Care and Maintenance of Bearing

Introduction

Rolling bearings are components that play a very important role in machinery and are critical to the performance of machinery. If one of the bearings breaks or gets stuck, not only the machine but the assembly line can stop. Serious accidents can occur if one of the bearings in a car or rail vehicle fails. To avoid trouble, every bearing manufacturer should strive to ensure the highest quality of each bearing and should emphasize the user's careful handling and maintenance of all bearings.

Bearing Inspection Inspecting the bearings of the machine during operation is very important to prevent unnecessary bearing failures. The inspection of bearings generally adopts the following methods:

Inspection while the machine is running

Bearing temperature Bearing temperature generally increases with start-up, and stabilizes at a temperature slightly lower than the start-up temperature (usually 10 to 40°C higher than room temperature) for a certain period of time. The time it takes for the operating temperature to stabilize depends on bearing size, type, speed, lubrication, and heat dissipation around the bearing. It can range from about 20 minutes to as long as several hours. If the bearing temperature is unstable and continues to rise, operation should be stopped and appropriate corrective action taken. High bearing temperatures are not desirable for maintaining adequate service life and preventing lubricant deterioration. The ideal bearing temperature is usually below 100˚C.

The main reasons for high bearing temperature

1. Too little or too much lubricating oil

2. Poor bearing installation

3. Too small bearing clearance or excessive load

4. Too much friction between lip and seal groove

5. Improper type of lubricant

6. Creep between mating surfaces

Inspection after the bearing is in operation

After the bearing is in operation and during regular inspection, it should be carefully inspected, pay attention to whether there is any damage, and take measures to prevent it from happening again. It is important to determine inspection procedures and establish regular inspection intervals based on the criticality of the system or machine.