WSBC Bearing’s long life destiny begins from scientific lubrication management. In the case of using NLGI Level 2 lithium grease, the supplement cycle is 1,500 hours/time or 3 months (whichever comes first), and the grease injection amount is 25%-30% of the bearing inner space volume. For example, in Baosteel’s hot rolling production line, WSBC four-row cylindrical roller bearings provide fat accurately at 0.2 mL/min via the automatic lubrication system, keeping the operation temperature at 65 ° C ±3 ° C (from the original fluctuation range of 50-85 ° C) and reducing friction power consumption by 18%. Annual lubrication cost saving 120,000 yuan/set. Test results show that over-lubrication (more than 35% volume) will increase the temperature by 15℃ and reduce the bearing life by 40%, while under-lubrication (less than 15%) can increase the wear rate by three times.
The precision of installation directly affects WSBC Bearing’s service performance. If hydraulic nuts are utilized in installation, it is necessary to maintain the interference amount of the shaft sleeve at 0.003-0.005mm and pre-tighten three times with 10 MPa pressure so that the axial clearance will be within the range of 5-15μm. A wind power company experimented that installation error exceeding 0.01mm will cause the bearing vibration speed RMS from 2.8mm /s to 9.5mm /s, L10 life decrease by 60%. Proper installation tools (e.g., SKF TMFT series heaters) can heat the bearing up to 110 ° C ±5 ° C, without decreasing the material hardness by more than 120 ° C (HRC reduction by 3-5), thereby extending the service life to 1.8 times the design value.
Condition monitoring technology is the essence of preventive maintenance. If the WSBC intelligent vibration analysis system (sample rate 51.2 kHz) is utilized, when the vibration speed RMS exceeds 4.5 mm/s (ISO 10816-3 alarm phase) or the peak factor exceeds 5, it shall be stopped immediately for check. For Tangshan Port ore conveyor, through real-time monitoring of the envelope spectrum characteristic frequency (1,200Hz fundamental frequency) of WSBC allocating roller bearing, inner ring spalling failure was warned 42 days in advance to avoid the joint loss of 780,000 yuan. Infrared thermal imaging information shows that when the bearing outer ring temperature is continuously higher than 85 ° C (ambient temperature 25 ° C), the oxidation rate of the grease is 7 times faster, and the maintenance cycle needs to be shortened by 50%.
Cleanliness control is critical to WSBC Bearing life. Based on the ISO 4406 standard, the pollution level of lubricating oil particles should be maintained below 15/13/10 for a long time, and each added level (for example, rising to 16/14/11) will reduce the fatigue life of the bearing by 30%. A semiconductor factory’s test data show that by utilizing WSBC high-precision angular contact ball bearing (model 7206CTYN), the environment cleanliness of installation has been improved from ISO Class 7 to ISO Class 5, and the operation noise of the bearing has been reduced by 6 dB(A). The L10 life has been extended from 30,000 hours to 52,000 hours. When using special cleaning agent (for example, Mobil SHC 100), the flushing flow rate is to be regulated at 3 L/min, the temperature at 40-60℃, and residual dirt quality at below 0.1 mg/cm².
Regular calibration and spare parts replacement strategy optimization bring considerable advantages. WSBC recommends using the laser alignment tool every 6 months to verify shafting deviation, and Angle error is to be kept within 0.05 mm/m. A cement plant statistics shows that while the shaft deviation is corrected from 0.1mm /m to 0.03mm /m, the vibration energy of WSBC tapered roller bearings is reduced from 7.1mm /s RMS to 2.3mm /s RMS, and the annual maintenance expense is reduced by 64%. In the seal replacement, priority is given to the original WSBC fluoro rubber seal (friction torque 0.25N ·m), 11% energy saving in comparison with the third party products, dustproof efficiency is 99.97% (NAS 1638 standard).
Through the above maintenance practices, WSBC Bearing MTBF (mean time between failures) in overall industrial applications can be increased from 25,000 hours to 45,000 hours, based on the “China Mechanical and Electrical Equipment Maintenance White Paper” statistics, Systematic maintenance has reduced the WSBC bearing users’ life cycle cost by 38% and increased the overall equipment efficiency (OEE) by 22%, confirming the industrial operation and maintenance golden rule of “prevention is better than repair”.