Food & Drink Process & Packaging Issue 24 2019 | Page 13

NSK Molded-Oil bearings extend service life in food plant conveyor application A vegetable processing plant in Germany For instance, the bearings are equipped is enjoying significant benefits following with NSK's proprietary oil-impregnated the adoption of Molded-Oil bearings from material, which comprises lubricating NSK. Principally, the move has helped oil and an oil-related polyolefin resin. the company extend the service life of This material releases the lubricant, bearings on a critical conveyor from which cannot be washed out due to two weeks, to 40, saving considerable its consistency, continuously over a maintenance costs and downtime in the long period. At the same time, the process. carrier material prevents water or solid Keen to resolve the question of why its impurities from penetrating the bearing. previous bearings were failing at such By adopting the bearings, service life at an unusually fast rate, and eliminate the plant has increased from two weeks the associated cost and time issues, the to more than nine months. This highly company asked NSK to investigate. successful outcome once again confirmed During the inspection, NSK experts soon determined the cause. Due to the rigorous hygiene standards demanded by food industry regulations, the system was cleaned thoroughly on a regular basis. However, it was found that the cleaning NSK's ‘rule of thumb’ that Molded-Oil effective contact seals (DDU) on both sides for even higher levels of protection. life of conventional grease-lubricated This option is available for the standard bearings in water and dust-contaminated environments. In this particular case, service life increased by a factor of 40. The plant is also experiencing many other of water to penetrate the bearings and, benefits. For instance, the operating as a result, wash away the lubricating environment remains clean because no grease. grease escapes and no oil needs to be refilled. by the frequently required wash cycles, Molded-Oil bearings are therefore ideally NSK recommended the use of its sealed suited to food industry applications, Molded-Oil bearings. where thorough and frequent cleaning A special tribology concept (tribology vegetable processing plant with highly bearings achieve at least twice the service process prompted considerable quantities To help combat the challenges presented NSK supplied the bearings for the processes are essential. is the science of wear, friction and The use of stainless steel for the bearing lubrication) has been implemented for components also contributes to this Molded-Oil bearings. suitability. range of Molded-Oil ball bearings. Molded-Oil is also available on spherical roller bearings and tapered roller bearings. The special features of Molded-Oil bearings and other bearing series developed by NSK for applications in food processing are described in a new brochure, which is available as an e-book on the website below. NSK Literature www.nsk-literature.com FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk 13