Our expertise for plant engineering
Plant engineering in heavy industry poses special challenges for rolling bearing technology. Recycling and waste plants, steel and gravel plants and the cement industry are extreme areas of application. After all, the rolling bearings here are exposed to dust and dirt, high temperature fluctuations and, last but not least, impacts and vibrations. For this reason, the bearing technology must be designed to be particularly robust and durable.
The requirements at a glance:
- extremely high load capacity
- impact and vibrations loads
- low speed
- special requirements for the tribology
- very good sealing against contamination and optimum corrosion protection
- simple maintenance/mounting/dismounting
ABEG® performance classes for plant engineering bearing
High loads and low speeds place special demands on lubricants because load ratings alone cannot contribute to a long service life. Accordingly, it is important to focus on heavy-duty roller bearing greases and excellent sealing technology. Using the ABEG® method, we identify functionally critical bearing points that can extend the overall service life of the unit through targeted optimization. At the same time, we avoid oversizing and help engineers achieve savings wherever it makes sense – for example by switching to lower-cost roller bearings in a different ABEG® performance class that nevertheless meet the requirements for the respective application all along the line. In doing so, we create economic room for industry-specific products, for example with excellent sealing technology.
Application examples for plant engineering
Plummer blocks in bucket elevators: Reaching new heights with the right rolling bearing technology
The belt bucket elevators of BEUMER Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG are true powerhouses when it comes to vertical conveying of bulk goods: They guarantee high resistance to wear, even in cases of highly abrasive materials, and can provide outputs of up to 2,000 cubic meters per hour. The drive drum is supported using special plummer blocks from Findling Wälzlager, which have a shaft diameter of 60 to 300 mm. The products need to support high loads at low speeds of 30-45 rotations per minute and be operational at temperatures of -25°C to 40°C. No problem for Findling’s relubricatable spherical roller bearing units, which are used with a grease having a viscosity of 220. For a shaft diameter of 60-140 mm, a two lip seal should be chosen. A labyrinth seal should be chosen for larger shaft diameters. Findling delivers different configurations for housing bearing units with or without end covers or seals just-in-time. In some cases, the bearings have an EU certificate of origin and are intended for use both in Europe and abroad.
Findling Wälzlager’s spherical roller bearing units have another convincing aspect to them: The good price/performance ratio thanks to Findling Wälzlager’s ABEG® method. This method is a transparent and reliable basis for decision-making in order to prevent over- and undersizing of roller bearings. The result of the consultation for BEUMER was a selection of performance classes spanning all 14 sizes with which savings of 25-30% could be achieved. It was important to calculate the service life based on Lnmh, taking lubrication into account. If the calculation were carried out based on L10 h, the service life would have been below the goal of 60,000 and use under the given conditions would not have been possible. Taking into account a suitable grease and bearing geometry, service life values of four to ten times the required service life were achieved and demonstrated.
Robust bearing technology for special washing installations
Housing bearings are available from Findling Wälzlager GmbH in special designs that are also well suited for extreme operating conditions. The particularly robust solutions have also proven themselves in the passenger train washing systems of KMS Klaus, Müller, Schenk GmbH. There, the special housing bearings can play out their advantages all along the line: Their corrosion resistance, low maintenance requirements and good price/performance ratio are impressive.
The flange bearings of the UCFL series are an example of a particularly durable solution by Findling. The bearing unit consists of an FL-209 type two-hole flange bearing housing and a suitable bearing insert, which KMS purchases in an M1 design. The latter means that the entire bearing insert is burnished. During this process, the workpieces are bathed in an acidic or alkaline solution, as a result of which
Housing bearings with outstanding sealing technology
FloBack and flinger ring
UC series bearing inserts come with effective sealing as standard. The flinger ring rotates with the inner ring and immediately slings away coarse dirt upon impact. The FloBack seal located behind the flinger ring protects the bearing interior against fine dirt.
Our premium manufacturer FYH meets the increasing demands for functioning protection against contamination with various seal designs that are incorporated into the bearing and can be supplemented by additional accessories. Steel sheet caps are clipped into a groove in the housing (E design = with groove). The interior can be filled with grease to improve the sealing effect even further and to bind dirt. Cast caps can be screwed onto the corresponding housing to protect against very coarse dirt (F design). FYH offers backside guards to ensure that flange bearings are better protected from the rear.
The images are taken from FYH’s main catalog.
