Vibration analysis methods for preventative maintenance [of cement plants]

Cement plants have hundreds of pieces of rotating machinery. Typical machinery will include fans, pumps, compressors, blowers and other equipment such as vertical and horizontal mills and, of course, a kiln. Each machine has several bearings, a gear reducer with several bearings and gear sets, a coupling arrangement and a motor with at least two sets of bearings. The combined effect of all of these moving parts gives off a vibration that is characteristic to that equipment and of which is made up of a combination of all of the parts of the equipment. All rotating equipment have some type of vibration associated with it that is typically very low in amplitude and is negligible under ideal operating conditions. In this paper, the author describes how the vibration analysis of such equipment can form part of a preventative maintenance strategy