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V1.8.3

ME ExplorerAnalyze your measurements


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Table of contents

1. CHOOSING A DATABASE ON FIRST TIME STARTUP ........................................................ ............ 3

2. MENUS ...................................................... ................................................................. .................................. 5 2.1. FILE ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.2. SETTINGS .............................................................................................................................................. 6 2.3. R ECIEVE ............................................................................................................................................... 7

3. TOOLBAR ................................................................................................................................................... 9

4. NAVIGATING THE DATABASE ................................................................ ........................................... 11

4.1. DATABASE TREE ................................................................................................................................. 11 4.2. LIST WINDOW ..................................................................................................................................... 12

5. MEASUREMENTS ........................................................ ................................................................. .......... 13

5.1. SAVING DATA TO THE DATABASE .............................................................. .......................................... 13

5.2. EVALUATION ...................................................................................................................................... 13 5.2.1. Info .......................................................... ................................................................. ..................... 13 5.2.2. General ............................................................... ................................................................. .......... 16 5.2.3. FFT .......................................................... ................................................................. ..................... 17 5.2.4. Evaluation .......................................................... ................................................................. .......... 18

5.3. MANUAL FFT ..................................................................................................................................... 19 5.3.1. Info .......................................................... ................................................................. ..................... 19 5.3.2. Manual FFT ....................................................... ................................................................. .......... 19

5.4. BALANCING ........................................................................................................................................ 20 5.4.1. Info .......................................................... ................................................................. ..................... 20 5.4.2. Balance ............................................................... ................................................................. .......... 20

6. TREND ....................................................................................................................................................... 21

7. ALARMS .............................................................. ................................................................. ..................... 22

7.1. R EFERENCE LEVEL ALARM................................................................................................................. 22 7.2. VIBRATION LEVEL ALARM ................................................................................................................. 22

8. EXAMPLES ............................................................................................................................................... 24

8.1. TRANSFERRING DATA FROM THE ME INSTRUMENT............................................................................. 24 8.2. SAVING A TRANSFERRED MEASUREMENT TO THE DATABASE .............................................................. 25 8.3. OPENING A MEASUREMENT FROM FILE................................................................................................ 26


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ME Explorer Choosing a database on first time startup

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1. Choosing a database on first time startup

On the first time startup the program will inquire whether a new database for measurement

data should be created. If a new database should be created, the program will ask for name

and location of this database.

If a new database should not be created, the program will ask for an existing database to be

selected.

An example database, Exempeldb.mdb, is automatically installed in the ME Explorer foldertogether with the program.


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ME Explorer Choosing a database on first time startup

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ME Explorer Menus

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2. Menus

There are three menus available in ME Explorer: File, Settings and Receive. Each menu is

described below.

2.1. File

On the File menu the commands Open file and Create database are found.Open file will allow an existing datafile to be opened. Files with the suffix .mef, which are

files created in ME Explorer can be opened. Also older files with the suffix .m42 are

supported.

Create database opens a new blank database.


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ME Explorer Menus

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2.2. Settings

On the Settings menu the commands Select Database, Select Language, Enable Deletion and

Select Unit are available.

Select Database. Click Select Database and choose which database that should be opened. An

example database “exampledb.mbd” is automatically installed with the program in the MEExplorer folder.

Select Language. To select program language, click Select Language and then choose whichlanguage to use.

Enable Deletion enables the delete function in the database. An object can not be deleted from

the database without first activating this function. When the deletion is enabled, the delete

function will be displayed when right clicking an object in the database.

Select Unit . Under Select Unit the choice can be made whether data should be presented in

metric or imperial units.


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ME Explorer Menus

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2.3. RecieveOn the Receive menu the functions Select COM-Port and Receive Data are available.

Select COM-Port . Using this command a COM-port can be selected for transferring data from

the ME instrument to ME Explorer.

Receive data. When this command is used, ME Explorer is prepared for receiving data from

the ME instrument. The transfer can be cancelled any time by clicking the “Cancel” button.


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ME Explorer Menus

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When recieving data, time, date and measurement type are shown.

To transfer data, the ME instrument must be connected to the computer serial- or USB

connection. The transfer is started by choosing the command Send on the instrument Setup

menu.


