Benefits of alignment

The Easy-Laser ® systems makes it possible to deal with most alignment problems thus eliminating unnecessary wear and tear and limits breakdowns. Maintenance cost is being reduced and the availability is being increased, resulting in substantially improved earnings for the users.

Typical problem	Reduce with Easy-Laser®
Lost production
Leaking seals
Increased vibration
Higher energy consumption
Bearing failure
Shaft breakage
Coupling wear
Quality problems

Example of savings when using the Easy-Laser® BTA: (PDF document)

Sheave/pulley alignment

Belt drives also count as rotating machines. These also has to be aligned within the prescribed tolerances. Specially different kinds of timing belts are sensitive for misalignment, cutting the life time.

When transmissions with two or more parallel mounted belts are misaligned the difference in belt tension between the inner and outer belt can be substantial, and the efficiency is greatly decreased. More belts of course means larger money, because all belts has to be replaced at the same time, regardless of if it is just one belt that is weared out.

Sheave/pulley alignment: A comment from a Customer

Well knowing what poorly aligned belt transmissions are causing, the problem had not been seriously dealt with until Damalini AB presented the first laser based tool on the market, the Easy-Laser® BTA, for these kinds of alignments.

"When we learnt about the BTA we realised immediately that we would make substantial savings", states Jan Ove Westlund, responsible for mechanical maintenance at Stora Enso, Fors which is one of the largest paper mills in Sweden. He continues: "Since we started to use the BTA to align our belt transmissions we have found that replacements of the belts and other moving parts has been greatly reduced. This has of course also resulted in improved availability in our process. With our more than 250 belt transmissions this amounts to very big savings. The fact that the tool is user friendly, in principle automatic makes it extensively used."

(Another company, Swedish Steel in Borlänge, has more than 200 belt transmissions in their works. A belt driven package costs approximately 500 USD. If the running times without breakdowns can be doubled it means savings of 250 USD per package. If every BTA is used for 50 packages a year the return amounts to 12,500 USD annually.)

Other machinery

The Easy-Laser® systems cover most industrial applications. For example, big diesel engine makers such as MAN/B&W are annualy aligning hundreds of engines around the world with the Easy-Laser® systems.

Engine breakdowns on vessels due to poor alignment are among the most common types of breakdowns causing repair and unavailability losses of about 250,000 USD per ship. Modestly calculating MAN/B&W are of the opinion that they avoid some 20 breakdowns annually thanks to the Easy-Laser® systems.

Paper mills like Stora Enso, Fors run their machines 24 hours a day with a production value of 10,000 USD an hour. Roughly they claim that the availabilty in the whole papermaking process has been improved by a day per year thanks to the Easy-Laser® systems indicating savings of the magnitude of some 240,000 USD annually.