Condition monitoring of a water hydraulic cylinder by vibration analysis

This paper attempts to lay some groundwork on reciprocating machines with p articular emphasis on a water hydraulic cylinder. The objective is to diagn ose a worn-out piston seal by means of vibration analysis. Pulsation theory is used to explain the harmonics produced in reciprocating machines. The c ylinder piston seal was removed to simulate actual wearing of the seal. Thi s modified machine was tested for its vibration signals and compared agains t the "healthy condition" state under some loading. Lab-VIEW(R) was used as the software interface. Results show that removing the piston seal caused an increase in magnitude at a fundamental fault-dependant frequency in the amplitude spectra.