Laser alignment: the initial journey
The process of laser alignment is the most important part of the long-coupled pump supply chain. While it’s only a small aspect of the entire manufacturing program, it represents a huge impact on the final product and the life of the pump.
Our comprehensive manufacturing process involves procurement, assembly welding, painting, packaging, and on-time delivery, which are all extremely important. But if laser alignment is not performed, all these steps are compromised.
Laser alignment involves precise alignment of both pump and motor shafts vertically, horizontally, and axially using specialised laser equipment and precision stainless steel shims. This is performed at the factory before dispatch.
The pumpsets are then subjected to forklifting, transport and craneage to their final install position. Here lies the requirement of onsite laser alignment: the pumpset endures a bumpy ride before reaching the site, resulting in misalignment. So laser alignment becomes an absolute necessity after your long-coupled pump has been installed.
Benefits of laser alignment
Laser shaft alignment is the most accurate and time-efficient option, ensuring optimal operation of your pumps from the start.
A pumpset that has been laser-aligned will deliver long-term reliability of service without premature issues of bearing, coupling + mechanical goal failures.
Masterflow Solutions Laser shaft alignment systems offer numerous advantages
- Laser beams are not affected by gravity or bracket sag. We use wi-fi connectivity from the laser sender/receiver to an iPad with software to match.
- Both laser tools are rotated to 9, 12 & 3 o’clock positions around the rotational centres of shafts. This process allows the laser to measure only the rotational centres and remain unaffected by shaft or coupling eccentricity or runout.
- Masterflow laser shaft alignment system has onboard software to calculate accurate values for shimming up and horizontal corrections.
- Our equipment stores both the uncorrected & corrected alignment values digitally, for integration into maintenance record systems by email.
- Masterflow technicians measure and correct soft foot, bolt bound or base bound conditions, and other similar shaft alignment problems relevant to long-coupled pump sets.
These laser shaft alignment tools are considered “state of the art” in most industrial and maintenance applications.
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Want to compare long-coupled pumpsets with close-coupled? See what our engineers say.