Enhanced bearings solution to improve safety and reduce mine downtime

A specially designed spherical roller bearing (SRB) solution has been specifically devised for a leading South African coal producer to replace an obsolete unit on one of its bucket wheel feeders. The solution was created to improve worker safety and deliver cost savings for the company.

“The customer faced two primary challenges with the traditional solid SRB, namely limited accessibility and prolonged downtime during maintenance,” explains SKF territory sales engineer (Central & Eastern Gauteng) Lisa Binzani. “But of bigger concern was the fact that the nature of the application arrangement for the free end was posing a safety risk to maintenance personnel. Statistics have shown that up to 43% of accidents in the mining and cement industry occur during maintenance work or when personnel conduct checks on conveyors. We therefore recommended the SKF Cooper split SRB which offers safety and cost advantages over the solid SRB unit.” 

The SKF Cooper split SRB is designed for easy replacement in situ, requiring few changes to the shaft alignment or driveline. As there is no need to dismount the drive coupling or the cantilevered drive to replace the bearing and thus avoiding realignment, mean time to repair is said to be reduced by two-thirds. In addition to enhancing the safety of maintenance personnel, in situ bearing replacement in the trapped position on the SKF Cooper split SRB also aims to increase production uptime and shrink maintenance costs. 

The wire cut inner and outer ring manufacturing technique and sealed versions of the SKF Cooper split SRB also aims to extend service life or longer mean time between failures compared to other split bearings. Binzani also points out that increased machine availability and performance and subsequent uptime have a direct and positive influence on productivity and production levels.

SKF Cooper asserts that it leads the market in the field of split bearing technology and is the only bearing manufacturer to offer split cylindrical, taper and spherical roller bearings in addition to the new sealed split spherical roller bearings.

The company’s split SRB is suitable for a range of applications including conveyor pulleys, rope sheaves, bucket elevators, stackers/reclaimers, hoists and winches, horizontal grinding mill pinions, mixers and agitators, jack shafts and fans.