BALANCING OF ROTATING

MASSES

Dept. of Mechanical
Engineering

INTRODUCTION
In machines rotating parts are very common. Because of the non-homogeneity of the material
used and deflections of the shafts, the center of gravity of most of them, do not coincide with the axis of
rotation. In such a situation the rotor is said to be in a state of unbalance.
As a result of this the rotor will undergo a centrifugal acceleration, which would need a force.
This force is proportional to the square of the speed of the rotation. This will produce undesirable
vibrations which will cause to high internal stresses in parts and the reactions in bearings will go high.
And also the shaft (which involves in rotation) could get bend or could be get fractured in high speed
rotation. Therefore balancing of rotating items is very essential in machines.

THEORY
If a set of masses had to be balanced, then the inertia forces acting on the rotor must be in
equilibrium. For a set of forces in equilibrium, the vector sum of the forces should be zero and as well as
the vector sum of couples. This phenomenon implies that the force polygon and the couple polygon
engaged with the force system should be closed.
For a closed force polygon
mr

= 0;

mr=0

(as

where , m mass , r radius , angular velocity

is a constant for the concerned instance and common

for all forces)

for a closed couple polygon
mr

l = 0 ;

where , m mass , r radius , angular velocity

l Distance from the reference point.

mr l = 0

(as

common for all forces)

is a constant for the concerned instance and

PROCEDURE
Force polygon
Draw the first two lines using the given data. Draw the first line horizontally and magnitude 67mm
(take the scale as; mr product, 1 unit = 1 mm). Mark it as AB. Then draw the second line BC with
the angle of 700 (anticlockwise) to AB and the length is 84mm.T hen by using compass draw an arc with
the distance of 88 mm from the point C. draw another arc from the point A with the distance of 92 mm.
mark the intersecting point as D.
Couple polygon
Similarly use the given data and draw the first line of the couple polygon .The distance of the first
rotor is zero. That means it is a point and the initial point of the polygon.Point it as A. Draw the first line
with the product of mrl (scale is product mrl ; 20 units = 1 mm) and the angle relative to
horizontal is 700. You can obtain the other two angles of the 3 rd and 4th rotors from the force polygon.
Using those angles complete the couple polygon.
You can obtain the distances of the 3rd and 4th rotors relative to the rotor 1, using the couple polygon.
Then by using the ruler and the other necessary equipment arrange the system and observe the
system when rotating and when it is not rotating. You can inspect the balancing of dynamic and static
respectively.

DISCUSSION
Balancing of rotating masses is very essential in mechanical applications. Because, most of the
wastages of energy in machines are occurred due to vibration.Most of the times the vibrations occurred
due to the unbalance of the rotating parts. Preventing unnecessary vibration as much as possible is very
essential in machines. Because, the energy wastages are not very healthy in economic aspects.
Not only the energy wastages but also the inefficiency of the machine will go high due to these
unbalances. And also because of the unbalance forces there will be wearing of the parts at the joints.
And there will be a high reaction forces at the bearing joints and it will cause to damage the bearings.
That means all the machining process could get blocked. These effects are not good for the machine and
as well as the manufacturing process where the machine is involved. By balancing the masses and get
the vibration in to an acceptable level, we could prevent those unnecessary effects. Therefore balancing
is a very important in industry.
However balancing is not always necessary in industry. That does depend on the situation. As an
example when the cost of the balancing is much higher than the maintenance cost, balancing is not a
good decision. And also it is not necessary to balance all the vibrations like small vibrations. In present
there exists a conventional percentage of vibration which is acceptable in machines. Another fact is if
the life time of the machine is about to expire, attempts to balance is just a money wastage. Also when
comparing with the cost of balancing and the profit gain, if the profit is comparatively not going
considerably high the balancing is not much useful. Those are some examples for the situations which
are not necessary to balance the rotating parts. Engineers have to concern about those facts also when
planning to balance the rotating parts.
When checking the static and dynamic balance of the system after do the balancing could be
done in the following manner.
~ Static balance
After arranging the rotors, the system should be in balance for any position. Once we rotate the
shaft and stop somewhere the system should be in balance at that position.
~ Dynamic balance
When the system is rotating there should not be any considerable vibration of the system.