Four-times bearing life for paper recycling sludge press 11 July 2012

High costs due to excessive downtime and maintenance are being avoided at an unnamed paper recycling plant, following substitution of bearings on a sludge press by NSK.

NSK claims that the its customer plant is achieving four- times the installed bearing life as a result of the change, which was part of its cost saving, asset improvement programme (AIP).

The sludge press bearing problem was apparently due to contamination from water and pulp polluted with printing inks etc – meaning that plant engineers had to partially shut down the paper machine every six months to exchange its bearing units.

Following inspection of the paper recycling site and the sludge bearing housings, NSK proposed improving the quality of the bearing seals by using self-aligning roller bearings with sealed rollers (SLE series).

NSK says it first modified the bearing housings and then helped to install two test systems.

Not only was the bearing service life improved to more than two years, but there were also lubrication savings – lower quality lubes and reduced frequency – meaning a payback period of less than one year.

Brian Tinham

Related Companies
NSK Bearings Europe Ltd

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