Application of German SKL bearing in compressor industry

Industry application overview
Regardless of the design or application, industrial compressors usually need to withstand severe operating conditions. Today, the market and regulatory environment have become more stringent. To reduce the pressure of cost, more and more strict regulations require the development of more energy-saving and environmentally friendly equipment. In addition, operators everywhere have increasingly high requirements for reliability and service life.
SKL works closely with leading compressor manufacturers and operators, and we can provide various solutions and services, including innovative engineering solutions, monitoring systems, and contracting services to promote reliable and efficient operation.
Industry application examples
A leading manufacturer of transportation temperature control system in North America needs to find a set of bearing performance upgrading solutions for redesigning screw compressor. Applications include trailer transport refrigeration and passenger car air conditioning.
The maximum speed of the bearing (or rotor) used in the previous compressor design is 12000 rpm. For this application, the stamped copper bearing cage can meet the operation requirements. The company needed to expand its operation scope, so it found SKL
Solution:
SKL engineers worked closely with the compressor manufacturer to study several feasible new bearing cage materials. These include stamped steel, machined steel cages and brass materials. These materials can not bear the increased running speed.
By changing the cage material and cage design, the operation range can be expanded. Expanding the operating range is equivalent to reducing the viscosity of the base oil, increasing the operating temperature and increasing the operating speed of the bearing. Finally, the glass fiber reinforced polyether ketone ether (PEEK) material for injection molding was selected.
This injection molding material helps to reduce costs as much as possible, but it requires more space than the original stamped copper cage. SKL reduces the number of rolling bodies (balls) from 10 to 9. Usually, this will result in a 10% reduction in the basic load rating of the bearing, but SKL compensates by using optimized heat treatment steel and improving the surface finish of the ball and raceway.
Result The maximum exhaust temperature (bearing temperature) increased to 148.9 ° C (300 ° F). The maximum speed of bearing (or rotor) increased from 12000 rpm to 14000 rpm - the speed increased by 17% The value created by increasing the operating range far exceeds the cost increase of a single bearing.