Simcenter Testing Solutions Order Cuts: How to Get the Correct Amplitude?

An order cut shows the energy of a measured signal (typically from an accelerometer or microphone) in a specified order band.

In Figure 1 below, 3^rd order is being cut from the colormap and being displayed on the right.

Figure 1: Cutting an order from a colormap.

This article will describe:

1. How the amplitude of an order cut is calculated
2. Setting order bandwidth
3. Different ways to specify order bandwidth
4. Cutting orders in Simcenter Testlab

How is the amplitude of an order cut calculated?

To get the order cut amplitude, the energy around the specified order is summed (RMS) to get a value at each tracking increment (RPM).

The process is as follows:

1. The order to be cut is specified (order number)
2. A band of energy around that order is determined (bandwidth)
3. Energy is summed (RMS) in the band for each tracking increment (typically an RPM increment)
4. The RMS value is plotted versus the tracking increment (typically RPM)

Figure 2: The method for calculating an order cut.

To cut an order, the order number as well as the bandwidth must be specified. The bandwidth determines what energy is included in the RMS sum of the order.

Setting Order Bandwidth

It is critical to set the order bandwidth appropriately so that the energy of interest is included in the calculation.

If the order bandwidth is set too narrow, some of the order energy will not be included in the calculation.

If the order bandwidth is set too wide, neighboring energy that is not due to the order of interest will be included in the order cut.

In Figure 3 (below), it is clear that changing the width of the order calculation impacts the resulting order cut.

The same order is cut in each case, but the order bandwidth changes.

• In the top colormap, the order width is too wide
• In the middle colormap, the order width is set appropriately
• In the bottom colormap, the order width is too narrow

As seen in Figure 3 (below), it is a bit like Goldilocks and the Three Bears – the order cut needs to be just right!

Figure 3: Changing the bandwidth affects the resulting order cut.

Results can vary by many dB meaning that you could either be over or under a critical target depending on how the order is processed.

Therefore, each time an order is cut, care should be taken to ensure the bandwidth is set appropriately. It is recommended to do a visual inspection of the colormap to aid in choosing an appropriate bandwidth.

There is no “fixed rule” when setting bandwidth as the smear of order energy is dependent on the rate of change of the speed, the window used in the Fourier Transform, and the frequency resolution used.

An appropriate bandwidth is one in which all of the content of the order of interest is included, and none of the neighboring content is included.

So, how is order bandwidth set?

Different ways to specify order bandwidth

The order bandwidth represents the band over which energy will be summed for each RPM for the order cut.

The order bandwidth can be specified in four modes:

• Order
• Percentage (%)
• Frequency
• Lines

These modes apply in the frequency domain as well as order domain.

Each mode is described in more detail below.

Order Mode

In this case, a fixed order bandwidth is taken around the defined order value. The frequency bandwidth will increase with the RPM value, so larger groups of frequencies will be included in the order cut calculation at higher RPMs. The order bandwidth will remain constant with RPM.

Figure 4: The order bandwidth is constant vs RPM. The frequency bandwidth increases with RPM. In the figure above, both order bandwidths are the same.

By setting the order bandwidth, the upper and lower order values are automatically determined.

Cutting using the order mode is the most common type of order section.

Percentage Mode

In this case, a percentage of the defined order value will be used to define the bandwidth. For a particular order cut, the frequency bandwidth will increase with RPM while the order bandwidth remains constant.

Figure 5: For each individual cut, the order percentage bandwidth is the same across all rotational speeds. The for each individual cut, the frequency bandwidth increases with RPM.

Even if the percentage bandwidth is kept the same, the order bandwidth is wider for higher orders.

Example:

• Two orders are being cut, 1^st order and 10^th order
• The same bandwidth percentage is used for both orders (10%)
• It is possible to determine the order bandwidth for each cut
• The 1^st order cut will have a bandwidth of 0.10 order, i.e., 0.95 to 1.05 order
• The 10^th order cut will have a bandwidth of 1.0 order, i.e., 9.5 to 10.5 order

So, with the same percentage bandwidth, higher orders will have a wider order bandwidth.

Because higher orders can tend to smear more than lower orders, having a progressively higher bandwidth as a function of order is helpful.

Frequency / Lines Mode

The frequency and lines methods are very similar. The frequency method will use a fixed frequency bandwidth around the specified order. The lines method will use a fixed number of frequency lines around the order specified.

Figure 6: The frequency bandwidth is constant versus RPM.

