Industry news

The SKF Circular Economy Centre has secured a new customer on the strength of its capabilities in bringing deliverables that combine optimised operations and cost savings with environmental benefits.  Aligning with SKF’s circular economy drive, the organisation continues to innovate its products, systems and services. One of SKF’s greatest strengths is the development of new technologies and value adding solutions to assist customers in achieving their economic and environmental sustainability goals. “This proud reputation prompted the customer, who is a leading operator in the mining sector based in Gauteng, to approach us in August 2022 for a bearing remanufacturing solution,” says Lourens Pretorius, SKF Circular Economy Centre Manager. “The customer later called for a further eighteen additional gearbox bearings to be sent in to SKF’s Reman Centre for assessment.” What initially started with a request for a site inspection of SRBs (Spherical Roller Bearings) while still on their respective shafts to determine if they were suitable for remanufacturing, was followed by a fully integrated solution from the SKF Circular Economy Centre. This included the supply of new and refurbished bearings, mounting tools and local engineering components as well as additional support services such as professional bearing fitment and a condition monitoring solution that called in the expertise of SKF’s Mechanical Field Service and Connected Technologies. “We remanufactured a total of 25 bearings and replaced three bearings that did not pass our remanufacture assessment requirements,” explains Pretorius. “We also supplied eleven new units as well as local engineering components comprising new bearing sleeves and lock nuts.”  Pretorius weighs in on the value that SKF’s specialist Remanufacturing Centre adds. “In the true sense of what makes up a circular economy, our remanufacturing capabilities enable us to reduce, reuse and recycle. Instead of being replaced, remanufactured bearings are given a new lease on life and are reused. As remanufactured bearings are much more cost-effective than new bearings we have kept costs down significantly for our customer.” “Moreover, the waiting period for certain large size bearings can be up to several months but as we are able to remanufacture bearings within three to five working days we have substantially reduced the lead times, getting our customer fully operational within only a few days.” Pretorius adds that SKF’s remanufactured bearings and units conform to the same geometric, form and quality specifications as new SKF products. The remanufactured components carry a one-year conformance warranty which is testament to the high quality and reliability of these products. And finally, Pretorius points to the fact that bearing remanufacture reduces material consumption; bearings not eligible for remanufacture can be recycled to produce new bearings, effectively closing the loop.  SKF’s Mechanical Field Service team stepped in to ensure that the bearings are correctly fitted by using a selection of Mapro mounting tools including a bearing heater, hydraulic nuts and spanners; a C-Spanner was purchased by the customer. In addition to providing a baseline vibration monitoring required by the customer to ensure that the equipment passes all the necessary requirements before commissioning, SKF’s Connected Technologies team was also able to provide baseline readings on other critical equipment. The complete SKF solution includes condition monitoring; vibration and temperature data is collected in real-time and is analysed…

Deep Groove Hybrid Radial Ball Bearings featuring Si3N4 Silicon Nitride Ceramic balls from LM76 complement their broad range of linear bearings that are FDA/USDA/3A Dairy compliant. These Deep Groove Stainless/Ceramic Hybrid Si3N4 Silicon Nitride Radial Ball Bearings are ideal for the extreme environments experienced in the food, drug, and dairy industries. Capable of high speeds, high radial and axial loads, 24/7 duty cycles, and extreme sanitizing procedures such as high-pressure washdown, and caustic foaming agents. The advantages of Stainless/Ceramic Hybrid Si3N4 Silicon Nitride Ball Bearings are longer life because of lower friction and vibration, lower thermal expansion, and heat transmission, therefore, catastrophic failure is all but eliminated. Balls made from Si3N4 Silicon Nitride are smoother than steel balls resulting in lower friction removing the chance of micro-welding or smearing resistance between mating surfaces, and as they will not deform under pressure higher loads are possible with no risk of spalling, and they have an electrical resistivity of 10^14. These deep groove radial bearings are ideal for use in Food, dairy, and pharmaceutical processing, deep space, underwater, assembly and sorting applications, high-speed spindles, cleanrooms, motors, and pumps. Heat and corrosion are two factors that lead to bearing failures. Ceramic Hybrid Si3N4 Silicon Nitride Balls are inert, low thermal, and electrical conductors and do not contribute to cross-corrosion between bearing components, and are unaffected by corrosive agents such as acids and salts. Longer life, higher speeds, and loads equal greater throughput and lower operating costs. Deep Groove Stainless/Ceramic Hybrid Si3N4 Silicon Nitride Ball Bearings are available with Nitrile or PTFE shields, with Stainless or Chrome Steel races, and with IDs of 3mm to 120 mm. Founded in 1976, LM76 has been a leading designer/manufacturer of linear bearings, slides, and linear motion systems. LM76 is renowned for its industry-leading Minuteman Teflon Composite linear bearings. LM76 is a leading supplier of precision linear shafting: RC60, 300 Series Stainless Steel, and ceramic-coated aluminum shafting. LM76 also offers several FDA/USDA-compliant linear bearings and slides for the food processing, pharmaceutical, medical, and packaging industries. (https://www.designworldonline.com) More About XBRZ: Xinzhou Bearing Industrial Inc. is one of the Custom Bearing Manufacturer and world wide Distributors of all types of Bearings,specializing in Ball, Needle, and Roller types (Inch and Metric Sizes) made from Ceramic (Si3N4/ZrO2), Stainless (440c/316) or Chrome Steel(SAE52100 steel); Tolerance ABEC1, 3, 5, 7.level. We work directly with our OEMs and Bearing Distributors. Our engineers can help you with bearing, shaft and housing tolerances as well as semiconductor applications, cryogenic applications, extreme hostile environments, and extreme  temperatures environments. We also stock other manufacturer’s bearings. We distribute bearings for extreme high temperature. We can help design/manufacture any bearing.   2023 New Week XBRZ Product Recommendation: Miniature Bearing： Miniature bearings are sometimes referred to…