Turbine Alignment Products
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ON-LINE MONITORING OF COUPLING ALIGNMENT

 

PROPER ALIGNMENT OF TURBOMACHINERY HAS LONG BEEN RECOGNIZED AS A PREREQUISITE TO SAFE, TROUBLE-FREE OPERATION.  BENCHMARK GAUGES PROVIDE A SIMPLE, RELIABLE, AND EFFECTIVE MEANS OF OBTAINING ON-LINE DATA FOR MONITORING COUPLING ALIGNMENT.

Benchmark gauges offer a simple, reliable, and effective means of securing hot alignment data for turbomachinery trains by accurately measuring the movement of the machines relative to the machine foundation.  With the Acculign system, benchmarks are permanently attached to the foundation and to the machines at or near each bearing location.  When the machines are aligned in the cold condition, benchmark gauges are used to measure the distance between pairs of benchmarks.  These measurements are recorded, as are the angles at which the measurements are taken.  When the machines are brought on line and attain normal operating temperature, the distances between benchmark pairs are again measured and recorded. Vertical and horizontal movements of the machines can then be calculated from the recorded data, as can actual running alignment of the equipment.  A PC program is provided for these calculations.

Since their introduction in 1971, Acculign benchmark gauges have gained wide acceptance by industrial users by offering the following advantages:

 

* The technique is simple, reliable, easily-understood, and requires no special technical skills 
* Vertical and horizontal movements of the machines are obtained with equal ease.
* The stainless steel benchmarks are permanent and easily maintainable for long-term monitoring.  Once the benchmarks are mounted, setup time for hot checks, or re-checks, is minimal.
* Data-taking is a one-man job.
* The tools are simple, reliable, and require minimal calibration.
* Since the benchmarks are easily mounted by field personnel, the system is equally applicable to existing equipment and to new installations.  Factory shop modifications to equipment are not required.
* The method is adaptable to cramped quarters.  There is sufficient flexibility in the choice of benchmark locations such that interference with piping, instrumentation, or other equipment is seldom a major problem.
* Easily-used PC programs make data reduction quick, simple, and accurate.
* Benchmark gauges are by far the most cost-effective means of obtaining reliable hot alignment data

An additional advantage of the Acculign system is the ability to reverse the normal procedure to obtain alignment data for equipment already in operation.  Benchmarks can be applied to a machine while it is in operation (using proper safety precautions, of course), and reference measurements taken and recorded.  Then, when the machine is taken off line, another set of measurements are taken, along with simultaneous coupling alignment checks.  From this data, it can be determined whether or not alignment corrections need to be made.  A specific shutdown for alignment checks is often eliminated by this procedure.

 

 

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600 Lytton Lane, Dale TX 78616 - ph(512)302-3866 fax(512)302-3831
mark@acculign.com