ME Explorer

Analyze your measurements

V1.8.3

Table of contents
1.

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

2.

MENUS......................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.1.
2.2.
2.3.

FILE ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
SETTINGS .............................................................................................................................................. 6
RECIEVE ............................................................................................................................................... 7

3.

TOOLBAR ................................................................................................................................................... 9

4.

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

4.1.
4.2.

5.

DATABASE TREE ................................................................................................................................. 11

LIST WINDOW ..................................................................................................................................... 12

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.
7.2.

8.

REFERENCE LEVEL ALARM................................................................................................................. 22

VIBRATION LEVEL ALARM ................................................................................................................. 22

EXAMPLES ............................................................................................................................................... 24
8.1.
8.2.
8.3.

TRANSFERRING DATA FROM THE ME INSTRUMENT............................................................................. 24

SAVING A TRANSFERRED MEASUREMENT TO THE DATABASE .............................................................. 25
OPENING A MEASUREMENT FROM FILE................................................................................................ 26

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1.

Choosing a database on first time startup

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 folder
together with the program.

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Choosing a database on first time startup

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2.

Menus

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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Menus

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 ME
Explorer folder.
Select Language. To select program language, click Select Language and then choose which
language 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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Menus

2.3. Recieve
On 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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Menus

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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3.

Toolbar

Toolbar

Open measurement from file

Export measurement to file

Select Database

Select Language

Enable Deletion

Select Unit

Recieve Data

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Toolbar

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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4.

Navigating the database

Navigating the database

4.1. Database tree

A database tree is shown below. The structure of a tree is:
Site (MySite)Factory (MyFactory)Machine (MyMachine)Position
(MyBearing)Point (MyPoint)Measurement type (Evalution, Horisontal etc)
Data

In the database tree, the names of the SiteFactoryMachinePositionPoint 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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Navigating the database

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 window

The 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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5.

Measurements

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. Evaluation
When 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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Measurements

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 alarms
are found in section 8.
Export to file. This command is used to save the
current measurement to file. A window will open
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Measurements

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

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Measurements

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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Measurements

5.2.3. FFT

Available commands:
-

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.

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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Measurements

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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Measurements

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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Measurements

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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6.

Trend

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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7.

Alarms

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.

Reference
Alarm Level

The vibration level exceeds

the alarm level graph and
causes the database tree to
indicate red

FFT spectrum used to

set the Reference
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
Green

Yellow

Alert

Danger
Orange

Red

Vibration level

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Alarms

The alarm levels can be adjusted by right clicking Evaluation in the database tree. Then
choose 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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8.

Examples

Examples

8.1. Transferring data from the ME instrument

To 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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Examples

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 the

database
Right 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.

Measurements that have been received but not added to the database will not be saved when
the program is closed.

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Examples

8.3. Opening a measurement from file

Click 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 files
as 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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