Maintaining Proper Lubrication & Understanding Application-Specific Preventative Maintenance

A bearing depends on the continuous presence of a thin film of lubricant between the raceway and rolling elements to perform at optimal levels. Although it doesn’t take much, the lubricant is critical for superior performance in demanding application environments such as food and beverage production. In these environments, bearings are subjected to various levels of moisture, contaminants, caustic cleaning agents, and frequent washdown, which often results in more frequent preventative maintenance schedules.

The performance of a bearing is greatly influenced by the quantity of grease. When it comes to lubricating bearings, you want to avoid purging excessive grease past lip seals as they can lose contact and effectiveness, allowing moisture and contaminants in as grease escapes. In order to avoid overfilling, it is advisable to replenish the grease while the machine is in operation. Standard relubrication quantity is shown in Table 1 of the downloadable PDF.

Relubrication frequency varies with the grease type as well as the operating conditions. As general rule, under ordinary operating conditions, it is desirable to follow a standard relubrication interval guideline that takes into consideration such factors as the rotational speed of the bearings, operating temperatures and environmental conditions, with a view to safety. Although this is helpful for most applications, NTN recommends creating a preventative maintenance (PM) schedule that meets the needs of the specific application for most food producing applications. By doing this, you may find that a bearing may require a PM interval that differs from what is generally prescribed.

For your relubrication needs, NTN offers a comprehensive line of automatic single point lubricators to ensure that your bearings are continuously, reliably, and precisely lubricated. Our single point lubricators can easily be incorporated into different types of applications, optimizing bearing lubrication and improving equipment uptime.

Using the right bearings for demanding washdown applications is also critical to achieving maximum equipment effectiveness. NTN’s Sentinel™ Series bearings are designed for the demanding food and beverage production environments. Sentinel Series includes a full line of stainless bearing inserts, stainless and thermoplastic mounted units, and deep groove ball bearings to keep your line rolling.

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Author: Curt Sand