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ME Explorer Toolbar

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3. Toolbar

Open measurement from file Export measurement to file

Select Database Select Language

Enable Deletion Select Unit

Recieve Data


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ME Explorer Toolbar

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In addition to these functions there is also the possibility to export a measurement to file. This

function is found on the Info tab when a measurement is highlighted in the list window as

below (see also chapter 5.2)


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ME Explorer Navigating the database

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4. Navigating the database

4.1. Database treeA database tree is shown below. The structure of a tree is:

Site (” MySite”)→Factory (” My Factory”)→Machine (” My Machine”)→Position

(” My Bearing”)→Point (” My Point”)→Measurement type (” Evalution” , ” Horisontal” etc)

→Data

In the database tree, the names of the Site→Factory→Machine→Position→Point nodes are

optional while the structure and the measurement types are pre-set.

1. Evaluation – Machine evaluations.

2. Horizontal – Manual FFT horizontal direction.

3. Vertical – Manual FFT vertical direction.

4. Axial – Manual FFT axial direction.

5.

Balance – Balancing data


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ME Explorer Navigating the database

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By right clicking a node in the database tree the commands for the respective nodes are

accessed.

1. Site – Rename, Copy, Paste if the copy command has been used, Add Site, Add

Factory plus Delete Site if deletion is enabled.

2.

Factory – Rename, Copy, Paste if the copy command has been used, Add Factory, Add Machine plus Delete Factory if deletion is enabled.

3. Machine – Rename, Copy, Paste if the copy command has been used, Add Machine,

Add Position plus Delete Machine if deletion is enabled.

4. Position – Rename, Copy, Paste if the copy command has been used, Add Position,

Add Point plus Delete Position if deletion is enabled.

5. Point – Rename, Copy, Delete Point if deletion is enabled and Add Measurement if

there is a received measurement that is not yet added to the database.

6. Evaluation – Trend ,View/Change Setup Alarm Levels

The Copy command needs to be executed before the Paste command on a node.

The command Add Measurement can only be used in the node Point if there is a copied

measurement. The program automatically select in what measurement category the

measurement shall be saved. The user must select direction when saving a manual FFT.

When clicking a measurement type (Evaluation, Horizontal etc), the existing measurements

below this node in the tree will be shown in the list window.

4.2. List windowThe list window has two tabs, Database and

Received. When opening a file, the Received tab will

be replaced by File.

On the Database tab, the measurements saved under

the highlighted measurement type are shown. On

Received, the measurements transferred from the ME

instrument are shown. The measurements shown here

are not yet saved in the database tree. On File, the

measurements in the loaded file are shown.

When right clicking a measurement on the Database tab, the following alternatives are

available: Copy and Delete if deletion is enabled.

There are no commands in the Received and File tabs.


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ME Explorer Measurements

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5. Measurements

Three types of measurements can be saved in the program, Evaluation , Manual FFT/Demod

and Balancing. When clicking a measurement in the list window, the measurement data will be displayed in the window to the right.

5.1. Saving data to the database

To save data to the database, right click a measurement in the list window and click Copy.

Then right click the selected Point in the database tree (i.e. MyPoint in the example database)

and click Add Measurement . The data is now saved also after the program is closed.

5.2. EvaluationWhen clicking an Evaluation, the following tabs will be available in the window to the right:

Info, General, Horizontal FFT, Vertical FFT, Axial FFT and Evaluation.

5.2.1. Info

On the Info tab, measurement type, time, date and a description are available.


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The description can be changed by clicking the Edit Description button and entering a new

description in the window that opens.

To submit the new description, click Set Description, or click Cancel to keep the old one.

Set As Reference sets the current measurement as an Reference Level Alarm for this specific

point of measurement. When setting a measurement as alarm reference, the amplitude margin

and RevolutionsPerMinute margin must also be entered. The amplitude margin defines how

much the amplitude may exceed the current amplitude at a certain frequency. The RPM

margin defines how much the machine RPM can be expected to deviate from the current

RPM.

The example to the left will result in an alarm

reference graph that has 10% larger values than the

current measurement and an allowed machine

speed deviation of 150 RPM.

When using the Reference Level Alarm,

measurements that exceed the reference level will

be marked as red. Further information about alarmsare found in section 8.

Export to file. This command is used to save thecurrent measurement to file. A window will open


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where the name and location of the file must be submitted. See example below.


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5.2.2. General

General. On this tab information about machine RPM, temperature, vibration levels and

bearing condition are found.

Copy To Clipboard copies the measurement data to the clipboard for use in e.g. MS Office

programs.


