POWERED BY MOBIUS INSTITUTE DUBAI, UAE 2017

Case Study on Motor Bearing Failure

Detection in Chilled Water Pump Motors in a
Facility Management
Mr. Rateesh Venugopalan
VIBSpECTRUM International LLC

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide

 For representation Purpose only

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 1

Equipment Details:

 Equipment : Chilled Water Pumps

 Equipment Tag : CWP 1 - 8
 Motor Make : ABB
 Motor Rating : 250kW, 1485 rpm

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 2

Problem Description:

 Regular condition monitoring was performed on 8

nos. of chilled water pumps at one of the malls for a
facility management.
 The condition monitoring program was part of an
annual mandatory requirement for the facility
management company.
 The purpose of the monitoring was to record
vibration data and submit the report.

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 3

Problem Description (Contd..):

 As per the client, emphasis was given more on the

data collection and submission of the report rather
than finding a fault condition.
 The client were more interested in submitting an
annual condition monitoring report rather than
knowing the actual condition of the machine.
 For vibration data collection, machine was run at full
speed and 100% load.
 Even though the vibration amplitudes were within
acceptable limits, the spectrum of the motor
bearings showed presence of high frequency peaks.
INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 4
Problem Description (Contd..):

 High frequency noise was also observed from the motor

bearings.
 Since there was no trend or historical data available, all
relevant vibration data was recorded for carrying out
effective analysis.
 For analysis , spectrum, time waveform data, high
frequency acceleration spectrum and envelope spectrum
were captured.
 The captured spectrum from one of the motors is
attached in the next slide.

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 5

v rms [mm/s] Mo to r\ Mo to r Outb o a rd H o rizo nta l\ T re nd ing Sp e c trum\ Sp e c trum 4/ 11/ 2016 5:32:16 PM
3.0

2.8
RPM : 1440 (24.00Hz)
M
M(x) : 1440.00 cpm (1.00 Orders)
2.6
M(y) : 2.65 mm/s
2.4

2.2

2.0

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000
f [cpm]

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 6

a [g] Mo to r\ Mo to r Outb o a rd H o rizo nta l\ T re nd ing Sp e c trum\ T ime Sig na l 4/ 11/ 2016 5:32:16 PM
6

5 RPM : 1440 (24.00Hz)

-1

-2

-3

-4

-5

-6
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
t [ms]

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 7

a op [g] Mo to r\ Mo to r Outb o a rd H o rizo nta l\ 1011 R .b .e nv e lo p 30 - 600 KCPM 4/ 11/ 2016 4:19:03 PM
7.0

BPFI Harmonic #2

BPFI Harmonic #3

BPFI Harmonic #4

BPFI Harmonic #5

BPFI Harmonic #6

BPFI Harmonic #7

BPFI Harmonic #8
(8505.70) BPFI
6.5 RPM : 1450 (24.17Hz)
M(x) : 8490.00 cpm (5.86 Orders)
6.0 M M(y) : 5.816 g
D(x) : 84900.00 cpm (58.55 Orders)
5.5 D(y) : 0.059 g

5.0

4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5
2
2.0 3

1.5

1.0

0.5
4 5
9D
8
7
6
0.0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000 50000 55000 60000
f [cpm]

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 8

a op [g] Mo to r\ Mo to r Outb o a rd H o rizo nta l\ 1011 R .b .e nv e lo p 30 - 600 KCPM 4/ 11/ 2016 5:31:32 PM
1.2

(6035.64) BPFO

BPFO Harmonic #10

BPFO Harmonic #11

BPFO Harmonic #2

BPFO Harmonic #3

BPFO Harmonic #4

BPFO Harmonic #5

BPFO Harmonic #6

BPFO Harmonic #7

BPFO Harmonic #8

BPFO Harmonic #9
1.1 RPM : 1460 (24.33Hz)
M(x) : 6045.00 cpm (4.14 Orders)
M(y) : 0.446 g
1.0
D(x) : 60450.00 cpm (41.40 Orders)
D(y) : 0.028 g
0.9

0.8

0.7

2 3
0.6

0.5
M

0.4

0.3 4 5
6
0.2

0.1
7 9D
8
0.0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000 50000 55000 60000
f [cpm]
INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 9
Observations and Analysis:

