MechChem Africa March-April 2021

BRAVE: exploring bearing failure, life and artificial intelligence An experimental verification facility that will provide unprecedented insights into the mechanisms behind bearing failure and performance prediction is being built by SKF at its Research and Technology Development (RTD) centre in Houten, The Netherlands.

There are numerous reasons why bear- ings can damage or fail. Generally speaking, around one third fail as a result of fatigue, while another third fail because of lubrication issues. Contamination causes a sixth of bear- ing failures, while the balance is accounted for by factors such as improper handling and mounting, heavier or different loading than was anticipated, and poor fitting. When attempting to predict how, and perhaps more importantly when, a bearing will fail, a huge number of variables must be taken into account, including the application for which it will be used, the environment in which it will operate, the lubricants used and the loads towhich itwill be subjected, toname a few. As such, whendevelopingnewbearings, verifying their performance and for how long they will last can be a slow, expensive and complex process. SKF is looking to solve this problem at

its Research and Technology Development (RTD) centre in Houten, The Netherlands, which has started work on the construction of an experimental verification facility that it will use to increase its knowledge of the mechanisms that cause bearings to fail. It will also use the facility, which will be called Bearing Rigs for Accelerated Verification Experiments (BRAVE), to develop ways to predict the remaining useful life of these critical components rapidly, accurately and repeatably. Team Leader for Bearing Steels, Urszula Sachadel; and Edwin Tummers, Team Leader for Experimental Verification at SKF have been running this project. “We needed a flex - ible testing facility where we could simulate different application conditions and see how a bearing system, including the materials from which it is made, and the lubrication employed, performs when operating under

S ome ten billion bearings are manu- factured each year and, given the harsh conditions to which they are often subjected, they are incredibly reliable. Indeed, approximately 90% of these bearings outlive the equipment towhich they arefitted. Only0.5%of bearings fail in service, but this still means that some 50-million are replaced due to damage or failure every year, and each of these failures will likely have financial implications for their operators in terms of lost production, damage to adjacent parts and the cost of repairs. Team Leader for Bearing Steels, Urszula Sachadel.

SKF BRAVE experimental verification facility will provide unprecedented insights into mechanisms behind bearing failure and performance prediction.

6 ¦ MechChem Africa • March-April 2021