Posted to News on 16th Oct 2010, 18:02
Upgraded bearings save manufacturer EUR38,400 per year
A manufacturer of concrete pipes is saving EUR38,400 per year through reduced downtime thanks to a switch from standard bearings to NSK's Molded Oil bearings.
NSK's asset improvement programme has delivered an annual cost saving of EUR38,400 for a manufacturer of concrete pipes. This has been achieved by using NSK Molded Oil bearings to replace the original bearings that were lasting two to three months on average; this reduced failures on the blade support roller of a concrete pipe-slotting machine, as the Molded Oil bearings have so far operated for 12 months without any failures.
The problem on the original bearings, as identified by an NSK applications engineer, was the ingress of concrete dust. This is a common problem in the industry: the dust combines with bearing lubricant to produce an abrasive mixture that causes premature bearing failure. In this instance, the dust-contaminated lubricant was causing failures four times per year, with each failure resulting in eight hours' downtime, at a cost of EUR1200 per hour.
To overcome the problem, NSK's engineer recommended using bearings equipped with Molded Oil, a solid lubricant technology developed by NSK for bearings used in remote locations and/or where oil- and grease-absorbing dust is encountered.
Molded Oil has been proven to transform the performance of bearings used in machinery and equipment - in terms of reliability, maintenance intervals and operation - in environments exposed to contamination. It also enables plant operators to make real cost savings by replacing existing, and often costly, methods of lubricating machine parts.
Highly effective, Molded Oil is claimed to differ from other oil-impregnated plastics - in which the oil content is a mere few per cent by weight - by offering a lubricating oil content of more than 50 per cent by weight. This enables the material to maintain a good lubrication regime at all times, helped by the mechanism of oil discharge from the matrix; this is temperature-dependent, so the higher the heat generation, the higher the oil discharge rate. Operating temperatures are normally limited to 60degC.
About NSK's Asset Improvement Programme
NSK's AIP (Asset Improvement Programme) is a portfolio of value-added services that help end-user bearing customers in all market sectors to reduce their operating costs and improve efficiency and profitability. These benefits are achieved by delivering tangible savings to assets, such as equipment and machinery, and also by improving the working knowledge of maintenance and engineering personnel.
