Motor vibration: Is it electrical or is it mechanical?

Fundamental concepts and factors to help in correcting vibration problems

By Gene Vogel
EASA Pump and Vibration Specialist
When a motor is test run in the
service center, the two most common
vibration frequencies that occur are at
1x rotating speed (1x rpm) and at 2x
line frequency (2x lf). High 1x rpm is
often corrected by balancing, and the
2x lf is traditionally attributed to airgap anomalies or voltage or winding
unbalance. However, there are those
cases where the traditional approaches
are unsuccessful and technicians and
managers are left scratching their
heads. In these difficult cases, there
is often a combination of electrical and
mechanical vibration. Being able to
separate electrical and mechanical
vibration is necessary to efficiently
arrive at a solution.
Although electrical and mechanical
vibration can be challenging on any mo-

Figure 1 shows the beat

frequency has amplitude
and phase that change in
a cyclic manner. Again,
it is important to know
that a single modulated
frequency may also have
amplitude and phase
that change in a cyclic
manner.

tor, two-pole motors

are especially challenging. For these
motors, the line
frequency and synchronous speed are
equal (60 Hz = 3600
CPM = 3600 rpm or
50 Hz = 3000 CPM
= 3000 rpm). So vibration at one and
two times rotating
speed will be very
near one and two
times line frequency
but they are not
exactly equal for
induction motors.
When the result of
electrical forces can
be separated from
Figure 1. The beat frequency effect of electrical and mechanical
mechanical sources,
vibration.
arriving at a solutwo-pole motor, the slip frequency may
tion becomes much more likely.
be as low as 1/10th of one rpm; that
Beat frequencies
is, it would take 10 minutes for one
The interaction of two vibratory
slip cycle. As the load increases, the
forces which are very close in freslip cycle will become shorter so that
quency produces what is called a
the beat frequency becomes audibly
beat frequency. An example is two
noticeable.
guitar strings that are just slightly
Phase angle
out of tune. The sound they produce
Remember that both vibration
has a pulsating volume or amplitude.
forces have phase angle. If the phase is
But amplitude is only half the picture
referenced to the shaft, the mechanical
since vibration also has phase angle.
vibration will have steady phase. But
Lets relate this to an electric motor.
the vibration from the electrical force
The synchronous magnetic field crewill have a phase angle that is moving
ated by the stator rotates at exactly
relative to the shaft. So at one instant
line frequency for a two-pole motor.
the two forces will be aligned in the
Due to friction and windage losses
same direction, and half a slip cycle
the no-load speed of the rotor is just
later they will be in opposite directions.
slightly less than synchronous speed.
So they will alternately add together to
Now imagine there is a slight magcreate a higher amplitude and then be
netic unbalance in the stator due to a
in opposite direction and create a lower
voltage unbalance, and a slight mass
amplitude. Thus the beat frequency is
unbalance of the rotor. The vibration
created, with amplitude that rises and
from these two sources will differ by
falls at the slip frequency (see Figure 1).
the slip frequency. The slip frequency
At this point it is important to know
will be the difference between the rotathat there are conditions other then
tion of the synchronous magnetic field
beat frequencies that cause vibration
and the rpm of the rotor. For a no-load,

Continued On Page 2

SEPTEMBER 2010 EASA CURRENTS

Copyright 2007-2010 Electrical Apparatus Services Association, Inc.

Motor vibration: Is it electrical or is it mechanical?

Fundamental concepts and factors to help in correcting vibration problems
Continued From Page 1

intervals. A single vibration frequency can be modulated. Such a condition occurs when a rotor has an open
bar. The open bar will alternately be
centered on the magnetic pole creating
higher vibration, and then slip between
energized poles so that vibration is reduced. It is not possible to discern the
difference between a beat frequency
and a modulated frequency with amplitude alone. Phase must play a role in
making the distinction between them.
When amplitude and phase are
taken together, they form a vector.
There will be one vector for the mechanical vibration and one for the
vibration from electrical forces. And
while the amplitude of each may be
steady, the phase angle must vary
between them at the slip frequency.
So when both sources are present, the
resulting vibration will be the sum of
the two vectors. Figure 1 on Page 3
shows the resulting sum of the vectors
for one slip cycle.

