40 n HAZARDOUS AREAS February 2026 www.drivesncontrols.com Aligning shafts can save millions in hazardous plants If a pump starts to vibrate in an oil refinery, the consequences could be costly. Every minute counts. What starts as a misaligned shaft can have serious repercussions. A misalignment of just a few hundredths of a millimetre in rotating machine parts – electric motors and connected pumps, for example – can generate axial and radial forces that overload bearings, couplings, and shafts. The result is gradual wear – or sudden downtime, potentially costing millions. To avoid such problems, the shafts of rotating machines need to be aligned correctly. Easy-Laser, headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, is a leading manufacturer of laser alignment systems. It supplies around 1,500 systems annually to customers in more than 80 countries, including energy producers, steel mills, chemical plants, and waterworks. “Our systems ensure that rotating machines such as pumps and compressors are aligned with precision – both during commissioning and as part of regular maintenance cycles,” explains the company’s head of product management, Peter Sandström. “Maintenance teams and machine installers use the systems worldwide – in some plants once a year, in others every week. Easy-Laser’s equipment ensures that the rotating axles of two coupled machines are aligned. This must be achieved in the field. Instead of working with feeler gauges or rulers, end-users now rely on alignment systems such as Easy-Laser’s XT550, which detects the position of the shafts relative to each other, even in tight installation spaces. The shafts are rotated carefully, either by hand or with an auxiliary motor, to obtain accurate data. Around 10–15% of Easy-Laser's customers operate in potentially explosive areas classified as Zone 1/21 and Division 1, according to Atex and IECEx. In such areas, there is a risk of combustible gases, vapours or dusts occurring in flammable concentrations. Such locations include oil refineries, tank farms, chemical plants, sugar and grain processing sites, and biogas plants. All devices for use in such applications must be intrinsically safe (Ex-i) and approved for explosion protection, both in terms of their electrical and thermal properties and in terms of mechanical stresses, radio behaviour and surface temperature. Before being used in hazardous areas, every electronic device must be certified as not constituting an ignition source – either through sparking or through heating. In addition to Atex certification, Easy-Laser's specifications included further criteria, such as robustness and reliable use when wearing gloves. “Here in Scandinavia, cold, humidity and working with gloves are part of everyday life,” Sandström points out. Easy-Laser needed an Ex-certified tablet that could be used in such conditions to guide technicians step-by-step through the measurement, adjustment, and re-measurement process. Before choosing a suitable tablet, the company carried out pilot projects with several customers, including a large Scandinavian refinery. The aim was to put the system, including the tablet, through its paces under real-world conditions. It also evaluated the system’s integration into existing IT structures and the handling of safetycritical documents – such as permits or plant diagrams. The evaluation process took around six months. Based on these trials, Easy-Laser chose an 8-inch tablet from Pepperl+Fuchs, certified for use in Zone 1/21 hazardous areas. The Tab-Ex 03 device is based on a Samsung Galaxy Tab Active3 tablet. As well as having Atex certification, the intrinsically safe tablet has a replaceable 5,050mAh battery with up to eleven hours of runtime, and a bright, glove-friendly touchscreen. In a typical application, increased vibrations are first reported by a pump’s condition-monitoring system. The plant is shut down planned and a maintenance team is dispatched with the shaft alignment system. The tablet, running Easy-Laser’s XT Alignment app, guides users through the measurement and adjustment process. They record the deviation, correct it, and create documentation on site, including measurement data and, if necessary, images. Everything is stored audit-proof and later transferred to a central system. Easy-Laser is now selling the XT550 system as a complete package including the tablet. It also makes the XT app available for customers to download and run on their own Ex-certified devices. n Machine vibrations in hazardous plants such as refineries can lead to unplanned downtimes that cost millions. One way to minimise such risks is to check the alignments of shafts of machinery using equipment specifically designed for use in hazardous environments. Easy-Laser’s shaft alignment can be operated in hazardous areas via an Atex-compliant tablet
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