

Low frequency Overall Vibration Overall HEAVY BEARING DAMAGE TIME DOMAIN SIGNAL
10 Hz to
1,000 Hz 0.42 in/s
(cal pk)
vibration next page– CF level returns to a low value, but
CF+ level is high.
UNACCEPTABLE
In an effort to overcome this problem with
Temperature
Temperature IR Temperature Crest Factor analysis, the Fluke 805 utilizes a
-20 °C to 68.7˚F
200 °C ID :FAN1:BEARING1 proprietary algorithm known as “Crest Factor
TYPE :Axial Fan
RPM :> 600 Plus”. Crest Factor Plus values can be related to
bearing damage according to the following chart:
4 Fluke Corporation Overall vibration, severity levels and crest factor plus
 CF+ Severity
Healthy time domain signal 0 to 5 Good
Both CF and CF+ levels are low
6 to 10 Satisfactory
11 to 15 Unsatisfactory
above 15 Unaccepatable
The Crest Factor Plus algorithm is a significant
step forward from traditional crest factor vibration
analysis because the output value (CF+) increases
continually as the bearing damage worsens.
Some technical details about the algorithm are
provided in Appendix 2.

Conclusion
In this white paper we’ve focused on two
vibration analysis methodologies that can be used
to examine accelerometer-based vibration data:
Early bearing damage frequency spectrum analysis and overall vibration
analysis. We learned that both methods have
time domain signal strengths and limitations.
Both CF and CF+ levels are medium Frequency spectrum analysis is ideal for
identifying the root cause of a vibration problem,
but requires rather advanced training to
implement. Fluke designed the 810 to overcome
this limitation by including a diagnostic engine
that automatically identifies the severity of
the four most common machinery problems:
misalignment, unbalance, looseness, and bearing
damage.
Overall vibration analysis is inexpensive and
easy to implement, but faces some key limitations,
including: different machine types exhibit
different levels of overall vibration in a healthy
state; and bearing damage does not impact
the overall vibration reading until significant
damage has occurred. Fluke designed the 805
Heavy bearing damage to overcome these two problems, respectively, by
time domain signal including severity scales tailored to 37 different
CF level returns to a low value, machine categories and by including the Crest
but CF+ level is high Factor Plus algorithm for earlier detection of
bearing flaws.
In a robust predictive maintenance program,
both frequency spectrum analysis and overall
vibration analysis have their proper place. Both
tools should be used in conjunction to identify
machinery flaws early so that corrective action
can be taken prior to machine failure.

5 Fluke Corporation Overall vibration, severity levels and crest factor plus
Appendix 1: Methods for calculating Units: Acceleration vs. velocity vs. displacement
the overall vibration value The overall vibration can also be expressed in
There are multiple methods available for different units: Acceleration [most commonly
calculating the overall value of a vibration signal. expressed in g’s], Velocity [most commonly
The key differences are: expressed in or ], or Displacement [most
commonly expressed in mils (i.e. thousandths
• Peak vs. RMS
of an inch) or µm (micro-meters)]. By definition,
• Time domain vs. frequency domain accelerometers collect time series data in
• Units: Acceleration vs. velocity vs. displacement acceleration units. Therefore, accelerometer
Peak vs. RMS time series data must be integrated once prior to
Overall vibration can be expressed as either a calculating the overall velocity value, and then
peak or an RMS value. The peak value is simply again prior to calculating the overall displacement
defined as the absolute value of the highest value. Other sensors are available that collect data
magnitude peak above or below the origin in directly in velocity units (e.g. velocity coils) or in
a time domain signal. In the time waveform displacement units (e.g. proximity probes), but the
show below the peak value is approximately Fluke 805 and 810 exclusively use accelerometers.
4.0 because the highest peak is 4.0 units away   In summary, when performing overall vibration
from the origin. The RMS value, by contrast, is analysis, always be careful to utilize the same
calculated using all of the values in the time calculation method (peak vs. RMS) and units
waveform according to the following formula: (acceleration vs. velocity vs. displacement) when
comparing two values.
  Here is an example plot that shows a trend of
Overall Vibration as the machine health worsens.

0.7
where x(t) are the individual values of the time
series data. 0.6 Overall Vibration

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT

Time Domain vs. Frequency Domain

The RMS value of a vibration signal can actually
be calculated in the time domain or the frequency
domain. The equation above shows how to
calculate in the time domain. Parseval’s theorem
guarantees that we would obtain the same exact
value if we calculated the RMS value in the
frequency domain as follows:

where X(f) is simply the fourier transform of the

time series signal x(t).
6 Fluke Corporation Overall vibration, severity levels and crest factor plus
Appendix 2: Crest factor
plus technical description

Here is an example graph that shows ordinary

crest factor varying from 3 to 7 and back to 4 as
bearing wear worsens, whereas CF+ increases
steadily from 3 to 12 as the bearing damage
worsens.

14

12

10

8
CF
6 CF+

0
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT

7 Fluke Corporation Overall vibration, severity levels and crest factor plus
Appendix 3: List of machine
categories in the Fluke 805
CHILLERS (Refrigeration) Positive displacement pumps
Reciprocating (open motor and compressor separate) Positive displacement horizontal piston pumps
Reciprocating (hermetic motor & compressor) (Under Load)
Centrifugal (hermetic or open motor) Positive displacement horizontal gear pumps
(Under Load)
Fans
Belt-driven fans 1800 RPM to 3600 RPM Air compressors
Belt-driven fans 600 RPM to 1799 RPM Reciprocating
General direct drive fans (direct coupled) Rotary screw
Vacuum blowers (belt or direct drive) Centrifugal with or without external gearbox
Large forced draft fans (fluid film bearings) Centrifugal – internal gear (axial meas.)
Large Induced Draft Fans (fluid film bearings.) Centrifugal – internal gear (radial meas.)
Shaft-mounted integral fan (extended motor shaft)
Axial flow fans (belt or direct drive) Blowers
Lobe-type rotary blowers (belt or direct drive)
Cooling tower drives Multi stage centrifugal blowers (direct drive)
Long, hollow drive shaft (motor)
Belt drive (motor & fan)
Generic gearboxes
Direct drive (motor & fan)
(Rolling element bearings)
Single stage gearbox
Centrifugal pumps
Vertical pumps (12’ to 20’ Height)*
Machine tools
Motor
Vertical pumps ( 8’ to 12’ Height)*
Gearbox input
Vertical pumps ( 5’ to 8’ Height)*
Gearbox output
Vertical pumps ( 0’ to 5’ Height)*
Spindles – roughing operations
Direct coupled
Spindles – machine finishing
Horizontal centrifugal end suction pumps
Spindles – critical finishing
Horizontal centrifugal double suction pumps
Turbine or motor driven
Boiler feed pumps
* Height from grade to top motor bearing, may be
necessary to specify lower alarm for the lower motor
bearing and for upper pump bearing (depending on
height).

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Specifications subject to change without notice.
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Modification of this document is not permitted

without written permission from Fluke Corporation.

8 Fluke Corporation Overall vibration, severity levels and crest factor plus