Intermittent Trips Uncovered: Turbine Bearing Instability at Suez
Machine & Event Overview
At a 12MW Groupe Turbo-Alternateur steam turbine installation in Suez, the equipment was experiencing occasional unexplained trips during operation.
The issue appeared sporadic, with no consistent pattern, making it difficult to diagnose using conventional monitoring approaches.
Initial Condition & Challenge
The turbine would trip intermittently without clear root cause
- Traditional monitoring methods did not indicate a definitive fault
- The issue was treated as operational inconsistency rather than a mechanical defect
The system continued running with uncertainty around the underlying cause.
Detection by Vib360
After deploying the Vib360 (Vibox) system, advanced vibration analysis revealed:
- Instability in bearing behavior
- Irregular angular velocity patterns
- Elevated shock and harmonic components indicating dynamic disturbance
These indicators pointed clearly toward a bearing-related instability issue, which had previously gone undetected.
Diagnosis & Insight
Further analysis enabled the team to:
- Pinpoint the issue to bearing instability linked to oil supply/system behavior
- Identify the root cause behind the intermittent trips
- Correlate vibration anomalies directly with machine events
This transformed the problem from random trips → diagnosable mechanical issue. dynamics, structural stiffness
- Before Vs After Validation
Using Vib360 data, a clear comparison was established:
Before Intervention:
- High angular velocity variations
- Elevated shock index
- Unstable vibration signatures
- Frequent unexpected trips
After Correction:
- Stabilized angular velocity
- Reduced shock levels within acceptable limits
- Smooth and consistent vibration patterns
- Elimination of unplanned trips
This before-and-after visibility provided strong validation of both the diagnosis and corrective action.
Outcome & Impact
- The root cause of intermittent trips was successfully identified and resolved
- Machine reliability improved significantly
- Vib360 demonstrated its capability in detecting non-obvious dynamic instabilities
This case highlights how advanced condition monitoring can convert random operational disturbances into clearly identifiable mechanical faults, enabling precise and effective corrective action.