Saturday, September 13, 2014

The Importance Of Alignment Technology

By Carey Bourdier


Every part of our lives every day has been touched by precision alignment technology. This includes everything from the creation of the coffee maker that brewed our morning cup of coffee to the structural integrity of the building in which we work each day. Proper alignment creates perfect products and helps to ensure our day-to-day safety.

Alignment technology and precision engineering are used to create plans for dams, bridges and even roads. After these structures are built, the engineers monitor the integrity of the structures as they age. Failure to closely monitor these dams and bridges can lead to catastrophic failure, which can lead to mass destruction and death. Bridges must be checked to ensure that warping has not occurred, and dams must be looked at to ensure that the structure has no distortions or bulges.

There are instances where proper alignment instruments are not used, and the result is a disaster such as the bridge collapse over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, which killed 13 people and injured nearly 150 people. Hand held levels and level sensors should have been used to check for vibrations and shifting, which might have warned engineers about the structural issues before the bridge's collapse.

When it comes to buildings, engineers must be on hand to ensure that structures are built on solid, level ground and that construction is carried out properly and that buildings can withstand earthquakes and extremely tall buildings can withstand high winds. After completion of a project, engineers must still monitor buildings for structural changes and recommend any necessary repairs or retrofitting. While this is obviously essential for older construction, even recent buildings can contain construction flaws that can impact the design and integrity.

Engineers use a wide variety of highly precise levels, but engineers and surveyors also use many other instruments to ensure the structural integrity of these skyscrapers, bridges and buildings. Inclinometers, for example, are used to measure the movement of the walls of a structure or perhaps the movement of the ground under a structure. An inclinometer measures the angles of slope, depression and elevation of an object. If these measurements have changed over time, this might indicate structural problems.

There are many other industries that depend on precise calibration and alignment to ensure safety. Both military and civilian vehicles, from boats to automobiles, must be perfectly engineered to make sure that serious problems do not arise. These problems might be minor or they could cause major issues that lead to injury or perhaps even death. We depend on engineers to design products that are safe and strong.




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