Rotating Equipment: Vibration Diagnostics
Without Sensors or Downtime
Pumps, compressors, fans, motors and gearboxes are the most commonly measured assets in any industrial plant — and the most common source of unplanned downtime. VibraVizja® locates imbalance, misalignment, mechanical looseness and bearing faults directly on the image, without touching the machine.
Rotating equipment runs in almost every industrial process, and its failures are among the most costly and hardest to predict. Conventional diagnostics rely on accelerometers mounted at the bearing housing — effective at detecting that something is wrong, limited in saying exactly what and why.
Common Vibration Sources in Rotating Equipment
Imbalance
Uneven mass distribution on the rotor generates a characteristic orbital motion at 1× running speed — visible directly on the amplified video as synchronous, circular shaft displacement.
Misalignment
Misalignment between a motor shaft and the driven equipment generates vibration at 1× and 2× running speed, along with a characteristic phase pattern between coupled components.
Mechanical Looseness
Loosened foundation bolts, worn fits, or soft foot let the machine move in an uncontrolled way under load — visible as a non-linear, often asymmetric dynamic response.
Bearing Faults
Damage to the raceway, rolling elements, or cage generates high-frequency vibration and, at an advanced stage, visible changes in the shaft's overall dynamic behaviour.
Why a Single Sensor Isn't Enough
An accelerometer mounted at the bearing housing measures one point, in one direction. It doesn't show whether the problem is in the rotor itself, the coupling, or the structure supporting the machine — a question that regularly determines where to direct the repair.
How VibraVizja® Helps
A full-field measurement records the motion of the whole machine and the surrounding structure simultaneously. The analyst sees directly whether the vibration signature originates from the rotor, the coupling, or a support element — and exactly what motion that element is exhibiting.
Premature Rotating Seal Wear — Wrocław Region
The first measurement pointed to shaft imbalance. Extending the measurement to the support bracket revealed the real cause — exactly the kind of discovery a single-point measurement would have missed.
→ Read Case StudyHow to tell mechanical imbalance, aerodynamic imbalance and structural resonance apart when the spectra all look the same.
One of the most prevalent installation defects on rotating equipment — and how to correct it permanently.
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Rotating Equipment Diagnostics: Questions
Can VibraVizja® distinguish imbalance from misalignment?↓
Yes. Imbalance shows up as synchronous, circular shaft motion at 1× running speed, visible directly on the amplified video. Misalignment additionally generates a 2× component and a characteristic phase pattern between the coupled elements — the full-field measurement lets you trace that pattern along the coupling and see which side the motion actually originates from, instead of inferring it from a single-point spectrum alone.
Does the method catch bearing faults at an early stage?↓
VibraVizja® is strongest at detecting and localizing bearing faults once they produce a visible change in the shaft's or housing's dynamic behaviour. Very early-stage, purely high-frequency bearing signatures remain the domain of dedicated accelerometer-based diagnostics — which is why VibraVizja® is a complement to a CBM programme, not a replacement for it.
Does it work on VFD-driven, variable-speed equipment?↓
Yes. Because each measurement captures the machine's actual operating speed at that moment, VibraVizja® suits variable-speed equipment well — including building a speed-versus-behaviour picture from a series of measurements at different VFD settings, the same approach described in our article on fan vibration.
Does the measurement need direct access to the shaft, or does it work on enclosed machines too?↓
The measurement only needs an unobstructed line of sight to a vibrating surface — a bearing housing, a coupling guard, or an accessible section of shaft — not direct access to the rotor itself. That's the same measurement point a conventional accelerometer would be mounted on. Fully enclosed machines with no accessible external surface need a suitable vantage point identified on the housing.
See What VibraVizja® Finds on Your Machines
We travel anywhere in Poland and run a live measurement on one of your machines while it is running — no production stop, no sensors, nothing attached.
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