Posted to News on 14th Feb 2024, 17:00
Solving the food challenge
The food and beverage industry faces a particular set of challenges: round-the-clock operation, very high speeds, repeated cleaning cycles, longevity, keeping bearing solutions sealed, demanding food safety requirements and, to an increasing degree, sustainability. Depending on the application, the bearings must be able to withstand extreme temperatures, moisture, chemicals and mechanical stresses, says Thomas Richmond, industrial sales engineer for food and beverage at Schaeffler UK.
Rotary rolling bearings ensure moving machine elements, such as axles and shafts maintain their position. They also provide precise guidance and support for these elements relative to the adjacent structure. The bearings operate in a wide range of designs and in many different applications in food and beverage production, as well as packaging machines, such as in product filling systems, conveyor belts, folding and gluing machines.
Radial insert ball bearings
Increasing awareness of the importance of ultra-high food safety requirements has led manufacturers across the food and beverage industry to seek improved bearing solutions. Schaeffler is in a position to provide these solutions with its radial insert ball bearing (RIBB) housing units. As part of the Schaeffler FOOD program (FD series), these units provide improved food safety, greater cost efficiency.
The RIBB housing product family consists of corrosion-resistant bearings that are contained within a glass-fibre reinforced, white plastic PBT, protecting the component from production line debris, as well as eliminating the risk of contamination from the bearing that could cause food safety issues. This prolongs the life of the product and extends the intervals for maintenance, resulting in significant cost savings and reduction of costly plant downtime.
FDA-compliant materials are used for all components. The bearings are supplied with high quality grease with food grade approval to category NSF H1, including halal and kosher certification.
Robust and easy to clean
Food and beverage production facilities can often become extremely hot or cold. The RIBB housing can deal with both, excelling within an operational temperature of -30C to +100C, making it perfect for a wide range of production environments.
As the RIBB housing can endure pressures up to 90 bar, it is ideally suited to food and beverage production environments, where regular high water-pressure washdowns are common. The housing is purposely designed to be watertight, which helps prolong the life of the bearing.
Deep groove ball bearings
FAG deep groove ball bearings also part of Schaeffler's FD series are suitable for applications in which the bearings come into occasional contact with foodstuffs. The bearings are resistant to moisture, contaminated water, salt spray and cleaning agents. The bearing rings, cages and rolling elements are made from stainless steel. RSR single-lip contact seals with proven geometry on both sides provide effective protection against external influences, while keeping the lubricant inside the bearings at all times. The high quality grease has NSF category H1 authorisation, a high quality grease with foodstuff approval.
The bearings operate in temperatures from -30C to +100C. The bearings can also be supplied (subject to request) as hybrid bearings with ceramic rolling elements.
In practice, by choosing bearing solutions from Schaeffler, food and beverage producers can benefit from extended production times and reduced failure probability for the bearing positions. Reduced downtimes increase productivity and reduce machine costs.
