October 30, 2007 © SKF Group Slide 1

7 Balancing Standards

October 30, 2007 © SKF Group Slide 2

 Tolerances

•International standard ISO 1940 specifies balance quality

requirements for rigid rotors.
•However, it is difficult to apply this standard to field
balancing as it is primarily directed at balancing machine
operation in a workshop or rotor-production environment.
•More typically, field balancing utilizes general vibration
severity standards such as ISO 2372 or other vibration
tolerances as may be dictated by local usage and experience.

October 30, 2007 © SKF Group Slide 3

Tolerances

October 30, 2007 © SKF Group Slide 4

Tolerances

October 30, 2007 © SKF Group Slide 5

 Tolerances Example - ISO 1940 - Rigid Rotors

1. Choose the appropriate balance grade for the machine

being tested using the table in the previous slide. E.g. 2.5
Permissible residual specific unbalance [e per g. mm/kg = μm]

2. Establish the operating speed of the rotor to be balanced

and draw a vertical line on the graph at that speed.

3. Where the vertical line intersects the chosen grade draw a

horizontal line to intersect the Y axis.
G 4 000

G 1600
4. Read off the specific unbalance for the given rotor speed
G 630
and grade. E.g. Grade 2.5 [mm/s] = 8 [μm]
G 250
8 [μm] G 100
5. Multiply by Rotor weight in KG to obtain total gmm
G 40 tolerance for rotor (e.g. 8 x1800 = 14,400 gmm)
G 16

G 6.3 6. If necessary, divide this between planes, taking into

G 2.5 account rotor symmetry

G1

G 0.4
3000 [cpm] G 0.16

Operating speed [c.p.m.]

October 30, 2007 © SKF Group Slide 6
From ISO 1940 – Mechanical vibration – balance quality
requirements for rotors in a constant (rigid) state

Machine examples Grade Magnitude e per Ω mm/s

Crankshafts for large, slow reciprocating G 4000 4000

machines e.g. marine diesels - unbalanced

Crankshafts for large, slow reciprocating G 1600 1600

machines e.g. marine diesels - balanced

Flexible crank shafts G 630 630

Rigid crank shafts G 250 250

Large automotive & railway engines G 100 100

Car wheels, general vehicle crank shafts G 40 40

General drive shafts, rotors G 16 16

Gas turbines, large electric motors, fans, G 6.3 6.3

gears, pumps, hydraulic machines

Small electric motors, machine tool drives, G 2.5 2.5

generators

Fine machine tools, computer drives, video G1 1

drives

High precision machines e.g. gyroscopes G 0.4 0.4

October 30, 2007 © SKF Group Slide 7

[Internal Use Only]

 Balancing standards

• ISO1940 : Balance quality requirements of rigid rotors

• ISO 10814 : Suspectibility and sensitivity of machines to

unbalance

• ISO 1925 : Balancing vocabulary

• ISO 8821 : Shaft and fitment key convention

• ISO 11342 : Balance quality requirements for flexible rotors

October 30, 2007 © SKF Group Slide 8

ISO 1940 Balancing formulas

F = m×a = m×²×r = M××²

->  = (m×r)/M in g×mm/kg = µm

Allowed residual imbalance : mr = (×M)/r

Testweight = M×r×² = M×r×(2××f)²

October 30, 2007 © SKF Group Slide 9

Different Results

October 30, 2007 © SKF Group Slide 10

October 30, 2007 © SKF Group Slide 11