Gear Assembly Maintenance Techniques Turbogears
Gear Assembly Maintenance Techniques Turbogears
Gear Assembly Maintenance Techniques Turbogears
Contents
• Assembly at MAAG
1.1 Gear Casing
1.2 Bearings
1.3 Rotors
1.4 Shaft Seals
1.5 Conservation
• Maintenance
3.1 Inspections
3.2 Replacement of Parts
3.3 Service Experience
• Foundation
1 Assembly at Renk-Maag
Although the components of a gearbox, as supplied to the assembly shop, are machined to a high degree of precision,
a certain amount of fitting and adjustment remains to be done during assembly in order to obtain the product quality
essential for the required performance standard of the gear unit.
Based on the example of a typical turbo gear with the two shafts, arranged in a horizontal plane, and mounted in a
gear casing split horizontally at the shaft centers, as shown in figure 1, we can describe the major steps of assembly
as follows:
Created: H. Davatz
26 Commerce Drive Gear Assembly and
Date: 1987
North Branford, CT 06471 Maint. Techniques of
Revision: J. Amendola
www.artec-machine.com Turbogears
Date: 14 Apr. 09
Type: Tech. Document Page: 1 of 12
Technical Document
The bolted casing comes finish-machined, precision-bored from the machine shop. The bottom (mounting)
surface and the casing separating surface are re-checked for flatness and parallelism. With the gear casing
mounted free of distortion (three-point-support) the two casing bores, which are to seat the bearings, are
checked with zero-clearance gauge shafts for parallelism. Using "prussian blue" the bores (bearing seats) are
checked against the gauge shafts for roundness, cylindrical shape and alignment of bores. Any remaining
deficiencies are corrected by scraping until a perfect solid seating of the bearings is assured.
1.2 Bearings
The two-piece bearings, as shown in figure 2, consist of hand-fitted stepped halves. They have been
machined with exactly concentric bores to the minimum specified bore diameters.
Created: H. Davatz
26 Commerce Drive Gear Assembly and
Date: 1987
North Branford, CT 06471 Maint. Techniques of
Revision: J. Amendola
www.artec-machine.com Turbogears
Date: 14 Apr. 09
Type: Tech. Document Page: 2 of 12
Technical Document
The bearings are seated in the gear casing and the bearing cap is adjusted, if necessary, to obtain a solid
zero-clearance seat that results in light pre-tension during operating as the bearings reach higher
temperatures than the gear casing.
The bearing bores are then finish-scraped to gauge shafts, of minimum nominal bearing diameters, assuring
cylindrical, perfectly lined-up bearings of identical diameter for each shaft. Parallelism of the shaft centers also
is controlled within very close tolerances.
The tilting pad thrust bearings are adjusted to the specified axial clearance by grinding the spacer ring.
1.3 Rotors
Correct gear tooth alignment is essential for satisfactory gear performance. At assembly, the gear tooth
contact has to conform to a specified no-load contact pattern relevant to the longitudinal tooth correction of the
particular gearset.
The no-load tooth contact is checked, with the gears mounted in the bearings, by applying "prussian blue" to a
few tooth flanks of the gearwheel, which are then rotated through the mesh to transfer the bluing to the pinion
teeth as a contact print. This pattern is recorded on a sheet of paper using scotch tape to transfer it from the
pinion tooth flank (see figures 3 to 7).
Created: H. Davatz
26 Commerce Drive Gear Assembly and
Date: 1987
North Branford, CT 06471 Maint. Techniques of
Revision: J. Amendola
www.artec-machine.com Turbogears
Date: 14 Apr. 09
Type: Tech. Document Page: 3 of 12
Technical Document
Created: H. Davatz
26 Commerce Drive Gear Assembly and
Date: 1987
North Branford, CT 06471 Maint. Techniques of
Revision: J. Amendola
www.artec-machine.com Turbogears
Date: 14 Apr. 09
Type: Tech. Document Page: 4 of 12
Technical Document
Created: H. Davatz
26 Commerce Drive Gear Assembly and
Date: 1987
North Branford, CT 06471 Maint. Techniques of
Revision: J. Amendola
www.artec-machine.com Turbogears
Date: 14 Apr. 09
Type: Tech. Document Page: 5 of 12
Technical Document
The correct no-load tooth contact, during assembly, ensures an appropriate full load contact. In order to
facilitate later checking of the full-load tooth contact some teeth of pinion and gear wheel are coated after shop
testing by a thin even layer of red lacquer which wears off within a short operating time showing clearly the
load contact of the gear teeth.
