Shaft alignment is the process of aligning two or more shafts with each other to within a tolerated margin. The resulting fault if alignment is not achieved within the demanded specifications is shaft misalignment, which may be offset or angular. Faults can lead to premature wear and damage to systems.
When a driver like an electric motor or a turbine is coupled to a pump, generator, or any other piece of equipment, the shafts of the two pieces must be aligned. Any misalignment increases the stress on the shafts and will almost certainly result in excessive wear and premature breakdown of the equipment.[ citation needed ] This can be very costly. [1] [2] When the equipment is down, production requiring the equipment may be delayed. Bearings or mechanical seals may be damaged and need to be replaced.
Shaft alignment is the process of aligning two or more shafts with each other to within a tolerated margin. The process is used for machinery before the machinery is put in service.
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Before shaft alignment can be done, the foundations for the driver and the driven piece must be designed and installed correctly.[ citation needed ]
Flexible couplings are designed to allow a driver (e.g., 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.[ citation needed ] These couplings are called disc couplings.
Tools used to achieve alignment may be mechanical, optical (e.g., laser shaft alignment), or gyroscope–based. The gyroscopic systems can be operated very time efficiently and can also be used if the shafts have a large distance (e.g., on marine vessels).
The resulting fault if alignment is not achieved within the demanded specifications is shaft misalignment, which may be offset, 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).[ citation needed ]
There are two types of misalignment: offset or parallel misalignment and angular, gap, or face misalignment. [3] [4] With offset misalignment, the center lines of both shafts are parallel but they are offset. With angular misalignment, the shafts are at an angle to each other.
The offset misalignment can be further divided up in horizontal and vertical misalignment. Horizontal misalignment is misalignment of the shafts in the horizontal plane and vertical misalignment is misalignment of the shafts in the vertical plane:
Similar, angular misalignment can be divided up in horizontal and vertical misalignment:
Errors of alignment can be caused by parallel misalignment, angular misalignment or a combination of the two.
A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. The primary purpose of couplings is to join two pieces of rotating equipment while permitting some degree of misalignment or end movement or both. In a more general context, a coupling can also be a mechanical device that serves to connect the ends of adjacent parts or objects. Couplings do not normally allow disconnection of shafts during operation, however there are torque-limiting couplings which can slip or disconnect when some torque limit is exceeded. Selection, installation and maintenance of couplings can lead to reduced maintenance time and maintenance cost.
A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth, which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic principle behind the operation of gears is analogous to the basic principle of levers. A gear may also be known informally as a cog. Geared devices can change the speed, torque, and direction of a power source. Gears of different sizes produce a change in torque, creating a mechanical advantage, through their gear ratio, and thus may be considered a simple machine. The rotational speeds, and the torques, of two meshing gears differ in proportion to their diameters. The teeth on the two meshing gears all have the same shape.
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.
A bearing is a machine element that constrains relative motion to only the desired motion, and reduces friction between moving parts. The design of the bearing may, for example, provide for free linear movement of the moving part or for free rotation around a fixed axis; or, it may prevent a motion by controlling the vectors of normal forces that bear on the moving parts. Most bearings facilitate the desired motion by minimizing friction. Bearings are classified broadly according to the type of operation, the motions allowed, or to the directions of the loads (forces) applied to the parts.
Constant-velocity joints allow a drive shaft to transmit power through a variable angle, at constant rotational speed, without an appreciable increase in friction or play. They are mainly used in front wheel drive vehicles. Modern rear wheel drive cars with independent rear suspension typically use CV joints at the ends of the rear axle halfshafts and increasingly use them on the drive shaft.
A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft, propeller shaft, or Cardan shaft is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect other components of a drivetrain that cannot be connected directly because of distance or the need to allow for relative movement between them.
Torsional vibration is angular vibration of an object—commonly a shaft along its axis of rotation. Torsional vibration is often a concern in power transmission systems using rotating shafts or couplings where it can cause failures if not controlled. A second effect of torsional vibrations applies to passenger cars. Torsional vibrations can lead to seat vibrations or noise at certain speeds. Both reduce the comfort.
