The Bearing Specialists Association (BSA) has released the latest addition to its single-topic Bearing Briefs, Smart Bearing Technology. Bearing Briefs are single-topic publications in a growing body of technical information designed by BSA distributor members and participating manufacturers to deliver expertise to meet the needs of the end user as well as bearing industry professionals. Smart Bearing Technology considers a technology that integrates bearings and sensors to monitor bearing performance.
Proper bearing analysis is the key to keeping equipment running efficiently, reliably, consistently, and cost effectively. Preventing costly bearing damage can enhance productivity, ensure peak performance and ultimately affect the bottom line. Manufacturers use “smart” bearing technology to monitor bearing operation. Smart bearings are instrumented with sensors to provide information about their surrounding environment, including speed, direction, temperature, vibration, load, levels of debris and other factors. Once smart bearings gather the data, they feed it to a control unit that is used to monitor the particular bearing operation. For example, smart bearings used in automotive wheel applications collect speed data used to operate anti-lock brakes.
In industrial applications, the data collected by smart bearings is often matched with condition monitoring programs where being aware of temperature and vibration levels is essential to preventing bearing failures. Specific applications include, but are not limited to: automotive wheel speed and direction feedback, machine control, robotic control, printing industries, paper converting, web processing, wood processing, chemical production, textile, agriculture machinery and food. Smart Bearing Technology considers smart bearing types, available sensors, and conditions monitoring.
Like all other BSA Bearing Briefs, Smart Bearing Technology is available free by downloading from “Tools You can Use” on the BSA website, www.bsahome.org.
Bearing Briefs are a program of BSA’s Educational Services Committee. These special bulletins present summarized information on topics of interest to the bearings industry. Previous reports have included Bearing Repair, Bearing Installation Fitting, Ceramic Bearings, Wear Sleeves and Other Shaft Repair Options, Vibration Analysis, Seal Selection, Load Ratings and Bearing Life, The Domestic Bearing Industry: Investing in the Future, Status of Bearing Load Ratings, History of Adhesives, Plane Bearings, A Brief History of Bearings, Linear Bearings, Bearings for the Food and Beverage Industry, Ball Screws as Positioning Actuators, Spherical Plane Bearings, Planetary Roller Screws, Split Roller Bearing Technology, Bearing Mounting Tools, and Understanding Linear Actuators. Bearing Briefs are just one of a variety of education and training programs and publications provided by the Association.
BSA is the “must belong to organization for authorized bearing distributors.” An international service and educational organization of distributors representing a total of almost 100 companies distributing factory-warranted ball-, roller-, and anti-friction bearings and invited manufacturers of bearings and related products, the association’s mission says, “BSA is the forum to enhance networking and knowledge sharing and promote the sale of bearings through authorized distributors.”
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NTN Earns Recognition as a John Deere ＂Partner-level Supplier＂ For 2007
Delphi Cleared to Sell Bearings Business for $46.2M to Kyklos
