Get it right with shaft alignment

NATIONAL

SOMETIMES machinery alignment is more than just aligning the shafts of a driver and driven machine.

For example, consider a particular drive system which may not have a vibration problem, but the mechanical seal would begin leaking very shortly after starting the unit up on this motor and fan drive system.

The fan shaft is supported with two rolling element bearings in a common housing.

The bearing housing for the fan shaft is not attached to the fan housing where the stuffing box and mechanical seal are located.

In this particular instance, a set of Reverse Indicator measurements were taken between the motor and fan shafts.

A laser alignment system could have been used here also.

Those measurements will tell us where the motor and fan shafts are located.

You also need to check the alignment between the fan shaft and the mechanical seal housing to make sure the fan shaft is concentric with the bore of the stuffing box.

The photo shows taking Face Rim measurements from the fan shaft to the mechanical seal housing.

A laser alignment system is not capable of doing that.

The illustration on the bottom left shows the up and down views ( i. e. side view) of the motor and pump shafts as well as the centreline of the seal housing bore.

The illustration on the bottom right shows the east to west views ( i. e. top view).

The objective is to align the motor and fan shafts to the centreline of the bore of the seal housing.

The solutions for this problem are shown in the side and top view alignment models.

There are a variety of different alignment methods and alignment tools.

An alignment expert is someone who knows how to perform all of the different alignment methods and understands that the alignment tasks at hand may require more attention than just aligning the shafts of the machinery.

VIA is proud to be bringing, the master trainer and author of the definitive ‘ The Shaft Alignment Handbook’, John Piotrowksi, to Australia in April/ May 2020.

This will be the last opportunity to be trained by John in Australia. Contact VIA at www. viaustralia. com. au or email jennie@ viaustralia. com. au.

Shaft misalignment is responsible for over 50pc of machine failures in industry.

To properly align the drive system, alignment measurements need to be taken between the motor and fan shafts, as well as between the fan shaft and the mechanical seal housing.