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5.2.3. FFT

Available commands:

-

Zoom. To zoom in an area, left click a starting point in the FFT graph, hold the buttondown and drag the mouse so that the square includes the area to be viewed.

- Enable Marker . This command enables a marker that indicates the peaks in the FFT

spectra. To view the data for a specific peak, enable the marker and left click the peak.

- The buttons FFT 300 Hz, Demod g-1500 Hz and FFT 12 200 Hz shows the respective

spectrum.

- Copy To Clipboard copies the spectrum to the clipboard as a BMP file for use in e.g.

MS Office programs.


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5.2.4. Evaluation

Evaluation. On this tab the evaluation results including vibration levels and possible machine

defects are presented.

Copy To Clipboard copies the text to the clipboard.


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5.3. Manual FFT

5.3.1. Info

Time and date when data was collected is presented on this tab. For a description of the buttons, see chapter 6.2.1.

5.3.2. Manual FFT

Here the FFT graph is displayed.

Copy To Clipboard copies the spectrum to the clipboard as a BMP file for use in e.g. MS

Office programs.


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5.4. Balancing (only ME52)

5.4.1. Info

Measurement type, time, date and description of the measurement are available here.

5.4.2. Balance

Data from the Reference Run, Trial Run and the final Balancing Results are presented here.


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ME Explorer Trend

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6. Trend

If there is more than one evaluation done on the same bearing, the Trend command can be

used. To show the trend, right click the bearing and click Trend as shown below.

Below an example is shown:

Zoom. To zoom in an area, left click a starting point in the FFT graph, hold the button down

and drag the mouse so that the square includes the area to be viewed.

Enable Marker . This command enables a marker that indicates the peaks in the FFT spectra.

To view the data for a specific peak, enable the marker and left click the peak.

Copy To Clipboard copies the spectrum to the clipboard as a BMP file for use in e.g. MS

Office programs.


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ME Explorer Alarms

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7. Alarms

There are two types of alarms, Reference Level Alarm and Vibration Level Alarm.

7.1. Reference Level Alarm

The Reference Level Alarm can be used with Evaluation

measurements. This means that the selected evaluation

spectra will be used as a references and measurements that

exceed these references in vibration level will make the

database tree turn red to indicate the alarm level has been

exceeded, as seen in the picture.

The Reference Alarm Level graph will be shown in the

spectrum as a red line enclosing the FFT graph, as shown below.

Also see chapter 6.2.1 for a description of how to set the alarm level.

7.2. Vibration Level Alarm

The Vibration Level Alarm is used to assess vibration levels in evaluation measurements and

covers TOTal vibration level, ISO vibration level, bearing condition L or g. Four levels are

used to categorize machine vibrations:

Warning Alert Danger

Green Yellow Orange Red

Vibration level

Reference

Alarm LevelThe vibration level exceeds

the alarm level graph and

causes the database tree to

indicate redFFT spectrum used to

set the ReferenceAlarm Level


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ME Explorer Alarms

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The alarm levels can be adjusted by right clicking Evaluation in the database tree. Thenchoose View/Change Setup Alarm Levels.

Default values are ISO standard values. Standard levels can be recovered by clicking the Set

To Default button.

If any measurement on the Site exceeds a specified vibration level, this branch of the database

tree will be colored according to the vibration level category (see above), i.e. if a branch is

colored yellow, this means that a warning is issued for at least one measurement point in this

branch.


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ME Explorer Examples

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8. Examples

8.1. Transferring data from the ME instrumentTo transfer measurement data from the ME instrument, first specify to which COM port the

instrument has been connected. To do this, click the Receive menu and then click Select

COM-port .

When the COM port has been selected, click Receive Data in the Receive menu. ME Explorer

now waits for data to be transferred from the instrument. Now enter the Setup menu on the

instrument and click Send.


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When the transfer is done, the recieved measurements are listed on the Received tab in the list

window.

8.2. Saving a transferred measurement to thedatabaseRight click the measurement and click Copy. Then right click the Point in the database tree

where the measurement should be saved and click Add Measurement.

Measur ements that have been r eceived but not added to the database wi ll not be saved whenthe program i s closed.


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8.3. Opening a measurement from fileClick Open File in the File menu or click the Open File icon on the toolbar. The program is

preset to look for files with the suffix .mef (ME Series data files). Older file types with the

suffix .m42 are also supported and can be opened if the file type is changed to M42 data filesas shown below.

Click the file to be opened and then click Open.

The opened measurements are available on the File tab in the list window.

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