MechChem Africa March-April 2021

⎪ Power transmission, bearings, bushes and seals ⎪

SKFhas come upwith a practical design and manufacturing solution that now enables customers to purchase standard off-the- shelf replacement parts for their dated die- sel generators, ensuring that the machine is ready for operation for sustainable plant uptime in the event of power outages. As downtime is simply not an option for the leading glass manufacturing company based in Johannesburg’s East Rand, the cus- tomer relies heavily on the 130 kW diesel generator to ensure uninterrupted produc- tion during power failures. “Considered as critical equipment, the generator has been serving the company for many years and, due to old designs and dated technology, some of the machine’s replacement parts are now becoming increasingly diffi - cult to source or are simply no longer available,” explains SKF product manager for Power Transmission, FransOdendaal. When the coupl ing be- tween the generator’s fly- wheel and motor failed, the customer was unable to find a suitable off-the-shelf replace- ment. Facing an urgent lead time to prevent plant downtime and different loads and at different speeds. We also needed to be able to do that in a way that allows us to perform investigations on that system, sowe candeterminehowdefects are generated, how they progress and how long the bearing will last until maintenance is required,” says Tummers. When completed, BRAVE will feature a number of rigs specifically designed and tailored to meet SKF specifications, which will be used by researchers to develop and experimentally verify bearing failuremodels. The functions of these rigswill be categorised as ‘contaminate’, ‘initiate’ and ‘propagate’, and they will often be used in sequence. Sachadel explains: “With the contaminate set-up, for example, we can generate defects, such as dents, abrasion, electrical damage and corrosive damage in the bearings in different ways. We can also apply different lubricants. In the initiate set-up, we can then run the bearings under certain conditions to create some initial damage to them. Finally, in propagate, we can determine how different load and speed conditions influence the rate at which this damage spreads.” Each set-up type can also be used in isola- tion, or in a ‘mix-and-match’ approach, en-

potential production losses, the customer immediately contacted SKF Authorised Distributor, Bearing Services (BSA), for as- sistance. BSAconsultedSKFwhowasable to comeupwith a practical solution that added great long-term value. SKF designed and manufactured a new connection for thefly-wheel that is compat - ible with a standard off-the-shelf coupling. Using a sample of the old coupling to ensure alignment of mounting bolts, etc, adraughtsman Sachadel continues: “UsingBRAVE, wewill be able to quickly evaluate potential bearing solutions, screen them, and understand the impact of different manufacturing processes on their performance. Further, in the future, we can use the data we gather to support our development of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques to predict or improve the performance of our bearings.” BRAVE will be of particular benefit to SKF’sRotatingEquipmentPerformance (REP) business and its remanufacturing operations. Sachadel explains: “We plan to look at the bearings after different stages of remanufac- turing, to determine how the process affects their performance and how to boost it.” Workon the facility is currently scheduled abling a wide range of tests to be performed. In this way, Sachadel says, SKF researchers canscreenmanydifferent variantsof bearings veryquickly todetermine thebest solution for a given application. Test procedures will be developed, con- trolled and monitored closely, and all of the data, regarding things such as vibration, tem- perature and load history will be recorded. This data can thenbe analysed indetail during or after the experiments.

for completion in early 2021. “We’re going to learn a lot of new things through BRAVE, which we look forward to sharing with our customers,” Sachadel concludes. www.skf.com/africa Edwin Tummers, Team Leader for Experimental Verification at SKF.

Redesigned coupling give new life to old generator

from SKF produced the final CAD drawings of the new connection, which is a flanged shaft manufactured as one solid piece. “Also known as a stub shaft adaptor, the new connection suits a standard SKF tyre coupling,” explains Odendaal. “In addition to easy replacement of the tyre element, the new maintenance free connection of- fers additional advantages including the ability to absorb vibration as well as some misalignment.” Now armed with short lead times on standard items, facilitated replacement procedures and maintenance planning going forward, the customer has minimised the generator’s downtime in the event of a breakdown. Furthermore, the risk of the machine being inoperable during a power failure with consequent loss of produc- tion, is also reduced. According to Odendaal, the cus- tomer has since contacted BSA regardingachainsolutiononadif- ferent section of the plant which SKF is currently investigating. q SKF offers a wide range of standard couplings to meet diverse application. For older machines, however, shaft, coupling and other adaptors can be engineered to ensure compatibility with SKF’s standard range.

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