THE CHALLENGE
A paper mill was experiencing bearing failures on their main tissue machine roller every 3-6 months. Their current motor service provider was repeating the same repair process every time the machine failed and could not identify the root cause. The customer contacted IPS for assistance.
THE SOLUTION
IPS determined that the ball bearing on the drive end of the motor was failing due to the difficult angle of the application. The motor was connected to a Cardan U-jointed jackshaft; this angle didn’t allow the U-joint to move easily to accommodate thermal expansion of the jackshaft, leading to moderate axial thrust on the drive end ball bearing and causing repeated failures. IPS modified the drive end bearing housing to accept a double row spherical roller bearing, which has nearly double the capacity of the standard ball bearing. The grease inlet and outlet paths were also modified to allow the bearing to properly re-lubricate.
