Hi guys,

This question came to me after reading a post here, something about a pump having X ips and it was "smooth".

There are a lot of severity charts, but i ask you, which one do you use? is there one to be considered to work like a charm?

Merry Xmas

The one I use when I go home at night and can tell if I'm in the dog box.
Then I apply a bit of severity reduction.

Mike.

Severity charts are guides to follow. There will be times when you have to look at what is normal for that piece of equipment or application. Technical Associates of Charlotte had a good reference guide that covered various types of machines in different situations. The old IRD chart and I think DLI has one that are guides for general types of machines. To me it is important to remember that these are guides (mostly from very experienced people) and use them wisely.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Don Jones,

Hi,Ideally The basis of evaluation of severity must be based on the structure stiffness and damping.Some times low frequency high amplitude vibration can be acceptable provided the base structure is less stiff.I access the severity of high frequency vibration due to gears/anti-friction bearings based on time waveform analysis.A peak to peak value of 30Gs in time waveform indicates sure defect(visible).But be sure that multiple harmonics of turning speed up to 10X with above time waveform of 30Gs pk-pk may result in failure within short period.
thank u
arun k

The same concerns that Don, I and others expressed in another recent discussion about vibration analysis wall charts hold true here.

How about using ISO vibration standards?

Blindly using anyones standards will lead to bad calls, imo.

Follow hydraulic Institute guidelines. It is HP v/s vibration severity graph for horizontal and vertical pumps.

Contrary to what many seem to believe, there is no magic pill (or standard) that that will make you a vibration analyst. Like any other skilled trade if you want to be good at it you need training, guidance and experience. The fact that you can get a number of different standards with different limits should show that this stuff ain't easy. If you have a specific piece of equipment you're concerned with, call the manufacturer and try to get their input on what is acceptable or not. Charts and standards are tools and since they vary in what they say you should probably refer to more than one when forming an opinion with limited experience. This message board is an invaluable resource and many here are willing to share their experience to help with vibration problems. I would much more recommend that you take advantage of this site than to depend on any one standard. Long term, you need to look into getting properly trained. In my opinion, the #1 cause of failure of a vibration program is lack of training. You can make 100's of good calls and no one notices but 1 bad call can ruin your reputation for a long time. If you're serious about being successful as an analyst don't depend on any one standard. OK-I'm done.

Hello,

Being thrust into the CBM game we have had to digest a lot of information fast. Our facility has been a target rich enviorment as far as making calls. I do loosely follow ISO 10816-1 for setting my fault levels in my software but do not make calls based solely on those levels.

Regards, Dave Dane

Dave,

Everybody uses some type of guideline to get started in vibration analysis. The ISO specs are as good as any. You sound like you're on the right track. As your program progresses you'll begin to learn the character of the equipment you're monitoring and will be able to adjust alarm limits to suit the machines. Depending on the software you're using you should have some generic analysis parameter and alarm limit sets that can fit many types of machines as is and can be tailored as required. Best of Luck.