Pruftechnik Blog

adaptive alignment

How to make in-situ Cardan shaft alignment less cumbersome

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Cardan Shaft

Among the most challenging machinery alignment tasks you might face is aligning a Cardan shaft—named after 16th-century Italian polymath Gerolamo Cardano, who invented it along with other machine mechanisms.

Cardan shafts are essentially couplings. Their purpose is to accommodate a horizontal or vertical offset between a driven shaft and a driving shaft—most commonly a motor and a gearbox.

The Cardan shaft is the input shaft to the gearbox—versus the slower output shaft of the gearbox. Together, the rotational speed of both shafts connecting the motor to the gearbox via the Cardan shaft is the same.

Angular misalignment can increase the strain on joints and bearings and lead to a Cardan shaft becoming damaged or destroyed. Angular misalignment also often leads to increased vibration, which can cause uneven rotation during operation and, ultimately, shortened asset life.

Fortunately, with adaptive alignment systems from PRUFTECHNIK, it is quick and easy to measure the parallelism of two shafts connected to a Cardan shaft.

No removal is required, and measurements are much easier

The usual method of aligning these assets is to take the Cardan shaft out to align it, which requires dismantling and removing the Cardan shaft. This process can be cumbersome and time-consuming, and sometimes even requires a hoist or a crane.

But with adaptive alignment, it is possible to perform measurements with the Cardan shaft in place by using a specially designed rotating arm bracket fixture. This innovation is called in-situ Cardan shaft alignment. With no removal required, measurements are obtained much more easily and without the need for lengthy downtime.

Cardan shafts often exist in tight spaces, which can be challenging to navigate when using standard alignment procedures. But with adaptive alignment in-situ shaft measurement, tight spaces are no problem at all.

Two specific features of adaptive alignment, single-laser technology and Active Situational Intelligence (ASI), make it easier to handle difficult alignment situations, such as tight spaces, while also increasing both measurement speed and accuracy.

Measurements are reliable and precise—accurate to a hundredth of a millimeter. Successfully aligning a Cardan shaft requires a level of precision most easily achieved using single laser technology. Determining the parallelism of two shafts connected by a Cardan shaft is much quicker and easier, thanks to adaptive alignment.

How adaptive alignment tools adapt to a range of situations and challenges

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Machinery alignment scenarios are rarely the same. Using an easy shaft alignment tool that works for some simple jobs can introduce new errors on more complex projects. This unnecessarily complicates the alignment process, frustrating technicians, and driving up operational costs. Frequently, what maintenance leaders save with a cheaper system they lose in manual efforts and rework.

Enter adaptive alignment, a signature feature of PRUFTECHNIK laser shaft alignment systems.

This combination of software and hardware innovations enables maintenance teams to address any shaft alignment task, from the standard, daily, and straightforward alignment jobs to more complex and challenging tasks – such as aligning Cardan shafts, vertical flanged machines with right-angle gearboxes, or extensive machine trains with gearboxes.

Adaptive alignment systems contain Active Situational Intelligence (ASI), a software innovation with capabilities that enable the solutions to take on from the standard to complex and challenging tasks and complete them faster and with more accuracy than the many more basic solutions on the market.

Here are some of the adaptive alignment enhancements:

Multi-Factor Quality Enhancement

With this feature, the software detects and compensates for many factors that might negatively influence a measurement. It provides technicians with immediate feedback and allows even less experienced technicians to fetch high-quality measurements just by following the steps and tips displayed on the screen.

Uncoupled Shaft Awareness

When installing machines, the alignment should begin with uncoupled shafts to remove any residual forces in the machine train. But basic systems don’t have optimized measurement procedures for uncoupled shafts. Technicians must manually hold shafts to make sure both are at the same relative angle, then manually take the point, then manually move them. This method dramatically increases the risk of errors.

With adaptive alignment, uncoupled shafts can be in any position—the laser only needs to hit the detector. During the measurement, shafts can be freely moving while the adaptive system works out the angles and obtains the measurement. This capability delivers high ROI when teams are installing an asset because you get accurate results and required machine movements in the fastest possible time.

Virtual Move Simulator

Moving the machine is often the costliest part of alignment—and carries with it the risk of additional cost and time if it turns out to be the wrong move. Virtual Move Simulator (VMS) has saved technicians thousands of hours across many industries around the world by enabling them to model different options for a move, see the results, and refine choices before actually doing the physical movement. Read this separate blog post for more on VMS.

Live Move

Single-laser technology delivers rapid completion of alignment tasks while improving precision. Systems outfitted with this technology let technicians see corrections in real-time. They can view updated live results in both vertical and horizontal planes simultaneously across the full range of the sensor detection surfaces. With this capability, you avoid the limitations inherent to non-adaptive, dual-laser systems that have a line-over-length divergence problem.

Adaptive alignment can save time, improve accuracy, and offer numerous other advantages. Learn more about the adaptive alignment concept and feature set in PRUFTECHNIK systems by visiting our website.

Active Situational Intelligence provides real-time measurement guidance

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Active Situational Intelligence

Misaligned machinery is costly for a number of reasons, from increased energy consumption to more frequent repairs and failures to shorter asset life cycles. Precisely aligned machines use up to 10 percent less energy than misaligned ones.

Correct alignment is important not just at commissioning, but as part of regular, ongoing maintenance. Laser alignment is an accurate, efficient way to make sure assets are precisely aligned. To ensure the most effective alignment, you need a tool that pairs the right hardware with the right software. Alignment may seem simple on the surface, but in reality, the process is full of variables.

Adaptive alignment tools are designed to save time and money, enabling maintenance teams to solve alignment challenges from the simple to the complex, and for almost any asset or situation.

Active Situational Intelligence, or ASI, is a Pruftechnik innovation that makes an adaptive alignment tool accessible for users of any skill or experience level. The software provides instant—and specific—feedback to the user as they are performing a continuous sweep and lets them know exactly what they need to do differently to improve the accuracy of a measurement. For instance, a notification will pop up on a tool’s screen to say “rotate slower” or “direction reversed” so the technician can make the necessary corrections in the moment.

In addition to this real-time guidance, ASI automatically detects and filters out errors such as environmental vibration or coupling backlash. In non-adaptive alignment systems, these factors can compromise measurement quality. With ASI, a quality measurement is ensured—even in the most challenging situations. Over time, technicians with the least training and experience can learn how to improve on subsequent measurements and ultimately obtain the same quality of results as more experienced technicians.

By eliminating errors and guesswork, ASI allows maintenance teams to unlock their full potential and capacity—and to do the same for their assets.