Also measured and recorded are bearing clearance and gear tooth backlash. With all parts having been
manufactured to specification, both are automatically within the correct range.
The horizontally split shaft labyrinths, made of either brass or aluminum, are individually seated in the casing
grooves for easy exchangeability and are checked for correct running clearance.
Created: H. Davatz
26 Commerce Drive Gear Assembly and
Date: 1987
North Branford, CT 06471 Maint. Techniques of
Revision: J. Amendola
www.artec-machine.com Turbogears
Date: 14 Apr. 09
Type: Tech. Document Page: 6 of 12
Technical Document
1.5 Conservation
After the shop test run, the gearbox is completely dismantled and thoroughly cleaned. During final assembly,
all machined surfaces of the gear parts are coated with a product for corrosion protection for shipment and
storage. The bearing surfaces are coated with non-drying conservation oil to allow the easy turning of the
shafts during later alignment. All internal screws and bolts are now secured since the gearbox does not have
to be dismantled for cleaning before start-up. The anti-corrosion coating will dissolve completely during
flushing of the system without harmful effect on the lube oil. The bolted gear case flanges are sealed with a
non-hardening sealant.
The main objective in gear erection, besides correct shaft alignment with the coupled machines, is to assure a
solid undistorted mounting of the gearbox as the most important precondition of a satisfactory gear
performance.
The gearbox is mounted on the base support pads with appropriate footing chocks or shims of equal thickness
(see figure 8). After rough alignment the correct seating of the gearbox on the base is checked carefully. No
gap (so-called "soft-foot") is allowed at any footing with tie-down bolts either loose or tightened.
Final shaft alignment should conform with drive train specifications as accurately as can be achieved, since
good alignment is essential to the satisfactory operating behavior of the train.
Created: H. Davatz
26 Commerce Drive Gear Assembly and
Date: 1987
North Branford, CT 06471 Maint. Techniques of
Revision: J. Amendola
www.artec-machine.com Turbogears
Date: 14 Apr. 09
Type: Tech. Document Page: 7 of 12
Technical Document
The no-load gear tooth contact, established during shop assembly, has to be rechecked during erection; the
first time after seating the rough aligned gearbox and the last time after final alignment. The check is done
through the inspection port or with the upper gear casing removed. The gearbox must always be uncoupled
and bolted down solidly.
On the assembly drawing of every gear unit is also a sketch showing the correct no-load tooth contact pattern.
If necessary the correct pattern has to be obtained by stepped shimming between gearbox and base, whereby
the solid seating of the gearbox on the base frame must be maintained. Using scotch tape to transfer the blue
pattern from the pinion tooth, a permanent record of the final contact check is obtained, and is filed with other
erection protocols for future reference. Finally the gearbox is secured against horizontal dislocation on the
base by installing the keys or pins at the gear base, and the couplings are installed.
Created: H. Davatz
26 Commerce Drive Gear Assembly and
Date: 1987
North Branford, CT 06471 Maint. Techniques of
Revision: J. Amendola
www.artec-machine.com Turbogears
Date: 14 Apr. 09
Type: Tech. Document Page: 8 of 12
Technical Document
Maintenance
The functional reliability of a gearbox is best maintained by continuous monitoring of the operating conditions
in conjunction with regular inspections by competent service engineers.
3.1 Inspections
Gear inspections are to be incorporated into the regular maintenance program of the whole drive train.
Minor Inspections
To be carried out at commissioning, after overhauls and thereafter once a year, these visual inspections are to
focus especially on the following items:
At full load the tooth contact should extend uniformly across the entire face width of the tooth flanks. The red
lacquer, with which some of the teeth are coated after shop testing or after overhauls, shows the load pattern
clearly.
For these inspections only the inspection cover on the upper gear case has to be opened, no further
disassembly is required.
Major Inspections
To be carried out during major overhaul shutdowns of the drive train, or during unscheduled shutdowns.
In addition to checking tooth load pattern very carefully (see minor inspections) the bearings and seals are
also checked and, in case of wear, the bearing clearance has to be measured. For these inspections the
gearbox has to be opened and partially disassembled. If inspection time is limited, e.g. during unplanned
shutdowns, the bearings and seals can also be removed without uncoupling or removing the gear shafts.
