Yaskawa Environmental Energy has invested in a new rotor balancing machine for our factory in Lappeenranta. The aim of the investment is to increase our employee safety as well as to meet the tougher quality regulations of our turbo customers.
The new balancing machine arrived in November 2019, and commissioning took place in the middle of the same month. Since then, it has been used for balancing the SRM 355 A, F and K machines as well as SRM 315 machines.
The balancing machine runs at 1,000 rpm, but also operates at higher or lower speeds according to need. Additionally, it can test the balance of rotors from 100 up to 1,500 kgs. Testing a rotor once takes up to three hours, but sometimes it has to be tested six or seven times to get it balanced perfectly.
The tolerance limits of our testing are very strict. The rotor balance needs to be within 0.04 mm to be acceptable, which is a significantly smaller margin than the standards require. If test results exceed the limits, our experts will make the extremely accurate fine-tuning and adjustments.
Ensuring quality
It is also possible to get a balancing certificate according to the ISO-1940-1 G-class standards. For some rotors, we have divided the balancing class to ensure quality and prevent vibrations. Our turbo machine balancing helps fulfill customer requirements so that they have proof that their rotors have been properly tested – and that they are accurately balanced, especially for such high speeds. Customers can now get a balancing certificate for every rotor, both in electronic and paper format.
“This part of our process was outsourced earlier. Now, the final output is better by having the rotor balanced in-house. This leads to shorter lead times and better control of the entire process and documentation when we can control everything in our own facility,” says Production Engineer Henri Paukkunen