Pruftechnik Blog

Adaptive Alignment

How to align film extruders prior to installing an extruder screw

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By Spencer Thomas 

Correctly installing an extruder screw requires a tightly aligned extruder barrel and gearbox shaft. Follow these instructions to detect and correct misalignment and create a common axis between the barrel and gearbox shaft.

Figure 1 shows a film extruder prepped for initial measurement using the ROTALIGN Ultra, its bore measurement software package and it’s CENTRALIGN Ultra hardware package.

The measurement process assumes that the center of the end of the barrel closest to the gearbox is coincident with the axis of the gearbox shaft. This assumption is justified due to the tight tolerance fit between these two components and the registration geometry that ensures proper mating between these components.

Aligning the gearbox to the barrel requires determining if the center of the end of the barrel furthest from the gearbox is coincident with the axis of the shaft.

Figure 1: film extruder set up for initial measurement using the ROTALIGN Ultra iS.

Figure 1: Film extruder set up for initial measurement using the ROTALIGN Ultra.

Determining film extruder misalignment

To determine how far the center of the barrel is offset from the gearbox axis, mount a laser to the shaft, as shown in Figure 2. Mount the sensor at the opposite end of the barrel, using the pointer bracket. The bracket allows the user to rotate the sensor while taking radial measurements from the interior surface of the barrel.

To determine the misalignment, rotate both the laser and the sensor into multiple corresponding clock positions. After collecting all of these measurements, the ROTALIGN Ultra determines the vertical and horizontal offset of the end center point of the barrel relative to the shaft’s axis.

Figure 2: Film extruder set up for initial measurement using the ROTALIGN Ultra iS.

Figure 2: Film extruder set up for initial measurement using the ROTALIGN Ultra.

 

Moving the gearbox to its proper alignment position

Now the user can move the gearbox to its proper alignment position in reference to the barrel position, as seen in Figure 3. Why move the gearbox instead of the barrel end? Small adjustments to the gearbox account for large offsets at the end of the barrel. Moving the end of the barrel instead of the gearbox risks affecting the barrel’s straightness, requiring a movement of greater magnitude.

Use the Live Move feature on the ROTATLIGN Ultra to monitor gearbox movement. Adjust the alignment in real time and make other accommodations as needed.

Photo 3: Moving the gearbox to its final alignment position.

Photo 3: Moving the gearbox to its final alignment position.

 

Aligning the gearbox to the barrel

Moving the gearbox to properly align it to the barrel changes the alignment of the motors to the gearbox. Proceed to align those motors to the new gearbox position.

Use the ROTALIGN to measure the misalignment and shim according to the display to resolve the vertical offset. Millwrights can also use the ‘Live Move’ feature to adjust the horizontal and vertical offsets in real time.

This is a good point to use the ROTALIGN to check for soft foot. If detected, correct the soft foot in accordance with the ROTALIGN measurements. Once all the adjustments are made, take one more set of measurements to verify the machine’s final alignment.

Photo 4: Final measurements and alignment.

Photo 4: Final measurements and alignment.

 

Final gearbox and extruder screw installation

At this point, the gearbox should be properly aligned to the barrel, with both master and slave motors aligned such that their shafts are on the same axis. All is ready to install the extruder screw. Having completed the precision alignment, the user can now easily insert the screw into the barrel and couple with the shaft.

See www.pruftechnik.com for more alignment application details.

 

Spencer Thomas is a Pruftechnik Sales & Project Manager (Advanced Measurements) for Fluke Reliability.

Related articles:

What is soft foot and why is it so damaging to machine

ROTALIGN Ultra

Innovative, cloud-friendly, and simple to use

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ShaftAlign Touch

ShaftAlign Touch—the newest member of the Adaptive Alignment family of products from Prüftechnik—may be easy to use but that doesn’t mean it’s basic.

Featuring the latest advances in laser shaft alignment technology, this sophisticated tool instantaneously detects and filters out low-quality measurements caused by user error, backlash, or environmental vibration. It adapts to virtually all rotating assets, from the simple to the complex. And users of all experience levels can achieve precise results quickly and reliably—and without time-consuming workarounds.

Before laser systems, aligning machinery was a cumbersome and challenging process. Dial indicators and feeler gauges were the tools of choice, but over time have become inadequate and not capable of highly precise results. The invention of laser shaft alignment has made it possible to be accurate to a resolution of 1/1000 mm.

