Effects of Misalignment &

The Benefits of Precision Shaft

Alignment

DRAP 2007
Alignment Definition
‹ The process of reducing the misalignment of two adjacent shafts connected
by a coupling so that the center of rotation for each shaft is as near as
collinear as practical during normal operation.
 Purpose of Shaft Alignment
‹ Good shaft-to-shaft alignment of rotating
machinery is essential for long term
operation.

‹ History has indicated that it is good

practice to limit operating misalignment to
low values.

‹ Good shaft alignment reduces forces

acting on rotating shafts, bearings and
other components.
Benefits of Precision Alignment

‹ Reduced Vibration levels.

‹ Increased meantime between failures.

‹ Reduced maintenance costs.

‹ Reduced energy consumption.

‹ Increased production quantity and quality.

 The Effects of Misalignment.
‹ Misaligned machines result in
vibrations and premature wear of
bearings, seals and couplings.

‹ Misalignment will lead to harmful

forces, deteriorating the machines’
performance.
 Machinery Installation
‹ Good practices during the machine
installation and commissioning phase will
likely result in good operational shaft
alignment.

‹ Examples of this are: correct pipe-work

procedures being followed, Base leveling
& conditioning and thermal growth
evaluations.

‹ Standards to refer to are API 686.

(Recommended Practices for
Machinery Installation & Installation
Design)
 Machinery Base and Foundations.

‹ Base should be level and flat and

correctly pre-aligned before grouting.
Pipe-work Installation
‹ Flanges of connecting piping should not be sprung into place.

‹ Pipe flange bolt holes should be lined up to within 1.5mm (1/16”)

without applying external force to the piping (API 686).

‹ Pipe flanges should be parallel to 0.001” per 1” of flange outside

diameter.
Measuring Pipe-strain
‹ An alignment bracket must be fitted to the machine being measured for pipe-
strain.

‹ Indicators will be mounted on the coupling hub to measure horizontal and

vertical movement on the opposite machine as the flange bolts are being
tightened using a torque wrench.
 Measuring Pipe-strain
‹ Bolt up will start with the largest
flange first.

‹ Bolts should be snug to 10% of total

torque. Then tightened to 30% and
then to 100% of total torque.

‹ The maximum shaft movement in

either Horizontal or Vertical direction
after tightening should not be more
than 0.002”
 Thermal Growth Considerations.

‹ Machines move and grow from offline

to running conditions.

‹ How much depends upon a number of

different factors such as work load,
machine casing material, pipe strain
and more.
 Ambient Offset
‹ Ambient Offset: The practice of misaligning two shaft centerlines at
ambient conditions to account for the estimated relative changes in shaft
centerlines from ambient temperatures
 Alignment Methods Rim & Face

Reverse Dial

Laser Alignment
Alignment Methods - Considerations

Reverse Dial Rim & Face

Considerations of Reverse Dial Method

‹ Advantages of reverse dial method:

‹ Relatively inexpensive and has been carried out
by tradesmen for years.
‹ Most plants have dial gauges at hand.

‹ Disadvantages are:
‹ Moves must be manually calculated
‹ Possibility of reading errors
‹ Coupling run out errors
‹ Bracket or bar sag
 Reverse Dial Method

‹ Dial gauges mounted on

each shaft.

‹ Machine dimensions are

recorded.

‹ Machine moves are

calculated
mathematically or by
scaling.
 Bracket Sag
‹ If you have indicators attached to a
bracket you have bracket sag.

‹ In order to properly correct misalignment,

bracket sag must be measured and
accounted for.

‹ Sag is caused by gravity working on the

weight of the brackets and indicators.
 Measuring Bracket Sag
‹ Mount the indicators on pipe, bar stock etc as they
are to be mounted on the machine. 0 at 1200.

‹ Rotate through 0300, 0600 and 0900 positions

and record dial readings.

‹ Check the dial returns to 0 at 1200. Repeat the

process and check for repeatability.

‹ Bar sag should always be (-).

 Measuring Bracket Sag
‹ When carrying out alignment on the machine, indicator readings are a sum of
misalignment and bracket sag.

‹ Readings – Bracket sag = Misalignment

‹ Sag must be subtracted from the measured readings as follows.

Reverse Dial Graphical Method - E.g

‹ Pick a suitable scale on the graph

paper and plot similar as below.

‹ The machine on the right hand side in

red we will consider as our movable
machine.
 Reverse Dial Graphical Method - E.g
‹ In alignment it is easiest to solve the
misalignment in the vertical plane
first.

‹ Assume we attach our indicators and

after sag is accounted for we get the
following readings:

‹ Plot the readings on your graph.

Remember, dial readings are TIR
and actual misalignment is half of
TIR.
 Reverse Dial Graphical Method - E.g

‹ After plotting, we can see the

shimming that is required to
bring the machine into
alignment.

‹ 0.003” in at the front and

0.001 in at the back.
 Reverse Dial Graphical Method - E.g

‹ We still have to solve the Horizontal

misalignment.

‹ Scale another diagram the same as

we did for the Vertical plane
 Reverse Dial Graphical Method - E.g
‹ After attaching our indicators,
measuring and accounting for sag,
we get the following readings:

‹ Plot the readings on your graph.

Remember, dial readings are TIR and
actual misalignment is half of TIR.
 Reverse Dial Graphical Method - E.g
‹ After plotting, we can see the
movement that is required to
bring the machine into
alignment.

‹ 0.006” at the front and 0.007”

at the back.

‹ Alignment complete.
Readings can be verified
again.
Laser Alignment Systems

DRAP 2005
Some Modern Laser Kits are based on
the principal of reverse dial method.

