SKF has unveiled a pioneering model which, for the first time, allows the working life of hybrid bearings to be predicted more realistically.
The Generalized Bearing Life Model (GBLM) will ensure that customers and distributors choose the right bearing for the right application, every time, the company says.
Until now, it has been difficult for engineers to predict whether a hybrid bearing will outperform a steel one in a given application, or whether the possible performance benefits that hybrid bearings make possible are worth the extra investment they require. The conventional equations engineers use to calculate the rating life of a bearing do not reflect the real-world performance of hybrid designs.
To rectify this issue, in 2012 engineers at SKF started to develop what would become the Generalized Bearing Life Model. A primary version of the model was presented at the Hannover Messe in 2015, but at that stage the model was not ready yet to perform calculations for hybrid bearings. Scientists and technicians at SKF centres in the Netherlands and Austria needed four more years were to incorporate this feature into the GBLM.
Using GBLM, SKF engineers have been able to determine the real-world benefits hybrid bearings can have. In the case of a poorly lubricated pump bearing, for instance, the rating life of a hybrid bearing can be up to eight times that of a steel equivalent. For a screw compressor bearing running with contaminated lubricant, the hybrid offers a rating lifetime a hundred times as long as a conventional steel bearing.
“SKF has always been at the forefront of developing new methods for calculating bearing life”, says Guillermo Morales-Espejel, principal scientist at SKF Research and Technology Development. “GBLM is a giant leap for bearing science and will allow better choices to be made when selecting bearings for a wide variety of applications.”
This capability is available to SKF customers and distributers through SKF Bearing Select (www.skfbearingselect.com). SKF Bearing Select can be used to model hybrid deep-groove ball bearings and hybrid cylindrical roller bearings. More advanced calculations are available in SKF internal calculation tools to support application engineers in customer projects.