Could you take a minute and look at this software (attached file) and/or go on-line and download a temporary 30 day trial. Can a non-vibration tech use say this software with a bad bearing or elctrical corona wave file? If so, what "SETTINGS, SCALING, Calibration, or Trigger" under the "OPTIONS" drop down menu would he/she use? What settings would he/she use for "Plot Top" and "Plot Range"? You can find this software at SpectraPlus 30 Day Trial.
I have also included below in the attachments "TWO Wave Files" (bad bearing & corona).

30 Day Trial SpectraPlus Software

Spectrplus_PrntScrn.ppt (631 Kb, 14 downloads) PPT: SPECTRAPLUS SOFTWARE

Jim,

Spectraplus software appears to be capable of various spectrum plot formats including comparing more than one spectrum. It also can display waveforms. The real crux of your question is whether a non-vibration person can effectively use such software. People with vibration or acoustics training acquire skills in signal analysis, so they should be comfortable learning ultrasound analysis. Technicians without signal analysis knowledge would have to learn it first before trying to apply it. The Spectraplus software and similar low cost programs can be useful for training, sales demonstrations, and special diagnostics, but I don't see it being used by limited-skill technicians for routine monitoring surveys.

The WAV file format can have different content depending on how it was created. The sample rate, block size, dynamic range can all be different. The frequency response of the recording instrument and encoding of absolute amplitude scale (Spectraplus adds a header to the file format) are all non-standarized variables. In the simple usage scenario, the amplitude has a relative scale, since there is some work to get scaled amplitude from an ultrasound meter.

Many vendors are promoting these bells and whistles (WAV file analysis) without much technical support. Perhaps I could be convinced otherwise if I saw a few real technical examples of its value.

There is some value in seeing live/recorded data (waveforms and spectra) while listening to the audio content. Quantitative interpretation of the various plots requires the same effort, information and computation as is needed for vibration analysis. There is no magic unique to ultrasound in this aspect.

Send me some good example WAV files with/without faults and I will set up Spectraplus for analysis.

Walt

Jim,

What kind of signal is it: sonic, ultrasonic?

Dave

Dave,

The discussion is about sonic (audio frequencies) analysis from the frequency translated output from an ultrasound meter. This is an analysis of the audible sound in the headphones. 38 to 40 kHz is typically shifted into the 20 to 2-4 kHz frequency range. Do you do ultrasound? If so, do you consider audio monitoring of value? If so, have you recorded or analyzed the audio?

Walt