Shaft alignment is the process of aligning two or more shafts with each other to within a tolerated

margin. It is an absolute requirement for machinery before the machinery is put in service.
When a driver like an electric motor or a turbine is coupled to a pump, generator, or any other piece
of equipment, it is essential that the shafts of the two pieces are aligned. Any misalignment between
the two increases the stress on the shafts and will almost certainly result in excessive wear and
premature breakdown of the equipment. This can be very costly. When the equipment is down,
production might be down. Also bearings or mechanical seals may be damaged and need to be
replaced. Flexible couplings are designed to allow a driver (electric motor, engine, turbine, hydraulic
motor) to be connected to the driven equipment. Flexible couplings use an elastomeric insert to
allow a slight degree of misalignment. Flexible couplings can also use shim packs. These couplings
are called disc couplings. Tools used to achieve alignment may be mechanical or optical, like
the Laser shaft alignment method, or they are gyroscope based. The gyroscope based systems can
be operated very time efficient and can also be even used if the shafts have a large distance (e.g. on
marine vessels).
Before such a shaft alignment can be done, it is also essential that the foundations for the driver and
the driven piece are designed and installed correctly. If that is the case, then shaft alignment can be
started.
The resulting fault if alignment is not achieved within the demanded specifications is shaft
misalignment, which may be parallel, angular, or both. Misalignment can cause increased vibration
and loads on the machine parts for which they have not been designed (i.e. improper operation).
A major part of keeping equipment running smoothly involves regular maintenance and upkeep and ensuring
that the machinery is kept lubricated and properly aligned.

When shafts or belts on rotating equipment are misaligned, the risk of costly, unplanned machine downtime
rises dramatically. Misalignment also damages seals and couplings. Lubrication problems often can be traced
to seals that have been compromised by shaft or belt misalignment. Simply replacing a seal will not stop future
seal failure and associated loss of lubricant — only correcting the misalignment will solve the problem.

Failure to align the shafts or belts properly will increase the amount of stress on the units, resulting in a range
of potential problems that ultimately can seriously impact a company’s bottom line:

 Increased friction, resulting in excessive wear, excessive energy consumption, and the possibility of
premature breakdown of equipment
 Excessive wear on bearings and seals, leading to premature failure
 Premature shaft and coupling failure
 Excessive seal lubricant leakage
 Failure of coupling and foundation bolts
 Increased vibration and noise

Onsite Balancing and Analysis

ProcessBarron has a fan balancing and vibration analysis field service team dedicated to field fan
balancing, solving field fan vibration problems, fan start up and technical field installation
services.
Our service engineers are heavily experienced in analyzing fan bearing issues and fan
catastrophic failures.

Fan Balancing
Fan balancing can minimize a host of problems. All wheels manufactured or repaired by
ProcessBarron are balanced in accordance with A.N.S.I. S 2.19 using a quality grade of G6.3
(G2.5 or G1 grade upon request), and the IRD Mechanalysis 290T Balancing Instrument
Operating Manual.

In-shop fan balancing is conducted at operating speeds of approximately 240-300 RPM, with the
IRD computer analyzer compensating for the actual operating speed of the industrial fan. Our
service team will balance your fan wheel to the correct manufacturer’s tolerance specification,
and provide a Certified Wheel Balance Report.

Rotor balancing under operating conditions

Unbalance is the most common cause of damage in rotating machines. It can be found in fans,
ventilators, belt pulleys and couplings. The enormous centrifugal forces resulting from the uneven
mass distribution generates high vibrations during rotation, which affects the entire machine
construction. This can cause bearings, seals and couplings to wear prematurely or even fail.
An unbalance is easy to detect in the vibration spectrum because it vibrates in sync with the shaft
rotational speed. Its energy is concentrated at the first harmonic spectral line. This can be remedied
by balancing the installed rotor with a portable balancer, a process known as field balancing.

Balancers from PRUFTECHNIK are optimized for detecting and eliminating unbalance in just a few
steps. Besides standard applications, such as industrial fans of all sizes and shapes, the balancing
devices are also ideal for special requirements, such as field balancing of rotor blades on wind
turbines.

One common definition of balance is when the mass centerline and the rotational
centerline of a rotating part are equal. Another definition is when zero vibratory force
or vibratory motion is imparted from the rotating part to the bearings. Field
balancing is a technique used to balance a rotating part in place without removing the
part from the machine. The advantages of field balancing are apparent, in that time
can be saved by not removing the rotating part from the machine and sending it to a
shop for balancing. An additional benefit is realized in ensuring that the rotating part
is balanced as installed.
When field balancing, one must have access to the rotating shaft and have an area to
place trial weights and correction weights. As seen in Figure 1, the access
requirements for field balancing eliminate many machines as field balancing
candidates.