Bearings

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.