Longer life with new generation FAG Plummer Block Housing SNS

A new generation of large- size bearing housings being introduced to Australasia by Schaeffler is engineered to increase the life of fitted spherical roller bearings by up to 50 percent compared to conventional plummer block housings.

The FAG Plummer Block Housing SNS – for shafts from 115 mm to 530 mm and from 4 7/16 inch to 19 1/2 inch diameter – is designed to reduce the total cost of ownership of industrial machinery widely used in Australia and New Zealand, including machinery operating in aggressive environments.

The radically extended lifespan is made possible by the innovative housing design, which ensures optimum load distribution in the bearing, says, Schaeffler Australia Pty Ltd Industrial Sector and Product Manager Martin Grosvenor.

The new SNS housing design distributes loads more evenly in the rolling bearing, extending the operating life of the bearing (LEFT), while mounting, lubrication and condition monitoring are made much easier by numerous details of the new housing design.

The housing also provides a very high sealing action against the ingress of contamination under extreme environmental conditions, making it suitable for use in aggressive environments commonly encountered in industry.

Different sealing variants allowing matching of the SNS to specific environments with particularly harsh contaminant and dust conditions. An axial lubrication groove in the upper section of the housing ensures optimum lubricant supply for bearings in every bearing position (for example, using FAG CONCEPT 8 compact lubrication system for grease and oil).

The design also integrates good anti- corrosion characteristics and reduced cleaning requirements, due to inclined run- off areas as well as a projecting upper housing section.

These qualities – combined with Increased strength and shock resistance due to the use of (EN- GJS- 400) spheroidal graphite cast iron as standard – make the SNS particularly suited to applications in such industries as mining and energy, oil and gas processing, materials handling (including port loader facilities), manufacturing and steel, primary product and food and beverage processing, pulp, paper, packaging and forestry, and major infrastructure and water and waste water plants.

Further highlights of the SNS include:

• 100 percent interchangeable with conventional solutions.

• Easy and precise mounting due to locating surfaces that are reworked by machine and alignment marks.

• Predefined mounting positons for condition monitoring technology (for example, FAG SmartCheck for vibration diagnosis in real time).

• Grease outlet holes supplied as standard to simplify maintenance

• Suitable for standard un-split spherical roller size range 115mm to 530mm, 4-7/16” to 19 ½”, including Schaeffler’s premium performance X-life class of spherical roller bearings.

• Also suitable for Schaeffler’s unique easily installed split spherical roller bearing, size range 150mm up to 410mm, 5-15/16” to 16”.

• Plummer block housings of series SNS are suitable for spherical roller bearing series 222, 223, 230, 231, 232 and 240. “The focus during development of the new SNS plummer block housing was on compliance with customer and application-specific requirements,” says Grosvenor. “Criteria such as increasing efficiency, robustness and improved condition monitoring played a major role.”