NSK Self-Lube bearings help food
plant save over €54,000 a year
As a result of pillow block bearings that prove. The tortilla wraps travel from one In contrast, the introduction of NSK Self-
were failing every six weeks on the end of the dough prove, flip over on to the Lube Triple-Lip Sealed Units has produced
multiple-belt dough-prove section of a belt below, and travel in the other direction. zero failures over a 12-month period.
process line, a UK-based tortilla wrap This sequence is repeated until they enter These bearing units feature a nitrile rubber
manufacturer turned to NSK for help. the oven for baking. triple lip that is bonded to a protective
pressed-steel shield. As a result, longer
Investigations by NSK’s expert engineering
team attributed the failures to the ingress Dough-prove conveyors operate in harsh bearing life is achieved through superior
of flour particulates and set-screw conditions where they are exposed to flour seal performance.
loosening (shaft creep) due to vibration. A particulates and metallic debris from chain recommendation was subsequently made and sprocket wear (a number of rollers Additionally, the bearing units provide
to replace the tortilla wrap manufacturer’s on dough-prove conveyors are typically extended re-lubrication intervals, which
standard pillow block units with Self- driven by sprockets and chain). For the in turn greatly reduces maintenance
Lube Triple-Lip Sealed Units and eccentric tortilla wrap manufacturer, this operating costs and increases the productivity
locking collars from NSK. The replacement environment meant that two mounted of machinery and equipment. In total,
bearing units and one 35mm diameter the annual savings at the tortilla wrap
shaft required replacement approximately manufacturer have been calculated at
year, resulting in significant cost savings. every six weeks. €54,665.
Flour particulates can be extremely The bearings were reported as damaged Self-Lube Triple-Lip Sealed Units offer
beyond use due to heavy contamination simple implementation and represent a
on dough-prove belt conveyors. and creep damage to the bore, while ready replacement for existing bearing
the roller had to be replaced due to an units. They are available for both set-
The dough prove at the tortilla wrap undersized shaft diameter at the bearing screw and eccentric locking collar insert
fitting surface (from wear damage caused options, in metric and imperial bore sizes.
by creep). Importantly for the application at the
bearing units have successfully extended
operating life from six weeks to over one
damaging to incorrectly specified bearings
manufacturing plant has 42 rollers in total,
which prior to the NSK recommendation
were each supported by two pillow-block
bearing units with a single lip seal and set
screw locking arrangement. Rotation speed
is around 120-rpm. A belt is wrapped
around the rollers to convey the tortilla
wraps and retain them for long enough to
34 FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk
tortilla wrap manufacturer, the selection
Every failure would require a significant of eccentric locking collars successfully
number of man hours to perform the reduced insert loosening in service, without
replacement, and bring about substantial damaging the shaft.
machine downtime and costly production
losses.
www.nskeurope.com