The Effects Of Misaligned Equipment

Perth, Western Australia, Jun-27-2017 —  /EPR INDUSTRIAL NEWS/  — Nexxis are one of Australia’s leading suppliers of specialist remote visual inspection (RVI) technology and non destructive testing (NDT) equipment and they have all the answers to your equipment misalignment problems.

Industrial operations are losing huge sums of money because the centrelines of the shafts of their rotating equipment (such as pumps and motors) aren’t running on the same axis and are therefore misaligned – with some industry sources going as far as saying that shaft misalignment is to blame for up to 50% of all machine breakdowns.

And when you consider that a survey by a leading rotating equipment service company found that less than 10% of machines that were evaluated were aligned within acceptable tolerances, misalignment is clearly a widespread problem.

Here are some of the costly and damaging effects of equipment that is poorly aligned or misaligned.

Excessive vibration
Misalignment is one of the leading causes of vibration problems – and as the reliability of the machine corresponds directly with the level of vibration, excessive radial and axial vibrations will impact negatively on performance. All rotating equipment will produce a certain level of noise, but when the shafts are misaligned and the equipment vibrates excessively, noise levels will also escalate correspondingly.

Premature failure of seals and bearings
Accelerated failure of seals and other parts is costly – and even the slightest misalignment can result in excessive force and stress being put onto the bearings and seals. Replacement parts are expensive, plus there’s also the risk of damage and contamination of other components from the leaking fluid from the stressed seals and bearings.

Increased energy costs
Misalignment correlates directly to higher power consumption as the machines are less efficient and therefore draw greater amounts of energy.

Excessive heat
In the same way that variations in temperature can cause misalignment, misalignment can cause machines to overheat which results in lubrication issues as well as safety risks.

Broken shafts
Misalignment can cause the shafts to break or crack – and this can lead to unplanned downtime and production problems as well as costly equipment repair.

Higher operating costs, loss of production and increased maintenance costs
Misaligned machinery generally has a shorter service lifespan and this premature failure of capital equipment adversely affects outputs as well as negatively impacting the operation’s balance sheet. Higher maintenance costs, costly downtime, unexpected capital costs for equipment replacement, increased inventory for spare parts and even the potential for catastrophic machinery failures are all consequences of misalignment-induced mechanical failures.

Inferior quality outputs
Misaligned machinery can also result in inferior or defective products which can impact on profitability.

Implementing a careful and thorough preventative maintenance programme will go a long way towards minimising the risk – and the associated costs – of misaligned machinery. To find out how a customised solution can ensure that your operation runs at optimum efficiency, you should contact Nexxis on 08 9418 4952 or via their website, nexxis.com.au.

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LSP Technologies Procudo® Laser Peening System can deliver 20 pulses per second – the fastest laser peening system ever built

Dublin, Ohio, USA, Jun-14-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — LSP Technologies announces the sale of its state-of-the-art Procudo® 200 Laser Peening System to the ZAL Zentrum für Angewandte Luftfahrtforschung in Hamburg, Germany. The equipment is being delivered to the ZAL TechCenter in Hamburg during the 3rd quarter of 2017, and being used to study metal fatigue enhancement applications for the civil aviation industry.

“We are very excited to introduce the first production-quality commercial laser peening system into Europe,” said Dr. Jeff Dulaney, President and CEO of LSP Technologies, Inc. “Laser peening is becoming the aviation industry standard for increasing fatigue strength in titanium and steels, and LSPT’s Procudo® Laser Peening System is the most powerful and versatile machine available for component service life extension.”

Laser peening is a proven method for significantly increasing the fatigue life and fatigue strength of metals. The mechanical surface enhancement process utilizes a high-energy pulsed laser beam to impart compressive residual stresses up to twenty times deeper than shot peening. The compressive stresses introduced by laser peening add strength and robustness to metal parts by improving their resistance to damage, fatigue, crack initiation and crack propagation. Benefits of the process include: extended component service life, reduced maintenance and repair costs, improved part performance, and enhanced resistance to failure. The process has been employed for years by major aerospace OEMs including GE Aviation and Rolls Royce.

LSP Technologies’ Procudo® 200 Laser Peening System is the only commercially available laser designed exclusively for laser peening. It employs a diode-pumped, pulsed YLF laser that produces a flat-top beam for smooth energy distribution and consistent processing. The flexible system offers selectable laser parameters, along with custom controls and diagnostics developed from LSPT’s 20 years of laser peening experience. Engineered for high-volume production processing, the Procudo® Laser Peening System can deliver 20 pulses per second, making it the fastest laser peening system ever built.

The Hamburg Center of Applied Aeronautical Research was established in 2009 as a technological research and development hub for the Hamburg Aviation Network. It is a public-private partnership that not only includes collaboration from some of the aviation industry’s largest organizations, such as Lufthansa and Airbus, but also from suppliers, SME, universities, research institutions, start-ups and many more. The ZAL TechCenter opened in Hamburg in 2016, and the 95-million-euro facility immediately became one of the largest and most advanced aeronautical research facilities in the world.

LSP Technologies is the world’s premier laser peening services, technology and equipment provider. It is the only company in the world selling, installing, and integrating state-of-the-art laser peening systems into manufacturing and research facilities. The company has been providing laser peening production services for clients in the aviation and power generation industries for over twenty years, and has been awarded more than fifty patents for innovations in laser peening equipment and technology.

SOURCE: EuropaWire