• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Pruftechnik Blog

  • Pruftechnik.com
  • Contact Us
  • Pruftechnik YouTube

blogpruf

4 ways to diagnose and correct shaft misalignment

April 28, 2020 by blogpruf

Technology and advanced tools are enabling maintenance teams to address shaft misalignment faster and easier

Misalignment occurs when two rotating shafts are not parallel to one another, whether it be an offset or an angular gap at the coupling. Machinery misalignment is extremely common in rotating machinery and is typically the root cause of machine failure.

The good news is that today’s technology makes it faster and easier to identify misalignment issues in machinery such as motors, pumps, blowers, and fans. Once it is diagnosed, we have better tools than ever to tackle these challenges, whether simple or complex, and achieve precise machinery alignment.

5 types of misalignment

Misalignment comes in different types and magnitudes. Experts generally agree on five types. Often the alignment issue is a combination of both an angular and offset misalignment, which is called a compound misalignment. Here are the five:

  1. Parallel misalignment happens when the two shafts to be aligned have centerlines parallel to each other, but the centerlines are offset.
  2. Vertical angle misalignment is a misalignment of two shafts in the vertical plane.
  3. Horizontal angle misalignment is a misalignment of two shafts in the horizontal plane.
  4. A combination of a vertical angular and offset misalignment occurs when one shaft is at an angle with another shaft, but both shafts still operate in the same vertical plane.
  5. A combination of a horizontal angular and offset misalignment occurs when one shaft is at an angle with another shaft, but both shafts still operate in the same horizontal plane.

You achieve alignment, under normal conditions, when the positioning of the rotational centers of two or more shafts is arranged in a single straight line, both horizontally and vertically.

shaft_alignment

What causes misalignment?   

These are the main triggers:

  • Settling of a baseplate resulting in soft foot
  • Shaft deformation caused by torsion during startup
  • Insufficient or poor-quality alignment measurements due to human error
  • Pipe strain that leads to parallel and angular misalignment
  • A thermal expansion that can make one piece of equipment move proportionally to another

Misalignment of shaft centerlines can give rise to shaft wobbling and significant vibration, leading to seal damage and bearing and coupling destruction. Identifying misalignment and the underlying causes is imperative if a machine is to reach its expected life.

4 ways to detect shaft alignment issues

  1. Diagnosis via laser shaft alignment system

Checking for shaft misalignment is often the first course of action when a machine starts having a problem. A laser shaft alignment system determines misalignment at the coupling and calculates the appropriate machine movement to be performed at its base. Laser shaft alignment systems provide real-time, accurate, and precise measurements that tell you exactly when alignment is achieved.

Laser systems can be either dual or single laser types. However, a dual laser alignment system is not as capable as a single laser system. Often, technicians find it hard to maintain the line to the detector when trying to correct an angular misalignment. Unfortunately, as the measurement distance increases, so does the difficulty. As a result, technicians must restart measurements that require them to stop, loosen the feet, move the machine, and retighten the feet—all with no guarantee that the detector will then be in range. With every repeat, process time increases, and the potential for error grows.

A single laser alignment system removes all of the dual laser system’s problems. It addresses most any shaft alignment challenge, whether it’s straightforward or complex, such as a vertical flanged machine with right-angle gearboxes. A single laser system leverages two optical detector planes in a single sensor, eliminating the technician’s need to stop, loosen, and retighten feet, or repeat measurements. Single-laser technology enables precise, swift completion of alignment tasks.

  1. Vibration analysis

Because of the speed at which modern data collectors can process triaxial sensor signals, vibration monitoring and analysis are becoming more commonplace. Every machine has its level of normal vibration, but there are instances when machine vibration increases or exceeds acceptable parameters.

Some of the reasons for vibration increases include looseness, resonance, unbalance, and of course, misalignment. Vibration is most often measured by using accelerometers, followed by proximity sensors or velocity transducers. Once these signals are acquired with a data collector and sensors, a vibration analyst can further diagnose the machine faults.

  1. Thermography

Thermography can provide early detection of alignment issues by identifying abnormal hot spots. Misalignment can cause an increase in friction within a machine and, therefore, an increase in temperature. A thermal imager detects and measures an object’s infrared energy and turns the infrared data into an electronic image showing the object’s apparent surface temperature.

  1. Oil analysis

When an abnormal condition or parameter is identified through oil analysis, immediate actions can be taken to identify the root cause or to act on the emerging failure.  Oil analysis can help detect misalignment by providing the general condition of an asset, oil, and contaminants. Oil analysis can be complicated; as a result, many organizations use specialty companies to do the work.

Misalignment causes a variety of symptoms and severe machinery issues. Implementing a preventive maintenance routine to verify precise machinery alignment will save money and time. By keeping shafts aligned, you also improve energy efficiency, increase uptime, and maximize production output.