Change in cyclic manner

Figure 1 shows the beat frequency

has amplitude and phase that change
in a cyclic manner. Again, it is important to know that a single modulated
frequency may also have amplitude
and phase that change in a cyclic

The interaction of two

vibratory forces which are
very close in frequency
produces what is called a
beat frequency. An example is two guitar strings
that are just slightly out
of tune. The sound they
produce has a pulsating
volume or amplitude. But
amplitude is only half the
picture since vibration
also has phase angle.

Figure 2. An analog vibration analyzer and strobe used for phase analysis.

manner. Here is the key to telling

them apart: For the beat frequency, the
amplitude and phase change with a
syncopated motion; for the modulated
frequency, they change in a synchronized motion.

Analog vibration analyzer

To picture this, imagine using a

strobe light type analog vibration
analyzer (or balancing instrument)
to measure the amplitude and phase
(see Figure 2). In either case (beat frequency or modulation), the amplitude
meter would be going up and down
and the phase would be shifting back
and forth.
However, for the beat frequency, the
amplitude would increase as the phase
paused at one extreme. Then the amplitude would pause at the maximum
while the phase shifted back, and so on
(syncopated). For modulation, the two
would be synchronized. Keep in mind
that for the beat frequency, the cycle is
the slip frequency, so for an unloaded
motor that could be as much as 10
minutes to complete a cycle.

SEPTEMBER 2010 EASA CURRENTS

Digital vibration analyzer

The phenomenon presented for an

analog instrument with a strobe light
can also be observed with a digital
vibration analyzer that has peak-andphase capability (most spectrum analyzers have this capability). These instruments use a reference pulse pickup,
usually a laser pickup, to see a mark
on the shaft. Since the amplitude and
phase are displayed as digital values,
it is more difficult to picture the syncopated vs. synchronized motion. It may
be necessary to manually plot vectors
to visualize the motion.

Digital spectrum analyzer

Digital spectrum analyzers may

have other features that can also be
used to separate the electrical and
mechanical vibration. See Figure 3
on Page 5. Using very high resolution
(3200 lines or more) may resolve the
two source frequencies so that each
can be seen in the spectrum. Placing
a load on the motor will help to separate the two frequencies. If the slip
frequency is such that it takes
Continued On Page 3

Copyright 2007-2010 Electrical Apparatus Services Association, Inc.

Motor vibration: Is it electrical or is it mechanical?

Fundamental concepts and factors to help in correcting vibration problems
Continued From Page 2

Synchronous time average

An alternate and more effective

technique with digital spectrum analyzers is synchronous time averaging.
This technique uses the reference pulse
pickup to synchronize the collection of
a series of digital samples. The samples
are then averaged together and any
vibration frequencies that are not synchronous to the shaft are averaged out.
Thus a comparison of the synchronous
time average spectrum to a standard
spectrum will reveal the presence of
any non-synchronous vibration frequencies. (Phase is at work here though
it is not read directly.)
Finally, the above discussion
focused on vibration at or near 1x
rpm. Often the vibration of interest
is at or near 2x rpm. For 2x vibration,
the strobe phase method will show a
double reference mark, which when
carefully observed can discern the
syncopated vs. synchronized motion.
With digital spectrum analyzers,
some instruments can be set to track
the 2x frequency from a single reference mark on the shaft. Often, better
results can be produced by placing
two reference marks on the shaft, at

SEPTEMBER 2010 EASA CURRENTS

exactly 180 degrees from each other.

The two reference mark method
works with any spectrum analyzer
which has synchronous time averaging capability.
The above discussion highlights
the sometimes complex technical nature of motor vibration. The details of
the specific techniques may be known
only to the vibration technician, but
knowing the fundamental concept of
electrical and mechanical vibration

and how they interact to produce

varying vibration amplitude and
phase may save many hours of frustration when trying to correct motor
vibration problems. n
n n n n n n n
Editor s Note: A PDF of this article is available in the Engineering/
Technical Article Archive section of
www.easa.com.

High 2x lf or 2x rpm? - 1600 line spectrum

0.2
0.18
0.16
0.14

in/sec pk

more than 30 seconds to complete

a cycle, it is unlikely high resolution
will separate the two sources.

118.2 Hz

0.12

120 Hz

0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
90

100

110

120

130

140

150

Hertz

rpm = 3546

Figure 3. Digital spectrum analysis used to separate electrical from mechanical vibration.

Copyright 2007-2010 Electrical Apparatus Services Association, Inc.