Industrial Bearings are seeing innovations. plastic and self-lubricating bearings are fast making a entry.
By Madhukar Joshi
Last quarter, leading industrial and automotive supplier, Schaeffler India Ltd (formerly FAG Bearings India) announced the launch of its new range of FAG SNV Housings. SNV Housings are the new split plummer block housings which are quick to mount and easy to lubricate. Schaeffler India launched SNV Housings with an aim to provide similar German quality products manufactured locally. SNV Housings find applications in paper processing industry, mining, materials processing, agricultural machinery as well as power stations. The newly launched housings provide a host of benefits including reduced installation time, reduced maintenance, longer rolling bearing life, simplifying stock holding due to modular concept and more. The new range of housings are particularly easy to install and replace. It is no longer necessary to use special housing designs in many standard applications.
Harsha Kadam, president, Schaeffler Industrial Business, stated, “The launch of our new product SNV Housings is another milestone for our industrial business in India. We have always strived to offer the best in industry to our customers and am very proud that we have kept the momentum. These split plummer blocks are high quality housings designed and manufactured as per local customer needs, which also means higher degree of customization and modular design for easy installation, maintenance and replacement. The new range will deliver premium and hassle free performance in all its applications to our customers”.
The organised bearings industry has started using mobile technology with bar codes and scan mechanisms, tamper-proof packaging and laser marking to make it difficult for counterfeiters.
In terms of bearings, polymer bearings, commonly known as plastic bearings, are the latest development in the bearings industry. A bearing is made up of four different parts: inner race, outer race, cage, and balls. The combination of these parts in unison allows smooth and friction free motion. In polymer bearings, the inner race, the outer race, and the cage are all made up of plastic and the material used for manufacturing balls depends on the kind of applications and environmental conditions it gets subjected to. Materials that can be used to manufacture balls include plastic, stainless steel, and glass. Polymer bearings provide numerous advantages over other bearings. This includes resistance to corrosion, chemicals, and fatigue, self-lubrication, lightweight, low co-efficient of friction, and quiet operation. Polymer bearings is an ideal option in applications where steel bearings cannot be used, owing to their corrosive tendencies. Furthermore, they are economical than the other types of bearings. Therefore, these are used in various applications in industries such as food & beverages, textile, medical & pharmaceutical, and electrical. However, polymer ball bearings cannot be subjected to applications involving high loads and prolonged exposure to temperatures exceeding 300°F. This calls for need to use traditional bearings such as stainless steel bearings and ceramic bearings. Ceramic bearings offer numerous advantages. They overcome most limitations generally encountered in the other two bearings, and can be subjected to high temperatures up to 1800°F and high loads. Despite these advantages, ceramic bearings are used less, as they are expensive. Thus, polymer bearings are widely being used, as they are economical and offer large number of advantages. The market for polymer bearings is expected to expand at a steady pace owing to the increasing usage of these bearings in a large number of industrial applications.
Based on the type of ball used in the bearings, the market for polymer bearings can be segmented into plastic ball bearing, glass ball bearing, and stainless steel ball bearing. The choice of the material to be used for balls highly depends on the kind of conditions and applications the bearing is subjected to. Plastic balls are generally used when there is a need of light weight, noise free operation. Glass balls are employed when a comparatively lighter option is required in a metal free application. Glass balls also exhibit less magnetic properties. The polymer bearings market is likely to expand significantly in Asia Pacific owing to factors such as rapid industrialisation and economic, infrastructural development in countries such as India, China, and Japan. Key players operating in the polymer bearings market include Schaeffler Group, SKF, Timken Company, RKB Bearing Industries, and NSK.
Bearings need regular maintenance if they have to keep the machine running.
Making them clean
Considering that demand for clean energy is becoming louder around the globe, it has also brought in new global players to the Indian market. This has opened up opportunities for partnerships with local manufacturers. According to an industry spokesperson, the biggest challenge for the Indian bearings industry is increased in-flow of bearings from the Chinese market; this increases the pressure on domestic industries. He adds that the big challenge, though, comes for increased imports of Chinese bearings, which puts pressure on domestic industries. The Indian industry representatives have also demanded an anti-dumping policy (similar to that made for steel) from the government. The consumption pattern for industrial users has gone up. So the demand is certainly showing positive signs of growth. As India gets better on infrastructure, factory output and exports grow, Make in India takes off and this makes us a strong defence player.
