System and method for providing vibration detection in turbomachinery

Abstract

A system and method for providing blade vibration analysis of a turbine is provided. Generally, the system contains a non-contacting sensor capable of determining a distance or velocity of a blade, of the series of blades, in relationship to the sensor. The system also contains a tachometer capable of determining a speed of a shaft of the turbine, and a computer comprising a memory and a processor. The processor is configured by the memory to perform the steps of: processing calibration data of the turbine resulting in a processed calibration signal; processing actual condition data of the turbine, resulting in a processed actual condition signal; calculating a time dilation ratio between a calibration data tachometer window and an actual condition data tachometer window; time dilating either a calibration sensor signal or an actual condition sensor signal using the time dilation ratio, resulting in a time dilated sensor signal; rewindowing the time dilated sensor signal around a zero-crossing point of the time dilated sensor signal, resulting in a derived calibration or actual condition sensor signal; and subtracting the derived calibration or actual condition sensor signal from the processed calibration or actual condition sensor signal.