However, the ShaftAlign Touch surpasses other laser shaft alignment tools designed for entry-level users. It features single-laser technology, enabling much higher precision and consistency. Repeatable results can easily be verified for accuracy. Dual-laser alignment systems, in contrast, are less precise and cannot handle gross misalignments and other common alignment challenges easily.

The power of Adaptive Alignment in ShaftAlign Touch

Single-laser technology is just one aspect of Adaptive Alignment. Active Situational Intelligence or ASI, is another. This innovative software provides users with real-time feedback on the quality of their measurements. It uses analytics to filter out low-quality calculations affected by human error or other external factors.

Users can instantly share measurements with colleagues or consultants anywhere in the world using cloud capabilities. For example, non-experienced users can collaborate with more experienced technicians to complete virtually any alignment job—even more complex tasks, such as machine trains, gearboxes, or Cardan shafts. In addition to being shared, asset data is stored online for later user analysis and trending.

ShaftAlign Touch makes quick and easy precision alignments possible so that technicians can get to the root cause of the machinery issues in a plant. Correctly aligned machines lead to savings from bearings, seals, production loss, energy waste, and more. Multiplied by hundreds of machines, it is easy to save thousands of dollars a year. In the past, most teams just replaced bearings and seals because alignment was too time-consuming. ShaftAlign Touch solves this problem, even in plants without experienced users.

 

ShaftAlign Touch offers unbeatable Price-Performance Ratio

ShaftAlign Touch is packed with features for an entry-level price. It has a graphical user interface that’s friendly and intuitive. The rugged housing is IP68 rated against dust, dirt, and water (up to 3m). The SensAlign 3 sensor and laser are quick to deploy and highly accurate.

Get it right the first time with ShaftAlign Touch—no matter your experience level. Complete the job quickly for almost any machine configuration or situation.

To maximize production uptime, minimize unplanned downtime, and ensure your machines operate at peak performance for extended periods of time, use ShaftAlign Touch to align your rotating assets.

Getting process manufacturing back on track quickly

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PARALIGN

By Scott Jenkins

When a company has an emergency manufacturing problem that delays production, it needs a solution quickly—and the quicker the better.

That was the scenario when a pulp mill was faced with a time-sensitive sheet steering issue. Machine misalignment was causing a noticeable runout, yielding large amounts of useless scrap. The customer contacted PRÜFTECHNIK’s alignment team for a quick line survey of its pulp dryer in the hope that the survey would identify the root of its steering problem.

Using inertial technology to measure the parallelism of rolls

PRÜFTECHNIK responded to this rush parallel roll alignment request with PARALIGN—a unique device that uses inertial technology to measure the parallelism of rolls in production installations in the paper, print, converting, and steel industries. PARALIGN was used to provide preliminary alignment data for a collection of press section rollers, where a visible tracking issue was occurring in the pulp dryer’s wet end. A pulp dryer machine is the final stage in the pulp-making process. Its purpose is to remove moisture from bleached pulp fibers that are fed into the system as efficiently as possible at fast, consistent production rates. Water is squeezed, evaporated, and essentially cooked out of the material where it then continues downstream to be wound and sent for cutting, inspecting, and further processing.

Line operators needed to pinpoint an issue leading out of the second press/nip stack and into the flӓkt pulp dryers. During its nine-hour visit, PRÜFTECHNIK team members measured 44 rolls throughout the wet end and dryer entrance and exit.

Leveraging unique technology

The technology used to perform the alignment checks is unique to the parallel roll alignment world. Unlike traditional measurement methods, PARALIGN does not require a line of sight to measure cylinders (rollers). The device is swept across the roll surface no less than 20 degrees of the roll’s circumference. Three internally comprised high-precision ring-laser gyroscopes gather a roll’s position in space by identifying its roll, pitch and yaw coordinates. The rotational coordinates are then translated into arc angles as a function of the bearing-to-bearing cylinder lengths to produce horizontal and vertical offsets.

These data are transmitted via Bluetooth to PARALIGN’s editor software into an easy-to-read graphical format for analysis. In the software, the cylinders’ center axes can then be compared to each other using a designated center axis as the reference roll.