Robotics and automation are facts of the modern industrial environment. As they become more adaptable and more intuitive, manufacturers are realising their potential to reduce costs, increase production and provide greater efficiency and competitiveness. At the end of the day, though, robots are collections of components and, of these components, some of the most crucial are bearings. However, robotics presents particular challenges in terms of bearings.
Thin section bearings deliver higher speed, improved efficiency, and high levels of accuracy as well as reduced friction and impressive design flexibility. Because there is very little difference in size between the internal and external ring, they also reduce the weight and bulk of an application, making them an ideal choice for robotics, where both footprint and weight are premium items. However, because they are so thin, it is necessary to pay particular attention to the roundness of the ring itself. If you take a thin section bearing without any lubricant and spin the inner ring, a light squeeze of the outer ring between finger and thumb will stop the bearing in its tracks, thanks to the high level of flex in the device. As a result, the manufacturing process has to be extremely precise to ensure the highest possible degree of roundness in both rings, as well as good noise levels in the bearing itself.This will normally call for fine grinding and machining, complimented by a very high level of quality in both the process and the raw materials. If the rings are not perfectly formed, even a minute discrepancy will stop the bearing running as smoothly, producing excess noise.
The manufacturing process has to be extremely precise to ensure the highest possible degree of roundness in both rings, as well as good noise levels in the bearing itself.
SKF has added an easier and faster bearing evaluation tool to its shaft analysis software portfolio. SKF SimPro Quick bridges the gap between SKF’s basic online software tools and its recently released flagship multi-shaft analysis application, SKF SimPro Expert, while maintaining compatibility with SKF’s in-house engineering software. With this comprehensive choice of system modelling and engineering analysis software, SKF is now able to provide its customers with a range of tools that match their individual needs. SKF believes that for the vast majority of its customers, SKF SimPro Quick will provide sufficient power for detailed analyses of single-shaft/multiple bearing systems while being both simple and quick to use. Moreover, customers can make use of SKF SimPro Quick with relatively little effort without having to undergo several days of specialist training.
SKF SimPro Quick is a single-shaft/multiple bearing simulation software tool that can quickly evaluate the design of bearing arrangements and their performance, based on customers’ specified application requirements and the conditions under which the bearings will operate. Based on the vast wealth of SKF engineering knowledge, SKF SimPro Quick gives the customer more freedom in their machine design processes and product choices, without necessarily having to consult SKF on bearing selection and shaft configurations.
In terms of self-lubricating bearings market, the global market is expected to grow significantly during the forecast period, posting a CAGR of more than 9%. This growth is attributed to factors such as global economic growth, increased manufacturing and construction activities, rising energy demand, and income levels. Advances in technology coupled with the need for energy-efficient and high-performance bearings in industrial equipment and machinery will further assist in the growth of the self-lubricating bearings market.
igus, the German engineering plastics specialist, is expanding increasingly into robotics. At the heart of the robolink Apiro kit are newly-developed lubricant- and maintenance-free polymer worm-gears which can be used to achieve, for example, six axes in articulated robots. The lightweight, low-play gears use solid lubricants and are resistant to chemicals and corrosion. Igus is planning to produce gearboxes with linear motion, and inverted and conventional worm gears in four different sizes which can be combined to achieve complex movements.
However, the bearings market also has its fair share of troubles. While reputed bearings manufacturers are contributing to bettering user operations with quality product offerings and services, there are other parties who are producing counterfeit industrial bearings. Such products are a menace to both vendors and users. While vendors suffer losses to reputation and business, unsuspecting customers get cheated. In rare cases, counterfeits are preferred by those who do not understand the long-term economics and only go for the initial price advantage, which is outweighed by long-term problems and resulting costs. However, large companies understand the implications quite well. This is a serious and grave threat to the end-user. Most companies engage experts who fight this threat legally and support industry bodies to curb this menace. Lately, the organised bearings industry has started using mobile technology with bar codes and scan mechanisms, tamper-proof packaging and laser marking to make it difficult for counterfeiters.