ABSTRACT

CASING DISTORTION - THE HIDDEN ENEMY OF ROTATING MACHINERY

Misalignment is responsible for up to 50% of failures in rotating machinery. This affects the availability of the machines and therefore the capacity to produce and deliver as agreed and within expected costs. Besides direct loss in production and increased lifecycle cost, misalignment also has an impact on the energy consumption and emissions.

A failure in a rotating machinery caused by misalignment doesn’t necessarily mean that it has not been aligned. Too often, vital factors have not been taken into consideration or predicted. Alignment of rotating machinery is in majority carried out in a cold condition. The machines "come alive” when they are put into operation. In the presentation I will address soft foot, thermal expansion, pipe strain/nozzle load and how these generate case distortion. These key factors have an impact on the alignment in running condition and are vital in respect to the total lifecycle cost of the machine. I will explain why and how these factors occur and what measures that can be taken to reduce the impact.

BIO

Jan Lindström

28 years of experience as a mechanical engineer, including 13 years of experience in machinery installation and precision alignment.