Electric turbines. Gas turbines. Water turbines. Wind turbines. Regardless of how your shaft or turbine is powered, it’s managing a substantial load. As the years go by, having proper shaft and turbine repair and maintenance becomes more and more imperative.

Shaft and turbine maintenance isn’t just applicable to companies in power generation. Manufacturers that generate on-site electricity to power their plants and manufacturing processes also stand to lose from improper turbine repair and maintenance.

Regardless of industry, it’s incredibly important to be mindful of how your equipment is functioning and performing. From your manufacturing and production efficiency to your profitability, smoothly functioning shafts and turbines have a big impact on your operation.

What does a properly maintained shaft or turbine help you accomplish?

From an operational standpoint, there is much less risk of downtime from restorative servicing and manufacturing interruptions. From a productivity perspective, your power generation station, compressor or pumps operate at peak efficiency. And last – but certainly not least – from a profitability outlook, you’re reducing the expense of overtaxing poorly serviced shafts or turbines. 

OEM Specifications: The Bare Minimum 

It’s a common misconception that OEM specifications are the tolerance guidelines to aim for to achieve maximum efficiency. But in some cases, it’s necessary to strive for higher specs than the OEM recommends.

When turbine repair is performed – whether for shafts, motors, compressors or rotors – these recommended specifications are what repair companies desire to meet. However, experts can achieve tighter tolerances, which lead to greater operational and machine efficiency. In addition, both your turbine’s run time and lifespan are directly correlated to its deviation from specifications.

What Tolerances Should Your Equipment Achieve?

It’s difficult to know if your turbine, shaft, compressor or rotor is running optimally if you don’t know what tolerances and specifications are best practices. To maximize their uses, you must achieve the following tolerances, which are at OEM specifications or better:

• Concentricity Tolerance: 0.0001" to 0.0005"
• Length Tolerance: 0.0005"
• Perpendicularity Tolerance: 0.0002"
• Roundness Tolerance: 0.0001" to 0.0003"
• Runout Tolerance: 0.0001"
• Size Tolerance: 0.0002"

What To Expect From A Turbine Repair Expert

A true precision grinding expert is going to provide you with three fundamental services for repairing a turbine or its shaft:

• Burnishing of probe areas
• Electrical runout measurements wherever applicable
• Precise dimensional tolerances on tapered fits, ensuring perfect geometric contact between the shaft and bearing

The best grinding facilities use computer-controlled grinders, which consistently produce the tightest tolerances possible. If you want to eliminate your vibration measurement errors and maximize your operational efficiency, seek out an expert capable of performing with precision.