Vibrations Vol 23 No 3 September 2007

T
e
c
h
n
i
c
a
l
A
r
t
i
c
l
e
The Use of Non-Intrusive Phase and
Amplitude Demodulation Techniques to
Identify Torsional Modes on
Machinery under
Constant Speed Conditions.
Part I. Theory
Turbogenerator sets are centrifugal machines commonly
used in industry to generate electricity. They usually operate
continuously for long periods of time and, in some cases,
forced stoppage can be very costly. Because the rotating
parts generally consist of long shafts, torsional resonances
(usually the first three or four modes) must be avoided to
increase service life and reduce the risk of catastrophic
breakdown. One of the main excitation frequencies in these
machines is 2xF
supply
(120 Hz in North America), which is
caused by current reversals and induces vibration of
electromagnetic origin. Moreover, the rotating magnetic
fields inside the generator create tangential forces that tend
to excite torsional resonances (Figure 1). It is therefore
necessary to ensure that no torsional mode is present at or
close to 120 Hz. Part I of this article describes a non-
intrusive method that can identify the frequency and angular
displacement of the torsional modes under constant speed
conditions, without any significant load applied to the
machine. Two applications are presented in Part II: a turbo-
generator set turning at 60 Hz and a roll-drive in the dryer
section of a paper machine.
Angular Vibration and Torsional Modes
The driven equipment in drive mechanisms tends to lag the
driving equipment due to its moment of inertia and load and
torsional stiffness. The lag creates a longitudinal
deformation along the line axis of the shaft (torsion),
Torsion can be considered static if there are no significant
load fluctuations. In addition, dynamic forces can generate
R. Archambault
International Measurement Solutions
Baie dUrfe, Quebec, Canada
E-mail: rene@intlmeas.com
Summary. The presence of torsional modes that
coincide with excitation frequencies on rotating
machinery may impair its operation and lead to a
dangerous condition. A non-intrusive method is
described to identify in-situ the frequencies of the
main torsional modes to validate computational
models used to estimate them. The method can also be
used to estimate absolute angular displacement and
damping as a function of operating conditions. Part I
of this article contains the theoretical background of
the method. Part II describes two applications.
Figure 1. A Large Alternator Generates Tangential Forces
Likely to Excite Torsional Modes.
124944 Mag r2_109847 Vibration mag (11/03) 1/31/13 11:36 AM Page 7
1
Vibrations Vol 23 No 3 September 2007
Hilbert Transform and Angular Vibration
The advent of digital signal processing created possibilities
previously not available for extracting information from a
signal. Apart from the FFT, which has been used successfully
in portable data collectors, additional possibilities exist that
have not yet been fully exploited. Such is the case with the
Hilbert transform; it allows calculation of the imaginary part
of a real time signal to define an analytic time signal
(complex). The mathematical definition of the Hilbert
transform used in signal processing is:
where x(t) is a time domain function (real) and * denotes
the convolution operation. An analytic time signal can be
devised by constructing the imaginary part of the analytic
time signal by using the Hilbert transform of its real part,
thus creating a complex signal with a real and imaginary
part (2). The Hilbert transform is related to the Fourier
transform in that it represents the relationship between the
real and imaginary parts of the Fourier transform of a one-
sided signal.
The analytic signal can be viewed as a rotating vector with
an instantaneous amplitude, or magnitude, and an
instantaneous frequency, which is defined as the derivative
of instantaneous phase (Figure 3).
This model is used to study amplitude and phase
modulated signals. Angular vibration generates pure phase
modulation components on a carrier, for example, a gear-
torsional deformations that depend on the torsional response
of the system relative to the forcing excitations. These
additional deformations add to the static component and can
cause high shear stresses within the shaft. The, result is a
reduction of service life and possibly early breakage of the
shaft. Dangerous situations occur when a torsional natural
frequency (torsional mode) is excited by one of the main
excitation forces; i.e., 2xF
supply
(120 Hz in North America).
