MECH7350 Rotating Machinery

5. Balancing

5. BALANCING
(This section is based largely on Rao)

5.1 Types of Rotor Unbalance In a thin rotor disc, unbalance mass lies in a single plane and the resultant unbalance is a single radial force. Circumferential location of the balance mass can be found by letting the rotor rotate under gravity on a shaft on knife edges or in low friction bearings (Fig. 5.1), until it finds a rest point. To balance, remove mass by trial and error on line OP, or add mass by trial and error on line OQ. Balance is

achieved when the rotor comes to rest with no preferred orientation. balancing. This is called static or single plane
Fig. 5.1 Static balancing.

When the unbalance is in more than one plane, e.g. on a long rotor, the resultant is a force and a rocking moment. A long rigid rotor, such as a motor armature, can be considered to be a series of thin discs, each with some unbalance (Fig. 5.2). This is equivalent to a single unbalance force plus a moment, or an unbalance force in each end plane. The rotor must be spun in flexible supports to detect and correct the unbalance. This is called dynamic balancing.

Fig. 5.2.

5.2 Single-Plane Balancing Eccentricity or unbalance can cause transmission of unacceptable vibration to shafts and bearings. Some rotating bodies can be treated as a thin circular disc, e.g. a fan or a pump impeller, but not a long turbine or generator rotor. Eccentricity is caused by inaccurate alignment of a disc on a shaft, e.g. inaccurate machining of a bore. Unbalance can be caused by wear of a part of a disc, or by inaccurate machining. Both eccentricity and unbalance can be represented by a point mass mu at radius ru on an otherwise uniform disc; i.e. unbalance

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5. Balancing

mu ru causes an unbalance centripetal force mu ru 2 . Balance can be achieved by removing material mu at ru or by adding material diametrically opposite. Note that correcting

unbalance mu ru can be obtained by choosing a convenient ru and adjusting mu . The disc can be rolled on knife edges but it is more accurate to spin it in the following trial-and-error method.

Strobe light is fired at frequency of rotation (Fig. 5.3) at a time in the cycle governed by the peak in the measured oscillatory vibration at the bearing, which in turn is influenced by the circumferential location on unbalance on the disc.

Fig. 5.3

Step 1:

With the disc stationary, put O reference marks on both the disc and the

stationary support (Fig. 5.4(a)).

Fig. 5.4 (from Rao).

Step 2:

Run unbalanced disc and measure: magnitude of vibration Au

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5. Balancing

Step 3:

angle between reference marks on disc and support.

Add a known trial mass mt at known radius rt and known angle to reference

mark. Run disc and measure: magnitude of vibration Au + w angle between reference marks on disc and support.

Step 4:

Construct a vector diagram (Fig. 5.5).

Calculate from to know where to add balancing mass, as follows. Cosine rule gives:

Aw = Aw = Au2 + Au2+ w 2 Au Au + w cos ( ) 2

= cos 1

2 Au2 + Aw Au2+ w 2 Au Aw

The magnitude of the original unbalance mass is

Fig. 5.5 (from Rao).

A mo = u mt . It is located at the same radial distance rt as the trial mass. The procedure can Aw
be repeated to get a finer (more accurate) balance.

5.3 Dynamic or Two-Plane Balancing

Any unbalance mass in a long rotor is equivalent to two unbalance masses in any two planes.

is equivalent to

For equivalence of forces,

m 2 R = m1 2 R + m2 2 R
m = m1 + m2
For equivalence of moments, sum moment about axis into plane of diagram through O.

m 2 R

l = m1 2 Rl 3

m = 3m1

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5. Balancing

Hence,

m1 =

m 2m and m2 = 3 3

This argument can be extended to show that a distribution of unbalance masses (distributed along rotor and at different angular positions) is equivalent to unbalance masses in any two planes and at generally different angular positions.

Now consider use of transducers on each bearing A and B, a vibration analyzer and a strobe light. While stationary, put reference marks on each end of rotor and on stator.

Step 1:

At operating speed, measure amplitude and phase due to original unbalance at

each bearing. Measurement of amplitude and phase at bearing A is in some way due to equivalent unbalance at both left and right plane.
VA = AALU L + AARU R
All unknown

(5.1)

Similarly
VB = ABLU L + ABRU R
All unknown

(5.2)

Add a known trial weight WL in left plane at a known angular position and measure displacement and phase at the two bearings. Step 2:

VA = AAL (U L + WL ) + AARU R VB = ABL (U L + WL ) + ABRU R VA VA (5.3) (5.1) AAL = WL VB VB (5.4) 5.2) ABL = WL Step 3: Remove WL and add known WR . Measure VA = AAR (U R + WR ) + AALU L
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(5.3) (5.4) (5.5)

(5.6)

(5.7)

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5. Balancing

VB = ABR (U R + WR ) + ABLU L (5.8) V V (5.7) (5.1) (5.9) AAR = A A WR VB VB (5.8) (5.2) (5.10) ABR = WR Having calculated AAL , ABL , AAR and ABR we can substitute into (5.1) and (5.2) to find the original unbalances;
A V A V (5.11) U L = BR A AR B ABR AAL AAR ABL ABLVA AALVB (5.12) UR = ABL AAR AAL ABR The rotor can be balanced by adding equal and opposite balancing weights in each plane.

Useful Vector Algebra: If;

A = a A = a1 + ia2 B = b B = b1 + ib2 b1 = b cos B b2 = b sin B

and

i = 1

where;
a1 = a cos A a2 = a sin A

Then;

A B = ( a1 b1 ) + i ( a2 b2 ) A ( a1b1 + a2b2 ) + i ( a2b1 a1b2 ) = B ( b12 + b22 ) A i B = ( a1b1 a2b2 ) + i ( a2b1 + a1b2 )

5.4 Balancing of Flexible Rotors

If the flexibility of a rotor is significant, 2-plane balancing can be ineffective and balancing must be applied to three or more planes. This is a specialised procedure. It is visited in Section 8 on generators and addressed in detail in Harris and Piersol (2002).

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