𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗺𝗮:𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗿 During workshop testing of a packaged type 3-stage main air compressor, higher than expected vibration levels were detected at stages 1 and 2 at start-up. The machine was tripped after the 110% overspeed test and it couldn’t be restarted when the machine was in warm condition due to high 1st and 2nd stage vibrations. 𝗢𝗘𝗠 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗣𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗚: The large compressor vibration spike during the compressor start-up was not expected and the compressor OEM could not explain it nor the difference in behavior with cold versus warm oil. The compressor supplier was concerned there was a possible mechanical issue. 𝗥𝗢𝗢𝗧 𝗖𝗔𝗨𝗦𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗬𝗦𝗜𝗦: The machine was sent to a different facility for more in-depth testing. The initial test showed the same behavior as the previous shop tests. The collected data and Fishbone Diagram are in the attached figure. a) The LS rotor for the 1st & 2nd stages in the compressor is up-driven. 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙪𝙥-𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩-𝙪𝙥, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙦𝙪𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙥𝙪𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙪𝙥𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙. With the low aero load at start-up, the rotor can instantaneously move upward in the pinion bearings. LS rotor is installed with smaller impellers and it’s the lightest weight being installed in this compressor frame size. b) The 4-pad, LBP tilting pad pinion bearings were replaced with a 5-pad, LOP bearings. With the same clearance (7 mils), the 4-pad design lead to more displacement than the 5-pad due to the geometric arrangement (𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦). 𝗦𝗢𝗟𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡: The 5-pad design results in less shaft displacement in the bearing. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 startup 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 & 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 with new bearing. 𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗧: 𝘜𝘱𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥-𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 are prone 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵-𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. This causes momentary high vibrations. If the displacement exceeds the range of the vibration transmitter this can lead to a bad-quality signal from the vibration probe until the pinion vibration settles down. This will trip the machine if the vibration protection system is configured to trip on bad quality with no time delay. Different bearing designs can help reduce the effect, but if it is desired to not incorporate a time delay, the maximum shaft displacement for lightweight upward-driven pinions should be considered when selecting the vibration transmitter range. 𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀 : 𝘽𝙉3500 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙥 𝙢𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙙 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙥 𝙣𝙪𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚.
Am surprised the trip multiplier was not there in the first place. Thought that is something standard feature in BN to avoid such nuisance trips during startups
So changing the number of pads to 5 solved the startup vibration problem? Why would the vertical distance decrease in 5 pads arrangement? The clearance is 0.894xlift.
Thanks for sharing. Like the real life application of RCA.
Trip Multiplier setting has been there in BN3500 for a long time !! It could be possible users were not aware of it !!
Rotating Equipment Engineer
8moGear separation force can displace a journal to considerable distance and offload the bearing. But a good bearing design with properly oriented pressure dam to handle offload / partial load operation could have been tought of during design. But I was thinking before a 5 pad LOP bearing ,was there a chance to optimize minimum IGV position during startup inorder to improve the loading ( if the driver and its Relay has some margin )and mitigate the vibration.