Balancing Stand with Soft Support
The image shows a simple balancing stand being used to balance gears. The main feature of softbearing support balancing stands is that they have relatively compliant supports based on spring suspensions, spring-mounted carriages, flat or cylindrical spring supports, and so on. The natural frequency of oscillation of these supports is at least 2-3 times lower than the rotation frequency of the balanced rotor that is mounted on them.
Balancing stand with soft support.
As shown in Figure, the movable frame (slider) 2 is attached to the fixed support posts 1 of the stand using a suspension system with ribbon springs 3. Under the influence of the centrifugal force caused by the rotor’s unbalance, the carriage (slider) 2 can perform horizontal oscillations relative to the fixed post 1, which are measured using a vibration sensor.
The design of this support provides a low natural frequency of the carriage’s oscillations, which can be 1-2 Hz, making it possible to balance the rotor over a wide range of rotation frequencies starting from 200 rpm. This feature, as well as the relative simplicity of manufacturing such supports, makes this design attractive to many of our customers who manufacture balancing stands for their own needs.
Nikolai Shelkovenko
Nikolai Shelkovenko is a vibration analysis engineer and the founder and CEO of Vibromera. For more than 15 years he has balanced rotating equipment in the field rather than on a test bench: mulchers, industrial fans, crushers, centrifuges, shafts and spindles. That work is what the Balanset instruments grew out of — they were designed as a tool a specialist can carry to the machine and use alone, on site, not as laboratory equipment. Vibromera was founded in 2017 and has been based in Porto, Portugal, since 2023. Development, assembly and support of the Balanset line all happen here. The flagship instrument is the Balanset-1A, a portable analyser for single- and two-plane balancing and for vibration diagnostics. Nikolai is personally involved in customer support, in working through difficult balancing cases and in the development of the software. He works with customers worldwide, in any language.
