Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Lubricant contamination
Research and follow-up analysis by bearing producers and users has established lubricant contamination as the
predominant failure cause [3] (see chart above). Much of this
contamination finds its way into bearing housings through
openings where equipment shafts protrude through bearing
housings, or at vents and breathers provided somewhere on
the oil-lubricated assembly. Also, bearing housings undergo
temperature shifts from daytime to nighttime, and temperatures
differ when operating versus non-operating. With increasing
temperatures, the vapors floating above the liquid oil level will
expand; with decreasing temperatures the vapors will contract.
In a closed volume, increasing temperatures cause pressures
to go up, while decreasing temperatures cause pressures to
decrease. The laws of physics are at work here.The image on
the right Illustrates the consequences of this contamination.
Dynamic O-rings
Bearing isolators fitted with dynamic O-rings (right) try to close the gap through
which airborne contaminants can enter into the bearing housing. The design intent is
for the O-ring to effectively seal off the air gap at standstill (Ref. 2). As the shaft starts
rotating, the designers or manufacturers anticipate that centrifugal force acting on the
rotating O-ring will cause this O-ring to lift off. In other words, the design objective is
for the lifting distance to be sufficient to avoid the scraping and galling wear modes
noted on circumferentially contacting dynamic O-rings.
Common sense tells us that devices with circumferentially contacting dynamic
(flying) O-rings (see right) cannot seal tightly if the O-ring (made from a polymer
material) scrapes on the sharp corners of an oil ring retention groove. But neither can
the devices seal tightly if the retention groove is chamfered; in that case the resulting
air gap is too large. Long-term effective sealing is simply not possible with
circumferential dynamic O-rings.
Magnetic seals of the type shown on the left will perform flawlessly,
either in conjunction with pressure-balanced constant level lubricators or
non-vented bearing housings filled with a finite amount of liquid lubricant.
An even more advanced dual magnetic face seal variant, (MagTecta,
shown right), has been available since 2005. It represents the ideal
bearing housing closure for closed, environmentally acceptable oil mist
lubrication systems.
In a closed oil mist application, the oil mist is introduced in the space
between magnetic seal and bearing[8] . Excess liquid or vaporized oil is
led off or collected at the bottom center location of the bearing
housing[9].