(August 17, 2011)

NSK has helped one of the major production plants of a large Spanish automotive manufacturer to make savings of #8364;2,500 (£2,197) per annum on the operation of a drilling unit on one of its main assembly lines.



These savings have been provided by NSK as part of its Asset Improvement Programme, which is designed to take a holistic approach to bearing problems experienced in production environments.

The problem with the drilling unit was that its rear bearings were repeatedly failing after three to four months of operation, resulting in unplanned pauses in production and expensive downtime.

Having inspected the bearings, engineers from NSK suggested fitting the bearings with non-contact seals in order to achieve maximum speed with minimised friction.

Key features
NSK’s report observed that the problem arose from the ball bearing rotating at high speed, creating friction.

With the non-contact seals it suggested, NSK’s V-type seals, friction is not a problem as the seals are held in the outer ring of a bearing by the elasticity of the rubber seal material.

This allows bearings with V-type seals can be used at the same high speeds as bearings equipped with shields.

Since changing to non-contact seals, no bearing replacements have been required for more than a year — saving #8364;2,500 per year in maintenance costs.

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