Learn more about misalignment and how to correct it by reading this white paper.

 

Filed Under: Shaft Alignment

Adaptive alignment: How to solve virtually any shaft alignment challenge

April 28, 2020 by blogpruf

Maintenance leaders are demanding alignment systems that can adapt to their assets, challenges, and teams

From basic alignment jobs to more complex and difficult tasks, maintenance teams regularly face unique alignment challenges. Because machines and their misalignment problems vary greatly, teams today require hardware and software alignment systems that adapt to virtually any situation in the field.

They also need tools that adjust to the experience and skill levels of different team members – especially as veteran employees move on or retire, and newcomers assume their duties.

With adaptive alignment, that’s exactly what they get. Adaptive alignment is a strategic complement of features designed to provide maintenance teams with a complete solution to meet just about any challenge, from an asset, situation, or user skill level.

Alignment systems with adaptive features maximize production time and minimize unplanned downtime, all without sacrificing ease of use.

 

New levels of accuracy and speed

Adaptive features, such as those in the PRUFTECHNIK line of industry-leading alignment systems, eliminate human error while delivering new levels of accuracy and speed. The next-generation laser shaft alignment technology in PRUFTECHNIK tools is made possible by two essential underlying innovations: Single-Laser Technology and Active Situational Intelligence.

Here’s a look at both:

  • Single-Laser Technology. With a single-laser system, users have just one sensor and one laser to set up. Not only is this faster, but it eliminates the many frustrations and risk of inaccuracies that occur when working with two lasers firing in opposite directions. Single-Laser Technology enables rapid completion of alignment tasks and improves precision.
  • Active Situational Intelligence (ASI). This software provides maintenance teams with real-time, actionable intelligence. It’s situationally aware and delivered as work is being done. It dynamically reacts to everything involved in the alignment process and uses predictive intelligence to enable technicians to evaluate different possible courses of action before embarking on the time-consuming task of moving a machine.

By leveraging these two advanced technologies, maintenance teams can deliver on the promise of adaptive alignment in all three critical areas common to every alignment task: the asset, the situation, and the maintenance team.

  • Adapting to the asset. Basic laser alignment systems are not engineered to support the broad range of critical rotating asset types and can be difficult to use with them. This makes for a costly and time-consuming problem for plants that rely on those assets or on certain specialized but common asset configurations. When laser alignment systems support the widest range of assets and configurations—as adaptive alignment systems do—they eliminate manual workarounds and inaccuracy problems common to non-adaptive systems.
  • Adapting to the situation. Perhaps the strongest attribute of adaptive alignment is Active Situational Intelligence software, with its ability to adjust to many different variables – including degree of rotation angle, speed, and evenness — while delivering a smooth, rapid, and accurate alignment experience. That enables technicians of all skill levels to take high-quality measurements just by following the steps and tips displayed on the screen. ASI evaluates many quality factors simultaneously in real time and provides instantaneous feedback. Included among those factors are common issues such as instant coupling backlash filtering and environmental vibration.
  • Adapting to the team. Adaptive alignment has the intelligence to discard many errors a technician may inadvertently make. It utilizes analytics in real time, removing the incorrect data. With basic laser alignment systems, both experienced and inexperienced technicians often obtain different results. Adaptive systems unlock team capacity: even if an inexperienced technician is doing the alignment, the system corrects common errors to enable the technician to obtain the same high-quality results as a more experienced engineer.

 

Shaft alignment is one of the most important factors in asset life, cost of operation, and ultimate value to the business. That’s why maintenance leaders are demanding alignment systems that are more complete and can adapt to their assets, their alignment challenges, and their team capacity. This is the thinking behind the PRUFTECHNIK adaptive alignment systems from Fluke Reliability.

Learn more about the Adaptive Alignment concept and feature set in PRUFTECHNIK systems in this white paper.

Filed Under: Adaptive Alignment

View machine condition data from across the planet with remote monitoring software

April 27, 2020 by blogpruf

A key benefit of online condition monitoring tools for rotating equipment is the ability to view data from anywhere. For instance, a company with locations in different continents can share vibration analysis and balancing data reports with its field workers and partners throughout the world.

Devices such as the PRUFTECHNIK VIBGUARD, VIBRONET Signalmaster, and VIBSCANNER 2 employ Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) capabilities that allow collected data to be pushed to digital dashboards, HMI systems, and email notifications. Plant managers, engineers, vibration analysts, and technicians can check machine health from their PC or mobile device at home or in the office. Real-time data helps teams make decisions wherever they are located.

It’s all about the software

 

ONLINE-VIEW_Online-Condition-Monitoring

Several PRUFTECHNIK condition monitoring systems feature OMNITREND Asset View software. OMNITREND Asset View enables data to be sent via the IIoT interface MQTT for global access and remote viewing. This platform is easy to use and configure; it features real asset images and setting measurement points with drag and drop capabilities. You can also reset alarm modes remotely.

