40 packaging, labelling & logistics
The problem they were looking to solve concerned
the tendency of lubricant to be flushed out of
conventional bearings under repeated washdowns.
The loss of lubricant is usually progressive rather
than immediate, but the result is inevitably the same:
premature failure of the bearing or bearings concerned.
In the pressurised world of food processing, any
downtime – planned or not – is costly, so any new design
innovations that could overcome the problem are
particularly welcome.
Replacing conventional lubricants
NSK’s Molded Oil is one such innovation. A plastic
composite material containing abundant lubricating
oil (or grease), Molded Oil is a replacement for
conventional lubricants.
Differing from other marketed oil impregnated
plastics, where the oil content is a mere few percent by
Fig. 4. NSK Bearings equipped with Molded-Oil are environmentally weight, Molded Oil permits a lubricating oil content of
friendly, 'fit and forget' units. more than 50 per cent by weight.
NSK Bearings equipped with Molded-Oil are
☞
The inserts are charged with a food industry approved environmentally friendly, 'fit and forget' units that are
grease, and are easily regreaseable via a stainless steel designed to enhance the performance of machinery
grease nipple in the housing. They are protected against and equipment in all types of environments, especially
contamination by a stainless steel flinger and seal those exposed to contamination such as water or dust.
arrangement. Importantly, they address the problem of loss of lubricant
due to water ingress, a feature of particular importance
Beefburger packaging
on machines used in food processing, as it provides the
NSK’s Molded Oil bearings are also being used to cut benefits of increased reliability and longer maintenance
maintenance intervals, and deliver extended periods free intervals.
of bearing reliability on a new beefburger-packaging NSK introduced Molded Oil to Unilever- Birds Eye
machine, which has been custom designed by during a visit with its local distributor. The response
Autowrappers for Unilever-Birds Eye Foods. from Unilever’s new product/improvement engineers
The Molded Oil bearings are also expected to reduce was extremely positive, resulting in the specification
the total cost of ownership of the new machine, by of the bearings – sealed deep-groove ball bearings and
removing the downtime associated with relubrication sealed inserts mounted in Silver Lube corrosion-resistant
intervals, and by cost savings achieved through reduced housings – on the new machine.
requirements for replacement bearings and bearing To facilitate this process, NSK arranged for a senior
lubricants. application engineer to visit Autowrappers, and offer
The new Unilever machine is the latest in a long line advice and technical support on all aspects of Molded Oil
designed and manufactured by Autowrappers for food technology.
packaging applications. The company regularly supplies “The solution that we have provided to Unilver/
equipment ranging from a stand alone machines for Autowrappers clearly demonstrates the benefits
low speed, hand- fed applications to fully automatic of working with recognised bearing suppliers and
integrated systems that match the exacting demands of authorised distributors,” said Simon Grant, NSK’s
high volume fast moving consumer goods (fmcg) and Aftermarket Business Development Manager.
food processing and packaging lines. “The engineering support provided by NSK, together
with access to the latest technological bearing products,
he problems of supplying machines for food is a package that is simply not available from smaller
T
processing applications are well known, one bearing manufacturers and independent distributors. In
of the most prevalent being the frequent addition, by supplying an innovative bearing solution,
washdowns that machines are subjected to, "NSK have provided a value-added service to the
to ensure high levels of hygiene. To protect against this customer, solving his problem and helping to reduce
procedure, most machines used for food processing are the cost of ownership on a what is considerable machine
fabricated from stainless steel. investment.” p
However, components such as bearings are not so easy
to protect; a fact that made Autowrappers and Birds Eye NSK UK Ltd is based in Newark, Nottinghamshire, UK.
look for an alternative on the beefburger machine. www.eu.nsk.com
www.scientistlive.com
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