The 8 benefits of using SKF bearings
Are you planning to buy SKF bearings for the application that you need?
If you’re still having doubts about buying bearings in this brand, here’s an article where you can know the benefits and advantages it can give you.
The SKF bearings have multiple benefits such as having a long service life, lower maintenance requirements, and can reduce noise levels which can give the customers advantage to have the best brand of bearings in the industry.
Their products can guarantee you the utmost service and satisfaction in using them.
Do you want to know more about this brand of bearings including the materials, designs, installment and replacement process, and standards? Then continue reading.
A. Overview of SKF bearings
The self-aligning ball bearing, which is still readily recognizable today, was initially patented by SKF in 1907, marking the beginning of the company's history.
It is one of the top two manufacturers of ball bearings in the world, together with Schaeffler, and is followed by Timken, NSK, NTN, and JTEK.
These six businesses collectively provide nearly 60% of the ball bearings in use today.
The company is headquartered in Sweden and has 17,000 distributor locations around the world in addition to 108 manufacturing facilities.
Industrial, which has a somewhat dispersed customer base, and automotive, which is the opposite and has a concentrated customer base that includes companies like Tesla, are the two business divisions that SKF operates under.
B. Benefits of using SKF bearings
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Benefit 1: Long Service Life
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a. High-Quality Materials Used in Construction
When the bearing is in use, the pressure at the rolling contact area and the cyclic over-rolling cause fatigue in the bearing rings. Rings made of steel must be hardened to withstand this wear.
The typical steel used for bearing rings and washers is 100Cr6, which has a carbon to chromium content of roughly 1% and 1,5%, respectively.
Steel is used to make SKF-bearing rings and washers following SKF requirements.
They cover every topic pertinent to giving the bearing a long service life.
Stainless steels or high-temperature steels are used by SKF depending on the particular requirements.
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b. Robust and Reliable Design for Maximum Durability
Several research-driven advancements have been incorporated into the latest generation of SKF Explorer tapered roller thrust bearings to maximize maximum drive performance.
In comparison to earlier tapered roller thrust bearing designs, SKF has been able to increase bearing basic rating life by up to 300 percent through a thorough redesign, simulation, testing, and manufacturing program.
SKF "air handling" ball bearing units include strong, low friction seals that make them suitable for HVAC applications.
These units are made to outperform regular ball bearings in fans.
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Benefit 2: Lower Maintenance Requirements
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a. Longer Replace Intervals
95% of the bearings are replaced before they fail for safety-related (preventive) reasons.
A total of 0.05 percent of bearings need to be changed because they are defective or damaged.
Accordingly, 50 000 000 bearings are changed annually 1 as a result of damage and failure.
Bearings can be harmed or failed for several reasons.
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b. Easy Installation and Operation
The shaft ends and housing bores should have a 10 to 20-degree lead-in chamfer to make mounting easier.
This is crucial since larger bearing applications may require skewing rings.
It may be useful to add recesses in the shaft shoulder and threaded holes in the housing bore to enable the use of withdrawal tools while removing bearings.
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Benefit 3: Reduced Noise Levels
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a. Optimized Geometry for Quiet Performance
The purpose of SKF Quiet Running Bearings is to reduce structural resonance between the rotor, stator, and bearings.
These bearings can lengthen relubrication intervals and boost bearing service life since they are less susceptible to the fluctuating operating conditions present in wind turbines.
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b. Seals and Cages to Reduce Vibrations and Noise Pollution
From bearing selection and lubrication to advanced engineering services like dynamic simulation, virtual testing, and design concepts, SKF offers a variety of solutions to deliver exceptionally quiet bearing operations.
A controlled alignment torque is included in the units, enabling better alignment of the bearing with the fan frame.
It lessens vibration and noise while reducing forces on the bearing.
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Benefit 4: Improved Performance in Extreme Environments
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a. High-Temperature Resistance
These products are ideal for use in kiln trucks, rolling hearth furnaces, and bakeries because SKF high-temperature bearings and bearing units are designed to give greater reliability, reduced complexity, and less environmental impact in operating temperatures up to 350 °C (660 °F).