A belt is a loop of flexible material used to link two or more rotating shafts mechanically, most often parallel. Belts may be used as a source of motion, to transmit power efficiently or to track relative movement. Belts are looped over pulleys and may have a twist between the pulleys, and the shafts need not be parallel.
A coupling rod or side rod connects the driving wheels of a locomotive. Steam locomotives in particular usually have them, but some diesel and electric locomotives, especially older ones and shunters, also have them. The coupling rods transfer the power of drive to all wheels.
Condition monitoring is the process of monitoring a parameter of condition in machinery, in order to identify a significant change which is indicative of a developing fault. It is a major component of predictive maintenance. The use of condition monitoring allows maintenance to be scheduled, or other actions to be taken to prevent consequential damages and avoid its consequences. Condition monitoring has a unique benefit in that conditions that would shorten normal lifespan can be addressed before they develop into a major failure. Condition monitoring techniques are normally used on rotating equipment, auxiliary systems and other machinery, while periodic inspection using non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques and fit for service (FFS) evaluation are used for static plant equipment such as steam boilers, piping and heat exchangers.
A fluid coupling or hydraulic coupling is a hydrodynamic or 'hydrokinetic' device used to transmit rotating mechanical power. It has been used in automobile transmissions as an alternative to a mechanical clutch. It also has widespread application in marine and industrial machine drives, where variable speed operation and controlled start-up without shock loading of the power transmission system is essential.
A reduction drive is a mechanical device to shift rotational speed. A planetary reduction drive is a small scale version using ball bearings in an epicyclic arrangement instead of toothed gears.
In mechanical engineering, a key is a machine element used to connect a rotating machine element to a shaft. The key prevents relative rotation between the two parts and may enable torque transmission. For a key to function, the shaft and rotating machine element must have a keyway and a keyseat, which is a slot and pocket in which the key fits. The whole system is called a keyed joint. A keyed joint may allow relative axial movement between the parts.
A disc coupling, by definition, transmits torque from a driving to a driven bolt or shaft tangentially on a common bolt circle. Torque is transmitted between the bolts through a series of thin, stainless steel discs assembled in a pack. Misalignment is accomplished by deforming of the material between the bolts.
A jaw coupling is a type of general purpose power transmission coupling that also can be used in motion control (servo) applications. It is designed to transmit torque while damping system vibrations and accommodating misalignment, which protects other components from damage. Jaw couplings are composed of three parts: two metallic hubs and an elastomer insert called an element, but commonly referred to as a "spider". The three parts press fit together with a jaw from each hub fitted alternately with the lobes of the spider. Jaw coupling torque is transmitted through the elastomer lobes in compression.
Noise and vibration on maritime vessels are not the same but they have the same origin and come in many forms. The methods to handle the related problems are similar, to a certain level, where most shipboard noise problems are reduced by controlling vibration.
A giubo, also known as a flex disc, and sometimes misspelled as guibo, is a flexible coupling used to transmit rotational torque between the drive shaft and the companion flange on mechanical devices, such as an automobile engine.
The balancing of rotating bodies is important to avoid vibration. In heavy industrial machines such as gas turbines and electric generators, vibration can cause catastrophic failure, as well as noise and discomfort. In the case of a narrow wheel, balancing simply involves moving the center of gravity to the centre of rotation. For a system to be in complete balance both force and couple polygons should be close in order to prevent the effect of centrifugal force. It is important to design the machine parts wisely so that the unbalance is reduced up to the minimum possible level or eliminated completely.
The Geislinger coupling is an all-metal coupling for rotating shafts. It is elastic in torsion, allowing it to absorb torsional vibration.
A Schmidt coupling is a type of coupling designed to accommodate large radial displacement between two shafts. Consisting of an arrangement of links and discs—three discs rotating in unison, interconnected in series by three or more links between each pair of disks—a Schmidt coupling can adapt to very wide variations in radial displacement while running under load. Couplings can be made to allow radial displacement greater than twice the radius of the disks.