Shaft Laser Alignment
- Industry

Understanding Shaft Laser Alignment

Shaft laser alignment is an important service for many businesses that ensures machines are running at optimal levels. Whether in heavy industry or manufacturing, having elements within machines or skewed processes can mean misshapen products or broken components. These analyses and solutions give you the tools to check every element and ensure all parts are moving as they should be. From pistons to compactors, read on to find out more about these tools and services. 

How The System Works

Laser monitoring systems consist of a light emitter and a sensor that work together to map the distance. The emitter is mounted using a bracket and chain to one shaft, and the sensor is mounted to the other to get a complete range. The emitter shoots a laser across the shaft to the sensor in a single beam setup. Sometimes both sides emit light, and both simultaneously act as a sensor. In that situation, it is known as a dual beam system, which is best used in certain applications.  In either situation, as the light is sent out, the shaft is rotated to find the centre lines of rotation between the two moving parts. The sensors send the information to a display showing the alignment details. Units may be offset, have an angular misalignment or both, which can be detected and corrected accordingly.

Implementation At Your Facility

This service or maintenance process should be a common practice within facilities’ critical equipment. Usually, this process is done after 3-6 months of operation to ensure the equipment’s parameters are still ideal. With the right professional tools, you can effectively and efficiently analyze your components and ensure all elements align with the expected parameters. When you implement these tools and services into your business process, you better understand the health of machines and where you could be losing time or money. Reduce your downtime and repair costs as you not only lessen the chances of breakdown but also greatly reduce the wear and tear on machines. Investing in these resources and abilities lowers your overall costs, helping you refine your maintenance process. With the right components in the right places, you can ensure your machines will run at optimum levels for far longer. 

The Importance Of Solutions

Machine misalignment can be responsible for roughly half of all rotating component breakdowns. However, misalignment causes excessive vibration and friction, putting high loads on seals, packing, couplings and bearings. It can also cause temperature fluctuations due to increased friction, energy loss and even motor failure. These improper elements can damage and even halt your ability to produce or work. On the other hand, properly aligning these elements will use less lubricant, lower noise levels, increase equipment life and waste less energy. When you have misalignment, you can cause more mess and debris around the workspace and create overheated machines that could cause further injury when malfunction inevitably occurs. When you can operate each machine knowing that all components are in line, you can ensure a safer, more productive space that can operate at the best possible levels.   

A shaft laser alignment system can be essential to your business, ensuring all machines operate as intended. Without these maintenance tasks in your process, you risk increased downtime and repairs when the machines break. Professional solutions ensure you have the right insight and analyses of your machines to run them at optimum levels. Contact us today to find out more about these tools and services.