Bearing damage is the most common cause of machine disruptions or failures. Although
they have a robust and compact design, these components are subject to diverse
influences that affect their service life:
- High bearing loads
- Assembly errors
- Lubrication problems
- Contamination from outside
- High operating temperatures
- Intrusion of water.
To prevent and avoid bearing damage, active condition-based maintenance measures have
proven effective, such as:
- Monitoring of the damage frequency for inner race, outer race, rolling element and cage
- Analysis of the envelope spectrum for identification of damaged components
- Monitoring of bearing vibration by means of overall readings (shock pulse)
- Monitoring of bearing temperature
- Alignment of bearing supported shafts
- Field balancing of bearing supported rotors to reduce reaction forces.