MechChem Africa March 2020

Speeding up design of bearing arrangements and product development

Machine designers can now design complex bearing arrangements and analyse bearing loads more quickly without having to master complex software programs thanks to SKF’s software and equipment technology advancements

B earing and seal manufacturer SKF has developed software to design its products more effectively. The software combines an intuitive in- terface with powerful simulation to produce designs that can be validated quickly and effectively. One way that SKF has done this is to take in-house software called SimPro Expert – which it uses to develop and design highly complex bearing arrangements – andmake it more user-friendly for customers. SimPro Expert can be used to model an entire gearbox, in order to see the influence of one shaft on another; to determine the supporting properties of the housing; and to understand the detailed bearing behaviour for the given conditions. “SKF application engineers know the SimProExpertsoftwareverywell.Youneedto be a relatively frequent user and have a good level of bearing knowledge to get the most from it,” says Francisco Serrano, manager for product line engineering tools at SKF. Although design engineers within OEM

companies tend to have a solid knowl- edge of bearings, many would not consider themselves to be ‘experts’. SKF application engineers constantly design bearing ar- rangements, which is not necessarily the case with in-house OEM engineers, who can go long periods or intervals between bearing projects. They also cannot devote their time and effort to learning complex simulation software in detail. It is for this reason that SKFhas developed SimProQuick–a stripped-downversionof its more specialised bearing design programs. SimPro Quick has the same core as more advanced products such as SimPro Expert and SimPro Spindle. It retains many of their innovative features, but it is far easier to use. While customers were demanding more ad- vanced analysis of their bearing designs, they wanted to be able to do it in an intuitive way, using tools thatwerenot excessively complex. SimProQuick is a single-shaft bearing simula- tion tool developed to evaluate the design of bearing arrangements and their field perfor- mance quickly, based on relevant application requirements and conditions. Catalogue link A key feature of the software is that it ties in with SKF’s new online Roller Bearing Catalogue – which is a live database of products. This means that anything incorporated into a design will be a current product. “If we were using a paper

SKF Agri Hubs solution with a bearing and seal integrated in one housing for seeding.

ing common components such as bearings, springs and spacers. These are incorporated into the model by ‘dragging-and-dropping’ them onto the shaft. Bearing types can be searched based on dimension, designation as well as whether it is a ‘popular item’. Other elements such as gears can also be ‘dragged’ onto the shaft. The second stage is to set applicable boundary conditions. Factors such as shaft rotational speed, radial and ax-

ial forces and gravity can be added to the model. Force, power input and moment are all applied using ‘drag- and-drop’, while other boundaries are added with an icon click.

catalogue, itwouldbeout of date on the day it was printed,” says Serrano.“Now,withthesoftware, it’s live – so any product that is selected will be available and up to date. “The link with the live data-

base not only offers the latest products, but also allows them to be selected according to specific criteria – such as, high availability.”

Model building SimPro Quick builds a complete model in threesteps:components;boundaries;lubrica- tion and clearance. In the first stage , the model is built us-

SKF Agri Hubs solution with a bearing and seal integrated in one housing for disc plough.

SKF load sensing bearings with fibre optic sensors.

6 ¦ MechChem Africa • March 2020