IBT Industrial Maintenance Technologies Department (IMT) has a good reputation of saving clients money and downtime. Field balancing provides the capability of balancing rotating equipment without disassembling the machine to take the out of balance part to a shop for repair. This means machine is balanced in its operating state, at running speed, and in its surrounding structure.

Recently, IMT was called to balance an air handler fan that supplies the intensive care surgery rooms of a local hospital. In this case, removing the fan wheel and taking it to a balancer was not an option. Losing air conditioning in these rooms for a prolonged amount of time would be disastrous, given the critical nature of a surgical environment.

Removing the fan assembly would have been a major procedure due to the placement of the unit, which was installed in the ceiling above the surgery room along with all the network wiring, plumbing and all the stuff that makes the medical building operate. Even with time permitting, removing this particular unit would have been a major job due to the tight space and location. IMT’s capability to keep the unit in place allowed them rebalance the equipment and complete the procedure in a small window of time between surgeries, with no interruptions in the hospital’s schedule.

Field balancing also plays an extensive role on equipment which is too large to remove and place in a conventional balance stand. Large power plant fans, car shredders, and large rotating equipment benefit from field balancing due to pure size.

Precisely balanced rotating machinery has many advantages, including consistent and smooth operation, increased bearing life, and less dynamic load on machinery components and structures. All that adds up to longer machine life and ultimately less maintenance and repair cost and lower machine downtime.

Dynamic balancing is just one of the many maintenance and repair services offered by the IMT. Contact Leo Simbeck for a quote on dynamic balancing, laser alignment, bearing installation, vibration analysis or infrared scanning.