SKF launches portable machine vibration assessment tool

SKF has introduced a portable machine vibration assessment tool. The Wirelesss MicroVibe allows users to safely, quickly and easily assess any problems with their machinery.

Suitable for analysing rotating equipment, it is portable, compact and lightweight – offering reliable and fast wireless data collection. "The wireless sensor will help our customers assess data in a much easier and quicker way than other comparable technology on the market," said Torsten Bark, SKF product line manager. "Anyone who owns a tablet can check the condition of a machine to ISO standards or bearing condition or by user defined alarms. They can even start a simple condition monitoring programme for their rotating machinery." Once the judgment call of the overall vibration measurements results in an alert or danger, the FFT spectra and waveforms function will provide information to help indicate the root cause of the vibration. The Wireless MicroVibe allows multi-point automation for faster data collection. The data collected, assessed and stored includes enveloped acceleration, acceleration, velocity and displacement, in both FFT spectrum and time waveform displays. Should vibration measurements (based on ISO vibration severity standard and SKF bearing condition evaluation) trigger an alarm, FFT spectrum analysis enables engineers to pinpoint problems such as unbalance, misalignment, bearing, or any other cause. Transferring all this vibration data to a computer, it will also store and recall measurements for trending and further analysis.