It is no secret, precise shaft alignment will pay for itself. It reduces bearing and seal damage, minimizes energy loss, and reduces production downtime. To neglect it would be like failing to perform regular oil changes on your car. You could get by without it in the beginning, but it could cost you a lot of money down the road.

Not only is precise shaft alignment essential, but doing it in the least amount of time is also desirable. Machinery downtime will cost your facility money, especially if that piece of machinery is in the critical path of operation. In some situations, downtime could cost your company hundreds of thousands of dollars per hour.

Matlock Electric's Laser Alignment offers the potential for much greater accuracy than dial indicators, with the added convenience of good time savings. It works by attaching a laser emitter to one shaft and a position detecting sensor/receiver to the other shaft. Both the laser and receiver are separately mounted to the shafts by means of a rigid bracketing system. Both shafts can remain coupled together. Measurement occurs by rotating the shafts in a continuous sweep as little as a quarter turn (or less), or by rotating the shafts to any desired positions, or to specific clock positions. Laser systems let Matlock accommodate much longer spans than dial indicators with great ease (which is necessary for cooling tower fans) and will even let you turn the shafts independently when uncoupled.

Matlock Laser Alignment

Shaft misalignment occurs when the centerlines of rotation of two or more machinery shafts are not in line with each other. In more technical terms, shaft misalignment is the deviation of relative shaft position from a collinear axis of rotation measured at the points of power transmission when equipment is running at normal operating conditions. When rotating equipment is started, the shafts will begin to move to another position. The most common cause of this movement is due to temperature changes that occur in the machinery casings and therefore this movement is commonly referred to as hot and cold alignment. These temperature changes are caused by friction in the bearings or by thermal changes that occur in the process liquids and gases. Movement of machinery may also be caused by process reaction movements in attached piping or counter-reactions due to the rotation of the rotor. Laser-alignment complements our machinery vibration analysis and balancing services.

What is the objective of accurate alignment?

Simply stated, the objective of shaft alignment is to increase the operating lifespan of rotating machinery. To achieve this goal, machinery components that are most likely to fail must operate within their design limits. Since the components that are most likely to fail are the bearings, seals, coupling, and shafts, accurately aligned machinery will achieve the following results:

- Reduce excessive axial and radial forces on the bearings to insure longer bearing life and rotor stability under dynamic operating conditions.
- Minimize the amount of shaft bending from the point of power transmission in the coupling to the coupling end bearing.
- Minimize the amount of wear in the coupling components.
- Reduce mechanical seal failure.
- Maintain proper internal rotor clearances.
- Eliminate the possibility of shaft failure from cyclic fatigue.
- Lower vibration levels in machine casings, bearing houses, and rotors.

Matlock Electric's Laser Alignment Technology

Optalign Plus

The Optalign Plus is built to rugged industrial standards of shock and water resistance. It features an LCD display that shows all important measurement steps such as dimensions and results. The Optalign Plus allows the Matlock Predictive Maitenance Team to permanently store coupling alignment values, and generate alignment reports.

Maintenance supervisors know that when machines are down and production losses are growing, laser-alignment is the fastest and most accurate method of coupling alignment. Matlock Electric performs precision laser-alignment of couplings using an Optalign® visible-light laser. Our staff has performed laser-alignments on machinery ranging from 75-hp motor-pump sets to a 2500-hp compressor motor.

Our reports document the as-found and as-left alignment values, and the shim changes and horizontal moves at each machinery foot. Click here for a sample Laser Alignment report.

Our laser-alignment capabilities include:

- Use of alignment "target" values for vertical and horizontal offset and angularity values.

- Measurements of "soft-foot", or vertical movement of machine feet when mounting bolts are loosened. This condition can cause great difficulty if not recognized and corrected.

- Real-time display of horizontal correction value required while horizontal moves are being made. This feature cuts down greatly on the number of moves required, which saves time.

- Alignment of shafts that are separated by spool pieces up to 12 feet in length.

Precision alignment benefits:

* Precision alignment significantly reduces bearing vibration and stress, and lengthens bearing life.

* Precision alignment reduces motor amps, and can result in significant electricity and monetary savings!

Contact us for more information regarding our Laser Alignment program.