WHEN a ship is at sea, outside support is a long way off and rough seas present extreme working conditions. Equipment reliability and flexibility is therefore paramount.
That’s according to SKF, which says it’s addressing this requirement with a marine portfolio that includes seals, rolling, slewing and plain bearings and housings, fin stabilisers and steering gear solutions, condition monitoring, power transmission products (couplings), automatic lubrication systems and related services.
“For most machinery, even small oil leaks can present a big problem. Today’s increasingly aggressive lubricants can threaten seal performance, damaging vital equipment which can lead to unplanned maintenance and subsequent downtime,” the company said in a statement.
Fitting the right seals will reduce friction, retain lubricity and keep contaminants out of the system, it added. “Simplex and all SKF seals are designed to provide cost-effective, reliable sealing performance. Available in a range of designs, sizes and materials, these products can be delivered promptly around the globe.”
SKF said the operational efficiency of the line-shafting of a ship’s propulsion plant is mainly determined by the quality of the bearings used. “Simplex Intermediate bearings, characterised by their short shell length, are developed especially for this purpose as short, plain bearings.”
The running properties of the bearing metal have been optimised with a technically advanced bonding of the bearing metal and shell and can be precisely aligned to avoid edge loading.
“The vital lubrication of the bearing is safeguarded in the Simplex bearing at all times, even at low shaft speeds. Temperature sensing, monitoring and cooling systems are available for unfavourable operating conditions.”
SKF’s range of fin stabilisers and steering gear solutions are designed to provide a vessel with better roll reduction on rough seas and can help maintain speeds while reducing fuel consumption.
The company’s condition monitoring solutions promises complete asset condition maintenance for the entire fleet, or a single ship, and are designed to serve a fleet CM program as a foundation of the fleet Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) strategy that complies with the class societies´ recommendations and requirements.
To help optimise overall machine performance, SKF has developed a range of power transmission products engineered to give engineers more design choices according to performance and cost considerations.
SKF said its coupling systems are designed to resist high torques to provide maximum strength – reducing downtime while keeping operations running.
The company is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 17,000 distributor locations worldwide.