The lines method is highly dependent on the frequency resolution used. The finer the frequency resolution, the smaller the frequency bandwidth. The coarser the frequency resolution, the larger the frequency bandwidth.

If the frequency resolution is 1 Hz, both methods will yield the same result. If the frequency resolution is not 1 Hz, the methods will yield different results.

The frequency bandwidth is constant vs RPM.

Cutting orders in Simcenter Testlab

There are two ways to cut an order in Simcenter Testlab:

1. Signature Throughput Processing
2. Processing cursor

Signature Throughput Processing

To cut an order with Signature Throughput Processing, go to “Tools” -> “Add-ins” -> “Signature Throughput Processing” (36 tokens).

Enter the “Time Data Processing” workbook. Under the “Section” header, click “Change Settings”.

Figure 7: Click “Change Settings” under “Section” to access the order cut menu.

The “Section Settings” window will open. Navigate to the “Order Sections” tab.

This tab will contain the parameters for the order cut.

Figure 8: Parameters to set when doing an order cut in Signature Throughput Processing.

To begin, type the orders of interest into the white text box. To cut multiple orders, separate each value by a semicolon.

Orders need not be integer numbers.

A summary of the parameters

• “Order” is the order number for the cut
• “Mode” is the way in which the bandwidth will be specified
• “Bandwidth” requires the user to specify the bandwidth for the order cut
• Lower is the lower order limit that will be used for the cut. This is automatically determined (no user input required).
• Upper is the upper order limit that will be used for the cut. This is automatically determined (no user input required).

There is also the option to set an offset.

The offset controls where the center frequency of the order begins at zero RPM.

By default, the offset is zero. However, sometimes an order does not go through the origin but rather starts at an offset along the frequency axis.

Figure 9: It is possible to specify an order offset. In this case, the order is offset by 2500 Hz.

In the above figure, the order does not emanate from the origin, but rather has an offset of 2500Hz.

This can be caused by things like pulse width modulation in electric motors.

Processing Cursor:

It is also possible to cut an order directly from a colormap in the Navigator.

In a colormap, right click to add a cursor. Then select “Add Processing Cursor” -> “Order”.

Figure 10: Adding an order processing cursor.

This will open the “Cursor Processing” window.

It is possible to specify the processing parameters by right clicking on the block and selecting “Parameters”.

Figure 11: Edit the parameters of the order cut by right clicking on the block and selecting “Parameters”.

The “Order Section parameters” window will open. It is possible to specify the width (bandwidth) and width unit (mode) by which to calculate the order. Press “OK” to accept changes.

Figure 12: Setting mode and bandwidth for the order processing cursor.

The section parameters will update in the “Cursor Processing” window. It is then possible to drag and drop the block into a display.

Figure 13: Drag the block into a display to plot the order cut.

Moving the Processing cursor on the color map will cause the order to update in the display with the correspond order cut. It is an interactive cursor.

It is also possible to set the offset for the order cursor. Double click on the order cursor to specify an offset.

Figure 14: Setting an offset on an order cursor.

Using processing cursors makes interacting with easy and intuitive!

Conclusion

Understanding the parameters behind order section processing is important to ensure that the data is meaningful, and that comparison of multiple order sections is valid.

 

Questions? Email scott.beebe@siemens.com, post a reply, or contact Siemens Support Center.

 

Related Links:

• Index of Testing Knowledge Articles
• What is an order?
• Torsional Vibration: What is it?
• Zebra Tape Butt Joint Correction for Torsional Vibrations
• Balancing: Static, Coupled, and Dynamic
• Removing Spikes from RPM Signals
• Measuring RPM: Missing Pulse Compensation
• Simcenter Testlab: Colormap Displays
• Interpreting Colormaps
• Recalculating Levels with Orders Removed
• Angle Domain Analysis
• Simcenter Testlab Combustion Analysis
• Digital Signal Processing: Sampling Rates, Bandwidth, Spectral Lines, and more...
• RPM Calculation problems and Laser Tachometers
• Simcenter Testlab Signature
• Fixed Sampling versus Synchronous Sampling
• Simcenter Testlab: Cursor Tips and Tricks
• Simcenter Testlab: Interactive order cursor!
• Simcenter Testlab: Order Cursor vs Time in Colormap
• Record Raw CANBUS Data and Decode Offline!
• RPM Extraction in Simcenter Testlab
• Simcenter Testlab: Switching Frequencies and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Signals
• Simcenter Testlab: Calculating Angular Difference
• Rotating Machinery Dynamics Seminar
• Rotating Machinery YouTube Playlist