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Move into the digital age with the new SHAFTALIGN Touch

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ShaftAlign Touch

In today’s fast-paced environment, maintenance technicians don’t have time to deal with hard-to-use tools or complicated programs. It’s with those teams and jobs in mind that Prüftechnik is pleased to introduce a groundbreaking tool for solving common machinery alignment problems: the ShaftAlign Touch.

This innovative and user-friendly system combines an intuitive, tablet-like interface with premium Adaptive Alignment features, such as single-laser technology and Active Situational Intelligence (ASI), enabling technicians of all experience levels to align assets with precision and speed.

ASI provides in-the-moment feedback to users on the quality of the measurement, automatically filtering out low-quality measurements induced by user error, backlash, or environmental vibration. Users can send and receive measurement data in real time, sharing with consultants and colleagues anywhere in the world via the cloud.

Upgrade to laser systems to improve accuracy

The ShaftAlign Touch offers digital advancements over the widely used dial indicator and feeler gauge from past decades, with laser shaft alignment improving accuracy tenfold over manual alignment tools.

With single-laser technology, the laser beam passes over the coupling flanges, eliminating mechanical linkages and bracket sag. Corrective values are calculated automatically, and the corrections can be monitored in real time on the screen. Any operator can consistently achieve a precise alignment in one attempt, with minimal training or experience.

Conversely, dual-laser alignment systems often require manual workarounds, rework, and guesswork. They can be imprecise and often unable to handle gross misalignments. Single-laser technology eliminates these frustrations.

Unmatched commitment to continued innovation

The ShaftAlign Touch enables maintenance and reliability teams to align hundreds of standard rotating machines—and quickly return each back to service—to keep a plant up and running. No pre-alignment or rough alignment work is required, so technicians can save considerable time and preserve a record of the initial alignment condition.

Other features include up to eight measurement points (while competitor systems feature only three) and an integrated RFID machine identification reader, which helps find the correct machine to align and provides an alignment history of that machine.

Prüftechnik invented laser shaft alignment as a method, and this latest product launch demonstrates our unmatched commitment to continued innovation. For more details, please visit the ShaftAlign Touch product page.

Getting process manufacturing back on track quickly

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PARALIGN

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 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.

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.

Five Essential Questions to Ask Before Investing in a Laser Shaft Alignment System

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Laser shaft alignment systems are crucial to properly aligning your machinery to ensure peak performance and extended asset life. Their pinpoint accuracy makes them the right choice for numerous industrial settings.

But all laser alignment systems are not equal. Some enable a maintenance team to complete jobs faster and with higher precision, while others require rework and sometimes guesswork that drive maintenance costs higher and possibly compromise the result.

What should you consider when deciding on a laser shaft alignment system? Here are the top five questions to ask:

Does the system require a dual-laser setup, or does it have single-laser technology?

Why this question matters: A system with a dual-laser setup requires you to adjust two lasers and two sensors, which requires more time and effort and introduces more variables.

Additionally, dual-laser systems cannot handle gross misalignments because during the measurement rotation, the laser beam moves off of the detector, and the measurement cannot be completed.

Adaptive Alignment systems with single-laser technology have a “Freeze Frame Measurement” capability. This enables measurements to be completed even when halted partway because of the amount of misalignment, then restarted, eliminating guesswork and saving time.

Does the system’s user manual ever recommend a “rough alignment” or “pre-alignment?”

Why this question matters: Systems that recommend—or require—a rough alignment cost more to operate because they demand more moves—the most time-consuming part of any alignment job. The “as found” condition is lost, and technicians have already made one move before they can even take a measurement.

 

Does the system provide visual quality factor assessment feedback to the technician in real-time as the measurement is underway, or only after the measurement is finished?

Why this question matters: Getting feedback while doing a job is a better learning experience, and it saves time. It’s important to look for an Adaptive Alignment system that offers the innovation of real-time visual feedback.

During a measurement, the user gets a quick color indicator for easy, intuitive feedback. Green indicates a good quality measurement, while blue indicates an excellent quality measurement. Even the most inexperienced users can quickly learn exactly how to take a quality measurement thanks to this feature.

 

Can a technician send measurements instantly from the point of work to colleagues elsewhere in the plant (or around the world) to consult on the next steps?

Why this question matters: Two brains are often better than one.

You may have an alignment expert on your team, but he or she cannot get to every machine in every plant. But experts can evaluate and qualify measurement data remotely—if they have access to it—and render assistance from wherever they are.

Systems without collaboration capabilities essentially cut the technician off from help, which is a major factor behind variable alignment quality. Results with these systems are of course better when performed by an expert, but can potentially be unreliable when a less experienced technician completes a job unaided.

Getting a system with collaboration built-in is a great way to unlock overall team capacity—and to ensure that even the least experienced users on a team learn from expert guidance and get high-precision results.

Does the system automatically handle uncoupled shafts without requiring manual efforts to position shafts at the correct relative angle?

Why this question matters: For assets to perform at their peak, they must be installed with care from day one.

During installation, the alignment should ideally be done with uncoupled shafts to eliminate any residual forces within the machine train. But working with uncoupled shafts is not something basic laser alignment systems can easily handle. Technicians have to resort to manual positioning to approximate the correct relative rotational angle.

In contrast, Adaptive Alignment systems, bolstered by Active Situational Intelligence (ASI), have Uncoupled Shaft Awareness. This allows for uncoupled shafts to be in any rotational position—or freely rotating—so long as the single laser hits the single sensor. The adaptive system determines the relative rotational angular positions and calculates the measurement points. With this capability, teams can achieve accurate results quickly.

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These five questions pinpoint potential red flags when considering a new laser alignment system. When laser alignment was first invented, none of them could be answered well because adaptive capabilities did not exist. Today’s capabilities require these updated questions.

Adaptive Alignment is the newest generation of laser shaft alignment. Only PRUFTECHNIK has it, and all of these advanced capabilities—which we developed by listening to our customers and focusing relentlessly on real innovation to deliver the best possible results on their rotating machinery. With more than 35 years of experience and innovation in laser shaft alignment, PRUFTECHNIK is prepared to answer any questions your maintenance team may have as you look to invest in a system that enables fast and accurate measurement. For more information, download our white paper on Adaptive Alignment technology.

 

Related articles:

https://blog.pruftechnik.com/what-it-takes-to-be-the-world-leader-in-machinery-alignment/

https://blog.pruftechnik.com/how-adaptive-alignment-tools-adapt-to-a-range-of-situations-and-challenges/

https://blog.pruftechnik.com/adaptive-alignment-how-to-solve-virtually-any-shaft-alignment-challenge/

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.