Use a spreadsheet for turbomachinery alignment

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Hydrocarbon Processing; (United States)

OSTI ID:6582016

Cassolato, B M ^[1]

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1. Cassolato (Brad M.), Sarnia, Ontario (Canada)

Turbomachinery shaft alignment has an impact on plant profitability and safety. A simple sign error in the alignment process may incur days of production loss to correct, or worse if the mistake is undetected. Positioning large machinery, such as a centrifugal gas compressor weighing many tons to within thousandths of an inch, is laborious time-consuming work. Overhaul plans should specify the exact techniques, tools, desired results and quality assurance checks to be used in the alignment stages. The methods must be established by proven experience and best practices. The reverse indicator method is the most common precision alignment technique. The paper presents an instructional step-by-step development of a typical spreadsheet program for the reverse indicator method. The screen interface comprised of a cell range combining formulae and graphics provides the context for spreadsheet entries described in the following discussion. The worksheet is protected to disallow over-writing formulae and graphics, except in cell ranges reserved for input data. The program is designed to be user-friendly and comply with industry accepted practices. Special programming experience is not required of the operator.

• OSTI ID: 6582016
• Journal Information: Hydrocarbon Processing; (United States), Journal Name: Hydrocarbon Processing; (United States) Vol. 74:1; ISSN HYPRAX; ISSN 0018-8190
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420200* -- Engineering-- Facilities
Equipment
& Techniques
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990200 -- Mathematics & Computers
ALIGNMENT
COMPRESSORS
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
DATA ACQUISITION
DATA ANALYSIS
EQUATIONS
EQUIPMENT
GAS COMPRESSORS
MACHINE PARTS
MACHINERY
MAN-MACHINE SYSTEMS
MECHANICAL SHAFTS
SHAFTS
TURBOMACHINERY