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Rotating Shaft Monitoring

Hydropower Niagara Falls Pilot Opportunity

The Challenge

The New York Power Authority required a scalable, non-invasive, and cost-effective method for early detection of vibration-related anomalies in rotating equipment such as turbine shafts and wicket gates. Traditional vibration monitoring tools (e.g., proximity probes, accelerometers) had proven too costly.

Benchmarking structural dynamic technology against the GE Bentley Nevada Proximity Probe on a hydropower turbine.

The Innovation

Sensatek deployed a video-based measurement and analysis system using network cameras and later, iPhones, to capture and extract frequency data using Phase-Based Motion Magnification (PBMM). Key techniques included:

  • Modal coordinate calibration to match camera data with proximity probe measurements
  • Fractal Dimension (FD) analysis to highlight structural irregularities
  • Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Blind Source Separation (BSS) to extract mode shapes from vibration patterns
  • Development of real-time cloud dashboards for visualizing time series and frequency data
Measuring the structural dynamics of hydropower turbine using iphone to detect mode shape, natural frequency, and damping ratio.

Rapid Pivot to Smartphone Technology

Due to hardware and connectivity limitations with industrial cameras, Sensatek innovated further, developing a smartphone-based alternative using iPhone 13 Pro Max. This portable, user-friendly system:

  • Captured deflection shapes in rotating shafts and wicket gates
  • Allowed maintenance teams to instantly identify problem areas
  • Avoided the complexity of permanent sensor installations
Measuring the structural dynamics of hydropower balance of plant equipment such as compressor using iphone to detect mode shape, natural frequency, and damping ratio.

Outcomes & Commercialization Results

Validation Against Proximity Probes:

Camera-based displacement measurements showed strong correlation with traditional sensors, accurately identifying shaft rotational frequency and peak-to-peak displacement.

Maintenance Team Buy-In

Teams preferred PBMM’s visual diagnostics over conventional vibration tools. The method required no technical calibration and clearly showed which gate or shaft was vibrating abnormally—all from a short video clip.

Cost Savings Potential:

A predictive maintenance strategy using PBMM could save NYPA an estimated $1.5 million annually, with a 10-year NPV of $10.54 million. Avoiding just one major failure ($500K–$1M) annually could boost ROI above $15 million.

Expanded Use Cases:

Maintenance teams identified additional high-value targets: compressors, water pumps, balance-of-plant motors, and shafts. The system proved effective even for diagnosing looseness, misalignment, and shaft imbalance in auxiliary equipment.

User-Centric Adoption Strategy:

By focusing on showing visual evidence of faults instead of just numbers, Sensatek overcame cultural barriers around sensor adoption. “Seeing is believing” became the driver of trust and deployment.

Conducting customer discovery to facilitate technology commercialization for a structural dynamics of hydropower turbine using fixed cameras to detect mode shape, natural frequency, and damping ratio.

Scalable Commercialization Impact

Sensetek’s technology is innovative in nature and could lead to monitoring and trending methods that aid in the long-term maintenance of generation assets – Steven Wilkie, Dir., R&D at the New York Power Authority

Viable Applications:

  • Utilities and power generation (hydro, wind, thermal)
  • Manufacturing and heavy industrial facilities
  • Smart cities and building infrastructure
  • Aerospace and turbomachinery

Want This Technology in Your Facility?

We help commercialize field-validated technologies that transform maintenance and reliability practices. Contact us to learn how we can deploy smartphone-based video analytics for your rotating equipment and structural health monitoring needs.