Bently Nevada Orbit 60 Machinery Protection System

Overview

The Bently Nevada Orbit 60 Series is the newest machinery protection and condition monitoring platform from Bently Nevada, a Baker Hughes business, and the fifth generation of full-featured protection systems after the 5000, 7200, 3300 and 3500 Series. Baker Hughes developed it from more than 200 customer engagements, which identified three priorities: cybersecure protection and condition monitoring in one system, lower installation cost through smaller and more flexible hardware, and easier movement of data between machinery monitoring and process control. The result is a 3U, 19-inch chassis that holds 60 or more channels, which Baker Hughes says is roughly the channel count of a 3500 rack in about half the space.

Seven Star LLC supplies the Bently Nevada Orbit 60 to operators of turbines, compressors, pumps and generators across Oman and the GCC. Many regional plants already run 3500 racks, and our engineers in Muscat help customers plan new Bently Nevada Orbit 60 installations, expansions and migrations, matching modules to the existing sensors and to the protection philosophy of each machine train.

Operating Principle

Orbit 60 separates its functions into dedicated modules. Input modules condition signals from proximity probes, accelerometers, velocity sensors, LVDTs, RTDs, thermocouples and process transmitters. The Protection Processing Module (PPM) evaluates alarm and danger setpoints and drives SIL-rated relay outputs, with one PPM typically handling 32 dynamic and hundreds of static points and multiple PPMs supported for larger channel counts or redundancy. Condition Monitoring Modules (CMMs) process waveforms and spectra at the edge, inside the rack, and pass data to System 1 and Cordant Asset Health software for diagnostics by machinery engineers.

Three technologies define the Bently Nevada Orbit 60. Orbit aXess is a patented circuit design that lets protection and condition monitoring share the same rack and I/O while data moves only from protection to condition monitoring, never back, so users keep full configuration access to condition monitoring without exposing the protection layer. Orbit Xtend links chassis through a virtual digital backplane over copper or fibre, allowing two chassis and up to 65 dynamic channels to operate as one rack with chassis up to 2 km apart. Orbit conneX provides bi-directional digital communication so one interface can publish alarms and values to the control system and bring process data into condition monitoring.

Engineering Design of the Bently Nevada Orbit 60

The chassis measures about 19 by 5.2 by 9.7 inches and can be panel mounted with integral clamps, fitted to 19-inch EIA rails or bulkhead mounted. Each module has a public side for day-to-day access to buffered outputs and status LEDs and a utility side where field wiring is terminated, with buffered outputs and LEDs repeated on both. The system runs from standard +24 V dc instrument power in simplex or redundant form, and a physical keylock adds local security. Baker Hughes lists global Division 2 and Zone 2 hazardous area approvals.

The Bently Nevada Orbit 60 module range includes a Power Input Module, System Interface Module, Protection Processing Module, Condition Monitoring Module, Communications Gateway Module with Modbus TCP and EGD protocols, a Bridge Module for distributed chassis, four-channel Dynamic Input Modules, a four-channel High-Speed Keyphasor Input Module recommended above 12,000 rpm, a four-channel AC LVDT module, six-channel Static Input Modules, eight-channel Recorder Output Modules and eight-relay Relay Output Modules in solid-state or electromechanical versions. Configuration is done in Orbit Studio, which supports offline configuration and live data checks during factory acceptance testing.

Key Features

The Bently Nevada Orbit 60 offers the following capabilities for critical machinery.

• 3U, 19-inch chassis holding 60 or more channels, saving panel space compared with earlier platforms.
• Protection functions independent of condition monitoring, designed to meet SIL-2 requirements and API 670 module failure limits.
• Patented Orbit aXess technology isolating the protection network from the condition monitoring network.
• Orbit Xtend virtual backplane linking chassis up to 2 km apart to reduce field wiring.
• Orbit conneX bi-directional digital integration with control systems and historians.
• Inputs for proximity, velocity, acceleration, dynamic pressure, LVDT, RTD, thermocouple, discrete and process signals.
• SIL-rated relay outputs and fully programmable recorder outputs in 4-20 mA, 1-5 V dc or 0-10 V dc.
• Edge condition monitoring feeding System 1 and Cordant Asset Health software.

Industrial Applications

The Bently Nevada Orbit 60 is aimed at the same critical machinery that 3500 racks protect today: gas and steam turbines, centrifugal and reciprocating compressors, large pumps, gearboxes, generators and motors. In Oman this means gas compression and injection trains in the interior fields, LNG and petrochemical compressors in Sur and Sohar, turbine generators at independent power plants and large seawater pumps at desalination plants. Projects often combine the system with proximity transducers such as the Bently Nevada 3300 XL 8mm proximity transducer system and compare it with an expansion of the existing Bently Nevada 3500 machinery protection system.

Seven Star LLC supports these users with model selection and sourcing support from Muscat, covering sensors, monitors and spare modules for both new Bently Nevada Orbit 60 systems and installed 3500 racks, including modules such as the Bently Nevada 3500/42M proximitor seismic monitor, for customers in Oman and the GCC.

Technical Specifications

The Bently Nevada Orbit 60 information below is summarised from the Baker Hughes Orbit 60 Series brochure. Detailed ratings for each module are given in the individual Baker Hughes datasheets.

How to Order

Send your formal RFQ for the Bently Nevada Orbit 60 to Seven Star LLC with the machine train details, channel counts, sensor types and relay and communication requirements. Our instrumentation division in Muscat will help define the module list, coordinate delivery across Oman and the GCC, and share the Baker Hughes brochure available for download on this page. Contact our engineering team to plan your Bently Nevada Orbit 60 protection and condition monitoring project.