 The vibration spectrum of all 8 motors showed the

same symptoms along with high frequency noise from
the bearings.
 The overall vibration amplitudes were low and within
acceptable limits on all the motors.
 The high frequency peaks were non–synchronous
peaks indicating possible bearing fault on the motor
bearings.
 Bearing details were collected from the motor name
plate.
INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 10
Observations and Analysis (Contd..):

 As per the motor name plate details the bearings

installed were 6316 C3 and 6319 C3 on motor NDE and
motor DE respectively.
 Previous maintenance records suggested that the
bearings installed were different from the bearings
mentioned on the motor name plate.
 It was found that the motor was installed with 6217C3
and 6219C3 bearings on the NDE and DE respectively.
 This showed the chances of motor being spurious or
refurbished with ABB name plate attached.
INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 11
Observations and Analysis (Contd..):

 Based on the bore of motor end cover and dia of the

shaft, it was concluded that the motor was not meant
to be installed with 6316 brg in the first place.
 The fault frequencies for the installed bearings were
determined and the high frequency non-synchronous
peaks corresponded to the BPFO and BPFI peaks of
motor DE and NDE bearings.
 The symptoms were same on all the motors.
 It was suspected that all the motors had the same root
cause for bearing fault frequency generation.
INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 12
Observations and Analysis (Contd..):

 As the motor’s genuineness could not be ascertained, it

was likely that the motors were not of good quality.
 As the motors were fitted with a VFD, it was suspected
that the bearing fault frequency peaks were due to
Electrical fluting.
 Electrical fluting is a phenomenon when a current
passes through the motor bearing instead of a
grounded source.

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 13

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 14
INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 15
INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 16
Conclusions:

 Variable frequency drives induce shaft currents in AC

motors because of high speed switching frequencies in
inverters.
 The high speed switching frequencies used in these
drives produce voltages on the motor shaft.
 Once the voltages reach a level sufficient to overcome
the dielectric properties of the bearing lubrication, they
discharge along motor bearings to the housing as this is
the path of least resistance.

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 17

Conclusions (Contd..):

 This discharge leaves a small fusion crater in the

raceways.
 The discharges are so frequent that the entire
bearing raceway becomes marked in the form of a
washboard pattern.

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 18

Solutions:
 Grounding Brush - Mechanical shaft grounding using
conductive grounding brush that is in contact with the
shaft.
 The brush circuit from frame to shaft provides a low
resistance parallel circuit to divert current from the
much higher resistance bearing circuit.
 Insulated bearings – by isolating the bearings with
insulation, it is possible to prevent motor shaft currents
fro entering the bearing race and damaging the
bearings.

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 19

Follow up:

 Vibration data was collected after bearing

replacement with insulated bearings.
 The high frequency signals were not present in the
spectrum.
 The acceleration amplitudes also reduced significantly.
 The next slide shows the change in vibration
amplitudes after bearing replacement.
 The motor has been running satisfactorily since
October 2016.

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 20

v rms [mm/s] Mo to r\ Mo to r Outb o a rd H o rizo nta l\ T re nd ing Sp e c trum\ Sp e c trum 4/ 11/ 2016 5:32:16 PM

RPM : 1440 (24.00Hz)

M(x) : 1440.00 cpm (1.00 Orders)
M(y) : 2.65 mm/s

3.0
2.8
M
2.6
2.4
2.2
2.0
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
7/10/2016 1:12:50 PM
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0 4/11/2016 5:32:16 PM
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000
f [cpm]

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 21

a [g] Mo to r\ Mo to r Outb o a rd H o rizo nta l\ T re nd ing Sp e c trum\ T ime Sig na l 7/ 10/ 2016 1:12:50 PM

RPM : 1470 (24.50Hz)

-1

-2
7/10/2016 1:12:50 PM
-3

-4

-5

-6 4/11/2016 5:32:16 PM
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
t [ms]

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 22

 THANK YOU

INTERNATIONAL MACHINE VIBRATION ANALYSIS CONFERENCE | DUBAI, UAE 2017 Slide 23