Angular vibration consists of a dynamic angular motion
that can be interpreted as a local speed fluctuation, or an
angular oscillation around a fixed point on the shaft. If the
angular vibration varies in amplitude and/or phase at two
different locations on the shaft, there is undoubtedly torsion
in a dynamic sense. Each torsional mode has its own
frequency, damping, and mode shape, containing node(s) and
anti-nodes (Figure 2). Note that the angular displacement due
to a given mode is negligible when measured at a node. At
any other location there is a maximum phase from the
equilibrium position. In order to determine experimentally
the properties of torsional modes, angular vibration must be
measured at two or more locations, depending on the mode
shape, preferably away from a node. Angular displacement
measurements and their relative phase are used to estimate
dynamic stresses due to torsional vibration at a given
frequency if some of the material properties of the shaft
(torsional stiffness in particular) are known.
Figure 2. Each Torsional Mode Has Its Own Frequency,
Mode Shape, and Damping.
Figure 3. The Hilbert Transform Is Used to Calculate the
Imaginary Part of the Real Time Signal. (It allows definition
of a complex time signal, the analytic signal including
magnitude, and an instantaneous phase or frequency.)
124944 Mag r2_109847 Vibration mag (11/03) 1/31/13 11:36 AM Page 8
2
Vibrations Vol 23 No 3 September 2007
where IF
rmsi
represents the instantaneous frequency
spectrum component in Hz (rms) and f
mi
represents the
modulating frequency. Note that the calculation of D
i
is
independent of the carrier frequency f
c
and the type of
transducer used in the measurement (Figure 5).
mesh frequency; the maximum phase deviation corresponds
to the peak angular displacement of the shaft. If all the
angular vibration components are taken into account, the
signal becomes
where X
0
is the amplitude of the unmodulated carrier, f
c
is
the carrier frequency, and
i
is the peak phase deviation
corresponding to modulation frequencies f
mi
. The
instantaneous phase of the analytic signal corresponding to
equation 3 is
When differentiated, the instantaneous frequency of the
signal is
After fc has been removed by demodulating the carrier,
the resulting signal is a time waveform representing the sum
of all frequency modulation components. The Fourier
transform can be used on the time waveform to obtain the
frequency demodulated spectrum, in which the amplitude is
scaled in Hz (rms); Figure 4. The peak angular displacement
in degrees can be calculated from the frequency
demodulated spectrum using
Figure 4. Both Frequency and Amplitude of a Carrier Can
Be Demodulated. Only the frequency-demodulated
spectrum contains information about torsional modes and
other angular vibration components.
Figure 5. A Synchronous Carrier Signal Can Be Generated
from a Gear Wheel and a Noncontact Probe.
124944 Mag r2_109847 Vibration mag (11/03) 1/31/13 11:36 AM Page 9
3
Vibrations Vol 23 No 3 September 2007
Filtering, Time Windows, and Their Effects on Accuracy
Before phase and amplitude demodulation are carried out,
it is important to apply a digital filter around the gear-mesh
frequency to remove unwanted components. The filter
parameters should generate a bandwidth that includes at
least one pair of sidebands of the highest modulating
frequency and a shape with steep slopes and large dynamic
range (>92 dB).
In digital signal processing, time weighting functions
sometimes play a crucial role in accuracy. Leakage in the
frequency domain occurs due to the time block limitation
and is dependent on the time weighting used. Various time-
weighting functions have advantages and limitations. It is
sometimes essential to choose one over another for a
specific application. Figure 6 and Table 1 show the
characteristics of the Hanning, flat top (two-term window
a four-term window would have a much better dynamic
range but at the expense of resolution) and the Blackman-
Harris window in terms of ripple, noise bandwidth, highest
side lobe, side-lobe fall-off, and effective dynamic range.
When it is desired to retrieve very weak components in the
spectrum such as torsional modes with very small
excitations a window with a large dynamic range, such as
the Blackman-Harris window, provides better results. Note
that to resolve two frequency components, a minimum
resolution of 4f is required for the Hanning window; 6f
is needed for the Blackman-Harris, the price for the extra
dynamic range.
Figure 6. Worst Case Leakage (pure component between
two lines) due to Flat-Top (2 terms), Hanning, and
Blackman-Harris (4 terms) Windows (pure tone at 29.525
Hz, sampling frequency = 512 Hz, # samples = 10,240,
# lines = 3,200, spacing between lines = 0.05 Hz).
Table 1. Frequency Domain Characteristics of Various
Time-Weighting Functions
2
.
124944 Mag r2_109847 Vibration mag (11/03) 1/31/13 11:36 AM Page 12
4