Screw Compressor Noise and Vibration Elimination

A Midwest coal-fired power plant was experiencing high vibration and noise in an extensive screw compressor/ piping system required for pollution control. A piping acoustic resonance was anticipated by the plant. Time averaged modal testing was used to acoustically test the piping, as well as the blower frames and rotors. It was discovered that an axial resonance was occurring in the blower driver shaft, which in turn caused occasional rotor rubs, and was driving the noise in the piping. The modal testing proved that no piping resonance of any significance was occurring, and expensive unwarranted piping modifications were avoided.