Crane Application - Documented Cost Saving
Great Cost Savings for Crane Application
A customer was experiencing regular wheel bearing failure and loss of grease from the bearings in an automated crane application, within a product distribution center. The customer had to change 40 wheel hub units over a 5 year period. NSK carried out a bearing failure analysis confirming that the wheel bearings were suffering from lubrication starvation and radial pre load. A solution were to come.
To overcome this, NSK recommended the use of pre-greased NSK Sealed Double Row Angular Contact Bearings with an increased radial internal clearance of C3. A trial of 8 wheels, using the modified crane wheel assemblies with NSK bearings, was carried out with no bearing failures reported over 12 months. The solution increased productivity and reduced maintenance costs resulting in a significant cost saving of 58.176 €.
Key Facts
• Material handling and warehousing
• Frequent bearing failure resulting in customer changing 40 wheel hubs every 5 years
• Bearing failure causing significant production down time and high costs
• Lubrication starvation & particle ingress
• Radial pre load problems
• Expensive OEM parts
• NSK Solution: pre-greased Sealed Double Row Angular Contact Bearings with C3 clearance
• Productivity improvement & cost saving generated
Background Information
• Sector: Material Handling
• Country: UK
• End-product: Boxed items for general sale
• Application: Crane Application in Distribution Centre
• Number of machines: 25
• Approx. Lifetime: 1 1/2 months
• Problem: Ingress of contamination, lubrication starvation and radial pre load
Value Proposals
• NSK engineering conducted an Application Review and a Bearing Failure Analysis showing lubrication starvation and radial pre load within the original bearings causing subsequent failure and lubrication fall out
• NSK engineering reviewed the original wheel design recommending the use of a pre-greased sealed NSK Angular Contact Bearing issuing modified wheel machining drawings and a fitting procedure for correct assembly
• A trial was agreed to modify 8 crane wheels with the use of pre loaded and sealed NSK Angular Contact Bearing
• The result of the trial was an increase of bearing life, reduction of maintenance costs and increase in productivity resulting in a large cost saving
Product Features
• Seals RSR: made of nitrile rubber reinforced with an embedded steel disc
• Contact seals providing excellent protection against the ingress of contamination, reducing wear on the raceways and ball surface, reduced noise, vibration and risk of lubricant failure
• Accommodate radial and axial forces in both directions