Identifying the problem, getting back to business

Using PARALIGN, line operators were able to identify the problem rollers that were contributing to misalignment when feeding out of the press section into and throughout the dryer turning rolls. Correcting those rolls enabled the pulp mill to reduce waste and downtime while ultimately creating a positive impact on material production.

Providing a single source for solutions in the industrial manufacturing business means having the resources and dedicated team members to respond swiftly to last-minute reactive maintenance requests. That—and innovative technology such as PARALIGN—were the keys to success in this rush parallel roll alignment request.

Scott Jenkins is a Prüftechnik Sales & Application Engineer for Fluke Reliability.

Innovators or Imitators?

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ROTALIGNIt looks like we’ve struck a nerve in the laser shaft alignment market with our announcement of Adaptive Alignment systems.

All of a sudden, various forms of the word “adaptable” have been popping up on social media posts about laser alignment systems that do not possess Adaptive Alignment technology.

We at PRUFTECHNIK are glad to see others admit that adaptability is indeed a valuable must-have in laser alignment systems. We welcome them to the conversation.

Of course, it’s easy to use words like “adaptable” in a social media post. The hard part is actually engineering Adaptive Alignment capabilities into a laser alignment system. By that, we mean features that make adaptability happen during an alignment job, – such as single-laser technology and Active Situational Intelligence (see our white paper here).

Breakthrough engineering work is what separates innovators from imitators. PRUFTECHNIK—the undisputed world leader in laser shaft alignment—has continued to revolutionize with patented inventions that are realized in our Adaptive Alignment solutions.

But when many vendors freely use the word “adaptable,” how can maintenance practitioners separate true Adaptive Alignment systems that deliver higher precision with faster job completion from imitators that still operate in a basic way?

By asking, “How.”  How do systems claiming to be adaptable actually deliver Adaptive Alignment benefits?  Here are some specific questions:

  • Does the system include single-laser technology?
    If not, it cannot adapt to situations such as large misalignments. Common workarounds that add time and potentially compromise precision include recommendations to do “rough alignment” or “pre-alignment” before tackling the rest of the job.
  • Does the system deliver real-time feedback during, as opposed to after, the measurement?
    If not, it is not adapting to user needs.
  • Does the system automatically detect and eliminate coupling backlash as measurements are taken?
    Basic systems leave it up to the user to make sure backlash is not influencing the measurement.
  • Does the system include the ability to share measurements over the cloud to support team collaboration?
    If not, the technician is on his own at the machine, and the system is not adapting to teams that need collaborative capabilities
  • Is the system automatically aware of and can handle uncoupled shafts?
    A common installation-time need, Uncoupled Shaft Awareness, eliminates the manual positioning exercises commonly needed with basic alignment systems.

There are other questions that practitioners could and should ask before investing in a laser shaft alignment system. If you want to know what they are, don’t hesitate to contact us.

In the meantime, we at PRUFTECHNIK, a division of Fluke Reliability, welcome the marketplace validation of the value of Adaptive Alignment.

As with any advance that is imitated, sly usage of similar terms can make it difficult for users to separate the innovation from the imitation. We encourage maintenance leaders to learn about the key ingredients of Adaptive Alignment – which they can do here.

In the end, it’s not merely a battle over the meaning of the word “adaptable.” For maintenance teams charged with keeping their machines at peak performance while operating at peak efficiency themselves, Adaptive Alignment is one key to a successful future.

If you’d like to learn more about our Adaptive Alignment systems, we suggest digging into the information on this page or getting in touch with your PRUFTECHNIK sales representative today!

What does it mean for a laser shaft alignment system to be ‘adaptive’?

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Adaptive AlignmentAdaptive, adaptable. What’s the difference?

If you want the ultimate in shaft alignment technology, the difference is huge. It’s the difference between maximizing production time and team efficiency or squandering time and money.  It’s the difference between minimizing downtime or watching the clock tick as the maintenance team tries to apply an “adaptable” solution to a complicated situation.

Above all, it’s the advantage a company gains when it uses alignment systems that minimize human error while delivering new levels of accuracy and speed.

That’s the promise of Adaptive (not adaptable) Alignment. Delivering on this promise means capitalizing on the core innovations of single-laser technology and Active Situational Intelligence. We own patents for these and other fundamental Adaptive Alignment components.

