JTEKT Corporation (hereinafter JTEKT) improved the sealing performance and the strength of each item of the first-generation unit*1 consisting of bearings and an intermediate seal used on pallet cars of sintering machines (one of iron and steel equipment), and has successfully developed a second-generation unit which has 1.5 to 2.5 times longer unit life.

The developed product contributes to the improvement of customers’ productivity through the extension of maintenance cycles and improving reliability.

*1:The unit consists of three items: Wheel bearing, intermediate seal, and pressure roller bearing.

1. Background of development

In order to keep the high quality and stable supply of steel products, iron and steel equipment must be highly reliable, highly efficient and stable in operation.

For sintering machines, which are used in one of the uppermost processes in ironmaking, a recent trend to improve production efficiency by widening pallet cars (increasing the load capacity) and improving heat transfer efficiency during sintering are seen. The loads on the bearings used on pallet cars are therefore on the increase, which require the development of bearings suitable for customers’ environments.

 

[Current issues]

(1)Increase in applied load caused by the increased load capacity from width expansion

(2)Increase in impact load during ore discharge
→requires improvement in impact resistance and strength

(3)Damage on bearings due to the entry of foreign matters such as dust

(4)Difficulty in forming an oil film due to the extremely low speed rotation
→requires improvement in sealing performance

<Flow chart of iron and steel equipment
(from ironmaking equipment to steelmaking equipment)>

 

<Outline of sintering machine>

2. Features of the developed product

<Product configuration and its transition>

*2: JHS (JTEKT Hyper Strong) is a group of products specially designed for requirements of industrial machines and is a registered trademark of JTEKT.

The rotational parts of the pallet cars on sintering machines are equipped with a unit including a wheel bearing, intermediate seal and pressure roller bearing.

(1)Wheel bearing
Bears loads from the pallet cars running on the rail

(2)Intermediate seal
Suppresses the entry of foreign matters from the gap of the wheel bearing

(3)Pressure roller bearing
Used for engagement with the sprocket wheel

JTEKT contributes to customers’ stable operation through the integral structure design that includes bearings and seals, and each of those items are improved and proposed to customers as one package.

 

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