Shaft Alignment Methods Explained
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ScribdTranslationsShaft Alignment Methods Explained
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ScribdTranslationsHIGHER TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF EL
Grullo
MECHATRONIC ENGINEERING
ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC MAINTENANCE
METHODS OF AXIS ALIGNMENT
Mr. Juan Ernesto Barragán Pérez
ROGELIO ALANIZ MANCILLA
CONTROL NUMBER 12070035
THE CRANE JALISCO
08/MARZO/2016
Introduction
The poor alignment of axles is the cause of more than 50% of the breakdowns.
the rotary machines. Consequently, unplanned downtimes increase.
and, therefore, losses occur in production. Undoubtedly, this increases
the general maintenance costs.
Furthermore, misaligned axles promote vibrations and friction, which
considerably increases energy consumption and causes damage
premature in bearings and joints. This document describes some
of the most used methods for shaft alignment in order to avoid the
effects of misalignment.
Alignment
The alignment is the process by which the centerline of the axis of a
machine element, for example, a motor, is matched with the
extension of the line of centers of the axis of another machine coupled to it, by
example, a bomb.
Alignment is a technique that seeks quality in assembly.
rotary machines. Their purposes are:
Achieve good positioning among axes.
The elimination of unwanted efforts.
The duration of the service.
Economic savings from reduced breakages, damages, and stocks
storage.
Consequences of misalignment
The lack of alignment causes excessive axial and radial forces in the
bearings, which leads to:
Overheating and premature wear of the bearings.
Overloads in the engine.
Premature wear on the packings or mechanical seals of the shaft.
Possibility of axle breakage due to fatigue.
Vibrations, which in turn are a cause of misalignment, exacerbating
more the problem.
Types of misalignment
There are three types of misalignment that an axis can be subjected to.
continuation, each of them is illustrated for a better interpretation.
Angular misalignment
Radial misalignment
Radial and angular misalignment
Alignment methods
Alignment of axes using a ruler and level
This is a fast alignment method, widely used in cases where
the assembly requirements are not demanding and will not take much time
operation, since it is imprecise.
The alignment process is as follows:
The couplings of the shafts approach until the measure that is
specify.
With a steel ruler and a level, they are placed at the edges of the axes at
align which we can call East and West and it will be corrected until
that we consider them aligned.
The parallelism of the couplings is checked by measuring at four points.
a 90°.
If in the North-South plane we do not have the level at zero, it means that the
the mechanism is "DOWN" or "UP", so it will need to be placed
motor mounts to lift it so that both couplings remain parallel.
Alignment of shafts using dial gauge and gauges
The radial gauge or dial indicator is one of the most used tools.
in the alignment of axes for their reliability, the drawback of the methods
where the cover indicator is used is that they are relatively complex and
still, it is one of the most used methods for alignment of
axes and there are various alignment methods that use this device, the
what are:
Alignment using radial clock and gauges (Brown-Boveri method).
Alignment using alternating radial gauges (Indicator Method)
Inverse).
Alignment by face and edge (Radial-Axial Method)
In this particular case, we will talk about the radial dial method and gauges.
which, seeks to correct angular misalignment with the help of gauges and the
radial misalignment with the dial indicator or radial gauge. The objective is
that the two coupling plates are in the same plane. It also
It intends, with the sixteen measurements taken at the edges of the axes,
compensate for measurement errors due to axial play; but with four
measures would be enough. The procedure for alignment is as follows:
The distance between the coupling plates is measured with the gauges in the...
positions referred to as "left", "right", "up" and "down".
Both axes move together 90º, repeating the 4 measurements of the step.
previous. It operates the same for 180º and 270º.
wedges will be introduced at the base of the engine to compensate for the misalignment
radial, once the dial indicators show the same measurement then
considered radially aligned.
Angular alignment will be achieved if: Left = Right = Up =
Down.
It is an alignment method that requires more time than the previous method.
but the difference between precisions is vast since in this method
we obtain a lineup closer to the ideal.
Axis alignment using laser
It is the alignment method par excellence as it is obtained
accurate and systematic results, also the teams that
are easy to use in this method.
The procedure for aligning shafts using this method is as follows:
First, the adjustment of the transmitter/receiver on the axes to be aligned is carried out.
Subsequently, the axes are rotated manually so that this
the alignment team takes various measurements and can determine
the degree of misalignment both radially and angularly, once this is done
They will display the results on the team's screen to be able to make the
relevant corrections these corrections are indicated on the screen of the
team. Once the corrections are made, the axes should be rotated again to
check that the alignment is correct. It's a fairly easy procedure and
quick to carry out is why this method has been displacing other methods
as the previously mentioned ones since the level of precision in this method
is much greater than the previous methods.