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b. Corrosion and Abrasion Protection
The new SKF Food Line stainless steel deep groove ball bearing (suffix VP311) is being presented as a dependable option that satisfies industrial needs and standards to comply with regulations.
For nearly all food and beverage settings, SKF Food Line stainless steel deep groove ball bearings offer strong corrosion resistance.
The new SKF Food Line stainless steel deep groove ball bearings are the perfect answer for almost all applications in food and beverage processing since they comply with food safety regulations.
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Benefit 5: Greater Efficiency in Energy Consumption
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a. Reduced Friction Losses
In comparison to SKF standard bearings, their low-friction SKF Explorer deep groove ball bearings can reduce frictional losses by 30% or more.
The bearings are created for grease lubrication and are ideal for applications with light to medium loads.
By lowering bearing power losses, they also enable longer service lives and can boost application efficiency.
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b. Smooth Operation for Lower Power Costs
Cost savings, increased machine performance, and resource conservation.
With two performance classes of bearings, SKF has met the challenge.
It's a big ask. All of that and more are provided by the SKF Explorer and SKF Energy Efficient performance class bearings.
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Benefit 6: Higher Safety Standards
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a. Improved Sealing and Lubrication
You can pick from a variety of SKF seals when employing housings with bearings or split-bearing units.
The SKF standard selection, which offers acceptable sealing solutions for the majority of applications and operational circumstances, is discussed in the respective product areas.
You now have even more possibilities thanks to SKF rotating machined seals.
The SKF three-barrier approach can be used in extremely polluted situations.
The external housing seal serves as the first barrier, followed by the grease fill in the housing and the integrated bearing seal.
This sealing method can greatly increase bearing service life in polluted conditions.
SKF lubricants are created to meet your needs and are put to the test in actual situations.
Their knowledge of lubricants, applications, and bearings enables us to recommend the best lubricants for your needs and enhance your overall lubrication strategy.
Their strategy for providing superior lubricant quality across the globe involves testing and certifying each production batch.
SKF can help you with the appropriate lubrication for your machines thanks to specialized lubricant tests and ongoing research in the field of lubrication.
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b. Quality Assurance to ISO 9001 Standards
Suppliers to SKF are accountable for materials, components, and services that were outsourced.
If the given material, component, or subcontracted activity has an impact on the product quality or physical qualities of the product delivered to SKF, suppliers must guarantee that sub-suppliers and subcontractors have valid third-party QMS certification following ISO 9001.
If this stipulation is not followed, suppliers are not permitted to use the sub-suppliers or subcontractors without first receiving consent from SKF.
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Benefit 7: Can carry relatively high radial load
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Inner and outer ring raceways of angular contact ball bearings are separated from one another in the bearing axis direction.
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This indicates that these bearings are made to support combined loads, i.e., radial and axial loads that act simultaneously.
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As the contact angle rises, angular contact ball bearings' ability to support axial loads increases.
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The line connecting the places where the ball and raceways make contact in the radial plane, along which the combined load is transferred from one raceway to the next, and a line perpendicular to the bearing axis is known as the contact angle.
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Benefit 8: Ability to carry some axial load in both directions
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The non-locating bearing position (N and NU designs) of cylindrical roller bearings is frequently employed to allow axial displacement between the shaft and housing within the bearing, such as that caused by the shaft's thermal expansion.
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Only radial loads can be supported by these bearings.
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Axial loads can also be supported by cylindrical roller bearings with flanges on the inner and outer rings – NJ design bearings in one direction and NUP or NJ+HJ design bearings in both directions.
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The flanges and the ends of the rollers transmit an axial load between the inner and outer rings.
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A certain amount of sliding occurs in the contact area as a result of the kinematic conditions in the flange contact, increasing the overall friction in the bearing.SKF has consistently improved the roller end and flange profiles to help with this.
Conclusion
Having bearings that have the quality assurance to ISO 9001 standards, the benefits that are stated above are all SKF bearings scope to its masterpieces and work credibility to their products.
I hope this article helps you to decide to buy any of the SKF bearings that apply to your needs right now.