Accurate Alignment Adds Onstream Hours

摘要

Properly aligned machines run so smooth that bearings, seals and other internal components wear very slowly due to absence of pre loads. The resulting 4-years or even longer continuous machine runs extend the interval between process plant turnarounds - a vital necessity for survival in these days of huge complex, capital intensive and very high capacities single stream plants. Unfortunately many maintenance crews are not fully clear of the various techniques of reliable alignment such as Reverse Dial Alignment (RDA). Ignorance of alignment tolerances result in crew wasting too many hours in achieving needlessly fine alignment or handing over poorly aligned machines succumbing to pressure from production personnel and too short service lives therefrom. They still use outdated and inadequate techniques like hacksaw blade alignment, rim and face alignment, which yield poor alignment and in turn cause frequent machine outages and unaffordable low plant availability of modern high-capacity machines of immense potential. This article is intended to remove the intimidation felt of RDA and encourage its wider use for the huge industrial undertakings running for longer times between turnarounds and saving astronomical sums of money, which would reach the common public too by way of lower prices of commodities produced.