Abstract: Conventional monitoring on the operation parameters of thrust bearing is limited to oil temperature, pad temperature, oil film pressure and film thickness. The important parameters including thrust runner undulation, degree and position of thrust pad non-levelness, degree and position of non-perpendicularity between thrust runner and main shaft cannot be obtained. In view of this, a novel online vibration monitoring system for thrust bearing is proposed. The system is expounded in details, the key technologies of data processing are given, and the quantitative descriptions of thrust bearing’s status are obtained. The system has application and popularization value with strong versatility and high precision.

Key words: turbine generator, thrust bearing, online vibration monitoring