In the food industry, comprehensive cleaning regimes are commonplace as companies look to meet stringent sector requirements on hygiene. However, such practices can prove detrimental to production line components, not least the bearings that provide motion in critical machinery, equipment and systems.

Here, spraying with hot steam, high-pressure water jets or very strong cleaning agents can cause two principal problems: foreign objects entering the bearings; and lubricant being washed out of the bearings. For these reasons, NSK offers a comprehensive range of Molded-Oil bearings that is purpose-designed to deliver extended operating life in harsh food industry environments.

Lubricant is durably incorporated inside a stable carrier medium of Molded-Oil bearings

The lubricant within Molded-Oil bearings is durably incorporated inside a stable carrier medium, namely an oil-impregnated polyofin resin. This type of lubricant cannot be washed away by steam or liquids, and prevents contamination from entering the bearing. Moreover, as the carrier only releases the lubricant slowly, sufficient lubrication is maintained over a long operating period.

A wide range of Molded-Oil bearings is available, including deep groove ball bearings, spherical roller bearings and tapered roller bearings, in several product series and in special forms such as housed bearing units. The range also includes Molded-Oil bearings made of stainless steel.

These advanced products are suited to a broad range of food industry applications, where many manufacturers of machines and systems install Molded-Oil bearings as part of the original equipment.

However, they are also ideal for retrofit applications. A case in point can be seen at a British food manufacturer, where the standard deep groove ball bearings in a seven-track conveyor system were only lasting for a period of four months. The reason was water
penetration within the bearings during daily washouts, which resulted in costly maintenance work and damage to the conveyor belts.

Each time there was a failure, the company had to endure downtime of 24