Which software should you use
to analyse vibrations?

Why do I need a software to analyse my vibrations?

Simply because it makes your life easier! It is possible to analyse vibrations by using excel or even just by using a pen and a few pieces of paper. But, it will take a lot of time… So by using a piece of software you will not only guarantee the quality of your analysis but also ensure that you save yourself a lot of time!

Before we created VibInspect and the ReLog vibration data logger, we were in the sport where you probably are now: Just about to get started and not to experienced when it comes to analysing vibrations. So we thought we could share some of our accumulated knowledge with you so you can make an educated choice. And, as mentioned above: we have created VibInspect and we are slightly biased towards our software but we still feel that we can be objective and provide some value for you as the reader.

If you have any questions, you are always more than welcome to reach out to us at [email protected]

Free software

When it comes to free software that you can simply download from different companies, we have singled out three alternatives that we believe stand out in the competition that you can use regardless of which vibration data logger you are using. And these are:

VibInspect

To ensure you are able to analyse and interpret the data you’ve just acquired with your vibration data logger, we have developed VibInspect that allows you to perform analyses on the vibration or to convert the measurement data to a file format you can use in your own system. With VibInspect, you can perform the following actions: 

  • Apply several different filters
    • PSD
    • FFT
    • Spectrogram
    • Histogram
    • Trim data to suit your needs
  • View and analyse recorded data
  • Downsample your measurement for easy export
  • Change ReLog settings prior to recording vibrations and configure parameters
  • Export to .wav and .csv format
  • Analyse the vibrations you’ve recorded with the ReLog (or any other data logger were vibrations are saved as .csv or .wav, as long as it is in the right format)
The system requirement that is needed to run the software are: 
  • Windows 7 or later versions
  • Memory: 8 GB (minimum), 16 GB (recommended)
  • Processor: 64 bit required

Endaq Lab

Endaq has built a really neat and easy-to-use software that is a good choice when it comes to visualise vibrations to start off your analysis. You can later apply the same type of analysis as with VibInspect: PSD, FFT, and Spectrogram.

Vibration data Toolbox

Tom Irvine has built an extensive Matlab application which contains a massive amount of analysis features, a lot more than VibInspect and Endaq Lab provides. It does on the other hand require that you have Matlab installed on your computer. But once you are there, Tom makes the entire source code available for you, and if you want to make any alterations yourself you are to do so.