‹ Using laser beams instead of bars eliminates the possibility of sag.

‹ Machine moves are computer calculated.
Mounting of Laser Fixtures
‹ Lasers are mounted on shafts using
V-blocks (additional fixtures are
available such as magnetic bases if
v-blocks are not practical).

‹ Laser beams are adjusted so they

project their beam to the opposite
target.

‹ Lasers are cabled back to hand held

computer.
 Dimensions are Entered

‹ Dimensions between lasers and

between machine feet are entered.

‹ This is needed so machine moves

can be calculated.
Thermal Growth

‹ Before starting the alignment there

is the option to compensate for any
thermal growth.

‹ We will discuss this later in the

OL2R section, but any OEM specs
can be entered here.
Ready to Measure - Rotate the shafts
‹ Shafts are ready to be rotated.
‹ 3 measurements must be taken at 3
separate shaft positions
‹ First measurement can be taken in
the current shaft position
Alignment Measurement Complete

‹ Alignment measurement is complete and results in the Horizontal and

Vertical planes are displayed.
‹ The feet values display the corrections required.
 Adjust The Machine Vertically

‹ With the shafts in the 1200 position, the

machine can be adjusted vertically until the
desired alignment is reached.

‹ This is done in “LIVE” mode and this is a

huge benefit compared to dial gauge as
there is no need re-measure after every
adjustment.
 Adjust The machine Horizontally

‹ With the shafts in the 0300 position,

the machine can be adjusted
horizontally until the desired
alignment is reached.

‹ This is done in “LIVE” mode and this

is a huge benefit compared to dial
gauge as there is no need re-
measure after every adjustment.
 Laser Alignment Considerations
‹ Faster and easier to install and measure than dial gauges.

‹ No need for manual calculations as machine movements are calculated by the

computer.

‹ Generally more accurate as the effect of bar sag and coupling run out is
eliminated.

‹ Live mode adjustments so there is no need to keep on re-measuring after every

slight adjustment.

‹ Computer can take into account of thermal growth, either through manually
entered values or those measured in the OL2R measurement.
 Thermal Growth
&
Offline to Running (OL2R)
Considerations

DRAP 2005
 Offline to Running Condition
‹ Machine alignment has to be
accomplished when machine is shut-off.

‹ When performing alignment you have to

consider running conditions such as
thermal growth.

‹ Dresser-Rand spec considers this growth,

however this is may often not be enough
to ensure an aligned machine in running
mode.
 Offline to Running (OL2R)
‹ The Fixturlaser OL2R fixture
mounted on a motor and pump.

‹ Performing two measurements,

one in offline mode and one in
running mode, will give you the
correction values for a precision
alignment.

‹ The machine will be perfectly

aligned considering all forces and
movements from offline to running
condition.
The OL2R fixtures are mounted either
side of the coupling.
‹ The OL2R fixtures mounted
on a Dresser-Rand
Compressor and Lufkin
Gearbox.

‹ The OL2R system can

measure the difference in
shaft position while the
machine is running.
OL2R Fixtures are mounted either side
of the coupling
OL2R - What is it all about?
‹ Idea is to achieve desirable shaft alignment when machine is running at normal
operating conditions.

‹ Thermal Growth and pipe strains on machines can effect the shaft alignment.

‹ By measuring the “real” growth of a machine once it reaches its normal operating
condition we know how to offset machines in the alignment process to compensate for
this growth.

‹ Most thermal growths are calculated & predicted by machine designers.

‹ “Real” thermal growth measurement is a relatively new technology.

OL2R - How the measurement is done
‹ Brackets mounted either side of coupling.

‹ Lasers mounted on each bracket and adjusted so each laser beam hits the target on the
opposite laser head.

‹ With machine in Hot or cold condition, perform reference measurement by turning

lasers through 0900, 0300 and 1200.

‹ Once machine has reached hot or cold condition, perform the measurement again. The
difference between the two readings is the growth or expansion due to operation.

‹ The measured growth can now be compensated for in the shaft alignment process.
 OL2R- Brackets.

‹ M6 hole is drilled and tapped in

machine casing either side of
the coupling.

‹ Brackets are locked in position

using handles.
 OL2R - Setting up the laser heads
‹ Laser units are mounted on brackets and are set so that beams hit the
targets on the opposite laser head.
First condition is measured

‹ With machine in hot or cold condition, (which ever one you decide
to measure first) measurements are taken by rotating the brackets
through: -

‹ 0900

‹ 0300

‹ 1200
Cold Condition
‹ Results for cold condition are shown.

‹ This is considered reference position and it

is the change from this condition once the
machine reaches normal operating
condition that we are interested in.

‹ The same procedure will now be used to

measure hot condition (You must give the
machine enough time to reach normal
operating condition and temperature).
Hot Condition

‹ Hot condition is shown.

‹ The deviation between the cold and

hot measurements is the growth we
have measured.

‹ We must now compensate for this

in the shaft alignment process.
The Measured Growth

‹ When both hot and cold conditions

are measured the difference
between hot and cold condition is
shown.

‹ It is now possible to do a shaft

alignment using these target
values.
OL2R - Some considerations
‹ Measurement can only tell you difference between two conditions Hot/cold or Cold/hot.

‹ It can not tell you which part is moving. For this you will need to measure again from a
single reference point.

‹ The OL2R brackets - Once set in position, they CAN NOT be touched, bumped or
knocked by anyone other than the operator as this will cause error in the measurement.
You must inform everyone in the area to stay away and don’t touch.
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