Remote monitoring and processing of large quantities of on-line vibration data by an expert system

Vibration monitoring of large turbine generators has been carried out by the power industry for many years, initiated by shaft cracking problems in the early 1970s. A system for collecting data from several on-line vibration monitoring systems is explained. The large amounts of data has necessitated the use of automatic screening programmes to detect any changes at the earliest possible moment without using excessive manpower. Several techniques for screening the data are presented which all show significant advantages in reducing the visual inspection of data although each have their associated disadvantages