Long-term reliable machinery installation

It’s about maximizing uptime, right from the start!

“Reliable machinery installation” – it sounds like an obvious thing, don’t you agree? But where does reliability actually start?

We all know that “the thing” starts with the design. The design stage decides what is going to be installed. Which equipment, and where. But there is no decision of Who is going to perform the installation, and How it is going to be installed. Most of the time those two departments are not cooperating, especially if they don’t belong to the same organization. The installation teams must be involved in the design because they will provide their feedback for reliable machinery installation. They know exactly how things work out there and how they need to be done.

Most machinery is designed to work on a flat and levelled surface. Every manufacturer of pumps, compressors, blowers, electrical motors, gear boxes assume that their equipment is going to be installed correctly, meaning on flat and levelled surface. And they also provide their tolerances for this. There are standards for the installation, too. ANSI standards recommend foot flatness less than 0.4µ/mm [5 mils/ft]. And coplanarity less than 50µm/mm [2 mils] between the machines and their drives for machines up to 400kW or 500 HP. ISO standard for centrifugal pumps for petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries (ISO 13709:2009) say clearly that “Corresponding surfaces shall be in the same plane within 150µm/m”. That is 0,15mm per meter. Levelness has the tolerances less than 0,8 µm/mm [10 mils/ft].

Checking the flatness of the foundation is essential. The foundation is the cornerstone for every single installation, irrespective of type. Mounting pads, soleplates, frames and tables. Everything you put on top of them is going to be affected. When the flatness is out of tolerances all rotating equipment is affected. Soft foot, misalignment, machine casing stress, pipe flange misalignment, and many other causes. But I want to mention specifically one, and that is strain in the bearings. The bearing is designed to rotate using the oil film lubrication. According to Swedish bearing manufacturer SKF, a free running bearing with the proper lubrication will rotate to infinity. When the bearing is squeezed, the lubrication film is forced out and contact metal-to-metal appear. Excess heat is generated, and your bearing is running into failure. That simple. All other failures will be linked to it. And it often started with a flatness issue. Levelness is another factor affecting heavily the equipment. Vertically installed bearings carry on horizontal loads and if you change their gravity point, the lubrication will move out of their race way. If you don't have proper lubrication film, there will be metal to metal contact. If you have splash lubrication in your machine, and you have unlevelled installation, you will move the oil away from the oil slinger. That will be the end of the story.

Why would you install your asset on bases which is not checked for proper flatness and levelness and face all the problems related to it? After reading this you can at least not claim “I didn’t know it was important...”

The all-new Easy-Laser® XT290 Digital precision level brings another very important feature to the XT range of products, addressing the above issues.

Using a precision level has never been easier. The built-in super clear colour display has a wide viewing angle. You are guided with both figures and graphics, and the angle value stabilizes in seconds. All this makes for an easier adjustment procedure. But what really makes it easy is when you connect it to the XT Alignment app. Then you follow the alignment in real time at the place on the machine where you adjust it – no more going back and forth to see if you achieved levelness yet or adjusted too far. This saves a lot of time and frustration!

The app also gives you the possibility to instantly create a professional PDF measurement report with pictures and notes, and then email it to e.g. your client.

For reliable machinery installation, this is the must-have addition to your shaft alignment system and your other tools.