Cooling tower fin fan gearbox failure
detected early, avoiding costly repair.
Client: Mineral refinery.
Tough Problem: Vibration measurements indicated multiple developing faults with a fin-fan gearbox (see Figure 1).
Practical Solution: A bearing defect frequency was diagnosed and followed up by a study of gear mesh frequencies. This information was used to determine how long the gearbox would last before failure.
When the gearbox was removed and inspected a failing bearing was found. This failure had allowed the gears to move, causing the gear mesh fault frequency in the spectrum.
Bottom Line: Early identification of problem allowed for gearbox replacement before the gears were damaged avoiding costly repair.
Figure 1: Gearbox bearing fault signature