Here’s a quick refresher course on what makes Adaptive Alignment genuinely adaptive.

  • Single-laser technology. A system with just one laser and one sensor speeds set up and eliminates the frustration and risk of inaccuracies that occur when working with two lasers firing in opposite directions. It also enables the faster completion of alignment tasks and results in higher precision.
  • Active Situational Intelligence (ASI). This analytics software equips maintenance teams with real-time, actionable insights. Yes, usable intelligence while the measurements are taking place, not after the fact. ASI dynamically reacts to everything involved in the alignment process. It uses predictive intelligence to enable technicians to evaluate different possible courses of action before embarking on the time-consuming task of moving a machine.

This is what maintenance teams need: innovative Adaptive Alignment products that automatically adapt to the asset, to the specific situation, and also to the needs of the team—all in real time.

The big difference between Adaptive Alignment products and an “adaptable” solution is in who does the adapting. For years, maintenance technicians have had to adapt to the limitations of various other laser alignment systems. These limitations include, for example:

  • Only available in dual laser configurations
  • Can’t provide users with instantaneous visual feedback on measurement quality during the rotation
  • Have no optimization for working with uncoupled shafts during installation
  • Can’t automatically detect and eliminate coupling backlash.

The list goes on. You quickly wonder how applicable the word “adaptable” is to these systems.

PRUFTECHNIK, on the other hand, is the first to deliver true Adaptive Alignment. We chose “adaptive” because it means “serving or able to adapt; showing or contributing to adaptation.” And this clearly describes what we have done: we’ve incorporated the adaptive capabilities into all our alignment products as an inherent feature.

PRUFTECHNIK Adaptive Alignment products have built-in intelligence that adapts to the maintenance team needs automatically and in real time. We created this functionality as a direct response to issues customers historically told us they were having on their machines.

If you’d like to see what a real Adaptive Alignment system can do, get in touch with us for a demo. We’re the only company that can show you one.

Learn more about the powerful Adaptive Alignment concept and feature set are built into PRUFTECHNIK systems at our website, where you can download the Adaptive Alignment white paper or request to speak to a specialist.

RFID capabilities in Adaptive Alignment tools are a godsend for technicians

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When maintenance team members prepare to work on an asset, they often ask themselves “how can they tell if they have the correct alignment data for that machine?” It might seem like the answer should be obvious, but when many plants house an array of large machines, it’s not. And there’s no room for error in this situation.

Aligning a particular machine with the historical information of different assets not only wastes time but can have serious consequences, including impacting its performance. Thermal growth information, dimensions, and RPM values that are used to set coupling tolerance limits often vary and must be applied to the correct asset.

However, using RFID tags on assets in combination with Adaptive Alignment systems—such as the OPTALIGN touch, ROTALIGN touch and ROTALIGN touch EX—from PRUFTECHNIK can help solve these problems. Our systems are equipped with software to “read” asset tag data encoded with RFID, which stands for radio-frequency identification.

Get a complete alignment history of the asset

You’re probably familiar with RFID, a technology that uses electromagnetic fields to identify and track tags attached to objects automatically. It’s used for everything from access control and car key fobs to personal ID cards and asset tracking.

RFID identification software is integrated into PRUFTECHNIK systems, enabling them to automatically read a machine’s RFID tag and save relevant information. Companies that utilize these tags also provide their technicians with an alignment and maintenance history of the equipment that is helpful to all – but especially to new or inexperienced maintenance team members.

Technicians can view a complete alignment history of the asset with the connected ARC 4.0 (Alignment Reliability Center) PC software, track the alignment of individual assets over time (alignment trend), and investigate deeper causes of frequent misalignments. RFID also makes alignment data a dynamic condition monitoring parameter for asset management and condition-based maintenance programs.

Using the RFID reader and corresponding RFID tags:

  • Enables maintenance teams to clearly identify the equipment that needs to be aligned
  • Stores measurement results, machine templates, and RFID data into touch device asset data
  • Allows teams and engineers to quickly check the most recent alignment conditions
  • Automatically saves new alignment results

Built-in RFID technology is part of the powerful Adaptive Alignment feature set built into PRUFTECHNIK systems. To learn more, please visit this webpage to download our Adaptive Alignment white paper.