OMNITREND-CENTER_Online-Condition-Monitoring

The OMNITREND Center, another software application in these devices, also allows data to be shared remotely. After measurement data is collected, it can be downloaded onto a PC and emailed to a maintenance specialist.

With remote access to machine condition data, your team has the flexibility it needs to make better maintenance decisions, avoid unscheduled downtime, and save time and money.

Learn more about PRUFTECHNIK condition monitoring tools and software (pruftechnik.com)

Filed Under: Remote Monitoring

sensALIGN: the secret sauce in PRUFTECHNIK laser shaft alignment systems

April 14, 2020 by blogpruf Leave a Comment

A worn-out bearing may have many causes. But, in most cases, the source of the problem is misalignment. High resilience from the rotatable shaft may result in bearing damage that affects your machines and leads to production inefficiencies.

sensALIGN

PRUFTECHNIK, the inventor of laser shaft alignment solutions, can uncover the underlying issue. Now a division of Fluke Reliability, it has been diagnosing misalignment for more than 35 years.

In this blog post, we shine the spotlight on one of its latest innovations — and a key feature behind its industry-leading ROTALIGN and OPTALIGN tools.

sensALIGN is the laser and sensor measurement technology that is unique and a differentiator in precision shaft alignment. It is available with both ROTALIGN touch and OPTALIGN touch.

Past measurement practices now obsolete

Let’s see how alignment conditions for rotatable machines were analyzed in the past. Measuring by straightedge and dial gauge was the standard. Even today, some specialists still trust in this ancient technology.

It is not incorrect to use straightedge and dial gauge, but it is time-consuming and requires meticulous and skillful personnel when it comes to getting accurate measuring results.

To accurately measure the angularity of a misaligned machine, it takes at least two measurements on a dial gauge. It is extremely important to put distance between the first measuring point and the second one. The further the distance, the more accurate and precise the measurement.

To measure offset, you repeat the measurement in another clock position different from your first two measurement points. As you can see, this job is time-consuming, and for specialists only.

PRUFTECHNIK has made all this redundant with the sensALIGN laser and sensor technology.

Combining two measurements into one

As we just noted, measuring angularity and offset always takes at least two measurements. The sensALIGN technology does it all with a single measurement.

The single laser beam is shot into the sensor center, where it is focused and minimized by an optical lens. A semipermeable mirror splits the laser beam into two, deflecting one beam onto the front detector and the second onto the rear detector.

This distinctive global technology guarantees that the distance between the first and the second measurement point will always be the same, exact distance. The front detector equals the first dial gauge measurement point, while the rear detector equals the second dial gauge measurement point.

Based on this, the distance between the laser and sensor can be either set down to zero millimeters or up to as much as 10 meters.

The high-performance technology guarantees precision and repeatability.

Now, let’s see and understand how precise PRUFTECHNIK’s sensALIGN detectors are. The resolution of each detector is at 0.001 millimeter; that means 1 micrometer.

And since the detector areas are given in x- and y-axis, sensALIGN can measure shaft angularity and offset in one single shaft rotation.

Live Move and Live Trend features

Additionally, the Live Move feature, which enables aligning the machine shaft with the laser and sensor heads mounted to directly control the alignment process, can be started and terminated in any position.

Another special feature that only PRUFTECHNIK provides is Live Trend, based on the x- and y- split detection areas. The sensALIGN laser and sensor technology can record the thermal growth of the machine while it is running.

ROTALIGN touch is featuring the high-performance sensALIGN 7 laser and sensor heads, including all PRUFTECHNIK intelligent shaft-alignment features such as the advanced multi-coupling measurement and Live Move of up to 6 shaft couplings at a time.

OPTALIGN touch is equipped with the powerful sensALIGN 5 laser and sensor technology. This alignment device is a must-have tool for every maintenance workshop.

OPTALIGN can be easily upgraded with a sensALIGN 7 laser and sensor unit for full access to PRUFTECHNIK intelligent alignment features, including alignment of vertical machines and extended cardan shaft features.

For visuals on how sensALIGN works, please watch this PRUFTECHNIK video.

Learn more about ROTALIGN touch and OPTALIGN touch at PRUFTECHNIK.com.

Filed Under: Rotalign Tagged With: laser shaft alignment, sensalign

Footer

Design

With an emphasis on typography, white space, and mobile-optimized design, your website will look absolutely breathtaking.

Learn more about design.

Content

Our team will teach you the art of writing audience-focused content that will help you achieve the success you truly deserve.

Learn more about content.

Strategy

We help creative entrepreneurs build their digital business by focusing on three key elements of a successful online platform.

Learn more about strategy.

Privacy Policy | Fluke terms of use | Terms and conditions of sale | Safety Notices