portable dynamic balancing equipment

Aircraft Maintenance 101: Field Balancing Standards

Field Balancing StandardsAnalyzing vibration in an aircraft is a delicate procedure. There will always be some vibration whenever the aircraft is on, making absolutely perfect balance unattainable. There are still standards to field balancing procedure to ensure that the bearings on the aircraft are not taking a beating from the machine. To ensure that you have realistic balancing standards when you use your portable dynamic balancing equipment to start the procedure, keep reading through these tips.

Use A Test Weight

For machines in the field, there is no universal balance standard. When you perform a vibration analysis, it will be measured at a point that is dependent upon the mass in motion, as well as the mass and stiffness of the supports where you are measuring the vibration. Depending on the natural frequencies of the elements in the force transmission path, which vary based on where you’re doing the balancing, the machinery can attenuate or amplify the oscillating force. For this reason, you should use a test weight. The weight will help to calibrate the instruments for amplitude and phase response and correlate the vibration you measure to the unbalanced amount.

Prove Balance

To prove good balance while you’re in the field will always require using your own judgment and interpretation. When you monitor vibration with your portable dynamic balancing equipment, you want to ensure that the vibration you have measured is only unbalance, and not anything else sneakily added in. In order to verify that, you can aim to find the natural frequencies of the structures you’re measuring so that you know they are not amplifying the motion. You may also need to ensure that no nearby machines are vibrating against the ground or foundation at the same frequency. That could skew your measurements, so you may need to turn it off in order to accurately perform this element of your aircraft maintenance.

Field Balancing Standards Help Ensure Safety

As of 2011, there were approximately 224,2475 total general aviation crafts active in the United States. As these machines do the important, and potentially dangerous, job of transporting goods and pilots through the air at high speeds, it is essential to make sure that they are in optimal condition by following field balancing standards.

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