Bearing specification reduces wear and protects food safety
Friction, flour and failure
Bearing specification reduces wear and protects food safety
Spend five minutes in a commercial bakery and the environment speaks for itself. Ovens run hot, conveyors rarely stop and a fine layer of flour finds its way onto almost every surface. It’ s an environment defined by temperature extremes, contamination and tight production schedules. In this environment, small mechanical components are expected to perform flawlessly, and that includes industrial bearings. Here, Chris Johnson, managing director of bearing specialist SMB Bearings, explains how selecting heat resistant, sealed bearings can improve reliability in bakery operations.
The scale of the commercial bakery sector makes reliability nonnegotiable. According to the Food and Drink Federation, food and drink manufacturing is one of the UK’ s largest manufacturing sectors. It contributes over £ 35 billion annually to the UK manufacturing
78 FDPP- www. fdpp. co. uk turnover, which is almost a quarter of the total.
Bakeries represent a significant share of that output. Because of this, high throughput production, retailer supply contracts and narrow operating margins leave little room for unplanned downtime.
Reliability isn’ t a luxury
So, where do small industrial bearings fit into all of this? Industrial bearings are positioned near burners, within oven conveyors or adjacent to industrial dryers. They operate under sustained elevated temperatures, conditions that accelerate lubricant oxidation and degradation.
Put simply, as oxidation progresses, grease loses its viscosity and film strength. This weakens the lubricating barrier between the rolling elements and raceways in bearings.
Friction rises and internal temperatures increase further, creating a cycle that rapidly shortens bearing life.
To give a bigger picture, around one fifth of global energy consumption is used to overcome friction according to the Global impact of friction on energy consumption, economy and environment report from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Belgrade. Therefore, tribological losses represent a measurable share of total energy demand in industrial systems.
Production stoppages
Some bearings are designed specifically for moderate industrial temperatures. But, in many cases, these components only survive a fraction of their intended lifespan inside demanding food manufacturing equipment, like a tunnel oven assembly. When grease breaks down, metal-to-metal contact