Bearings, seals or gears which show wear or deterioration of the working surfaces have to be replaced if they
cannot be refurbished to specification during the overhaul time.
Bearings
Created: H. Davatz
26 Commerce Drive Gear Assembly and
Date: 1987
North Branford, CT 06471 Maint. Techniques of
Revision: J. Amendola
www.artec-machine.com Turbogears
Date: 14 Apr. 09
Type: Tech. Document Page: 9 of 12
Technical Document
The two bearings of the shaft should preferably be replaced together since a difference in bearing diameters
will change the shaft alignment under load and with it the all-important gear tooth contact.
Spare bearings are delivered with the bore finish-scraped to be installed. They have been marked with an
arrow in the sense of rotation. At installation they are to be marked with numbers identical to those of the
replaced bearings (see figures 9 and 10). The seating of the bearings in the gear casing has to be rechecked
for tight seating, as the outside diameters of the bearings vary within tolerances.
After every change of bearings the no-load tooth contact has to rechecked, as does the tooth contact at full
load after restarting the drive train. The bearing clearance should be checked by measuring bore and journal,
and the resulting clearance recorded for future reference.
Created: H. Davatz
26 Commerce Drive Gear Assembly and
Date: 1987
North Branford, CT 06471 Maint. Techniques of
Revision: J. Amendola
www.artec-machine.com Turbogears
Date: 14 Apr. 09
Type: Tech. Document Page: 10 of 12
Technical Document
Seals
Labyrinth rings have to be fitted individually into gear casing and checked for correct clearance. The two
halves of each labyrinth are marked for correct installation.
Gears
Rotating parts are always replaced as a set. The same procedure for installation and checking, as is used
during shop assembly, has to be followed, including the tooth contact check after full load operation.
Replacement of gear parts should be carried out exclusively by competent, trained personnel, preferably by
MAAG specialists.
Given satisfactory operating conditions one may expect practically unlimited service life for all working parts of
a MAAG gearbox. The gear tooth flanks and white metal bearings do not noticeably wear if subjected to
design conditions of loading and lubrication.
• Rigidity of foundation
• Competence of erection work
• Alignment of drive train
Created: H. Davatz
26 Commerce Drive Gear Assembly and
Date: 1987
North Branford, CT 06471 Maint. Techniques of
Revision: J. Amendola
www.artec-machine.com Turbogears
Date: 14 Apr. 09
Type: Tech. Document Page: 11 of 12
Technical Document
Case hardened gears are generally not affected by high vibrations or temporary overloading. However, the
gear teeth may score from a localized breakdown of lubrication, caused by load concentration, when the full
load tooth contact extends over less than the full-face width.
Shafts and bearings may be damaged by impurities or process chemicals in the lube oil. Sometimes electric
currents can also damage the gear tooth flanks.
As damage to gears or bearings is often not detected in the early stages by the monitoring systems, the
regular gear inspections remain an important part of preventive maintenance.
The danger of corrosion by condensation during prolonged shut downs should not be overlooked. Corroded
bearing journals have to be reground to a smaller diameter, which would require non-standard bearings to be
supplied; while corrosion which penetrates the gear tooth surface often means replacement of the whole
gearset.
3 Foundation
The base frame, on which the gearbox is to be mounted, must be of rigid construction able to absorb the
considerable vertical and horizontal reaction forces of the gearbox without distortion.
The base frame design should provide individual footing surfaces at each anchor bolt of the gearbox (see
figure 8). These footings are to be machined accurately in a single plane.
Between the base footings and gearbox mounting surface solid chocks or shims should be provided to allow
for alignment adjustments in height.
The base frame also has to be designed to allow installation of the keys or taper pins that have to be installed,
to prevent any horizontal movement of the gearbox on the base, due to internal and external thrust forces.
Oil reservoirs as an integral part of gear foundations may have an ad- verse effect on shaft alignment and
tooth contact due to thermal growth.
Created: H. Davatz
26 Commerce Drive Gear Assembly and
Date: 1987
North Branford, CT 06471 Maint. Techniques of
Revision: J. Amendola
www.artec-machine.com Turbogears
Date: 14 Apr. 09
Type: Tech. Document Page: 12 of 12