Fault diagnosis of an electro-pump in a marine ship using vibration condition monitoring

Changes in the health, or condition, of a machine often produce changes in the machine's vibration. Even a perfectly healthy machine produces some degree of vibration, as it is virtually impossible to have perfect balance and alignment. Additionally, the machine itself may produce vibration as part of its process or work. Condition monitoring monitors for a change in the vibration that a machine normally produces. The vibration technique in a machine condition monitoring programme provides useful reliable information, bringing significant cost benefits to industry. In this research, the vibration analysis was initially run under regular intervals during the electro-pump life. A series of tests were then conducted under the operating hours of the electro-pump. Vibration data was regularly collected and the overall vibration data produced by vibration analysis was compared with previous data. Numerical data produced by vibration analysis was compared with the vibration spectra of a healthy electro-pump, in order to quantify the effectiveness of the vibration condition monitoring technique. The results of this paper provide more understanding on the dependent roles of vibration analysis in predicting and diagnosing electro-pump faults.