BEARINGS, SEALS & GASKETS FEATURE
IN THE FIELD: WITHSTANDING the demands faced by today’s agricultural machinery
To meet the harsh environmental demands faced by agricultural machinery used
in the field – such as disc harrows, seeding discs and liquid manure spreader discs – NKE Austria has introduced a new range of fully assembled bearing units
F
or agricultural machinery working in the field, diverse environmental
conditions including mud, dust, impacts, stone chippings and water, will take their toll – not only on the machines themselves but also their components. However, as agriculture becomes more intensive, the machines are also expected to offer ever increasing performance and endurance. The components used on such machines therefore need to be both rugged and reliable to help ensure the continuous operation of agricultural machinery in the field. Rolling bearings have
many applications on agricultural machinery, and they must likewise keep pace with performance demands. To help, Austrian manufacturer NKE
offers a range of special-purpose products with a particular focus on application-specific, ready-to-use
Disc harrows in action on the field
NKE Agri Unit – a bearing unit developed for disc harrow
bearing units – the Agri Units.
A NEW INTRODUCTION With Agri Units, NKE has come up with a generic term for bearing units designed for use in agricultural machines that require a rotating union between a disc-shaped tool and its mounting arm. Whereas producers of agricultural machinery previously often had to buy and assemble up to ten separate components, Agri Units represent a single part in the form of a fully assembled bearing unit. A high level of integration – i.e. the use of components that perform several functions – results in
a high performance density. The first step was to
develop a rugged bearing unit for use in disc harrows with a disc diameter of up to 650mm. The design, which is comparable with existing
solutions of similar size, has a number of special features: • An optimised internal geometry that maximises load capacity and resistance to tilting moments
• A high quality grease filling in a sufficiently high quantity for the operating conditions to ensure a long lubricant and therefore bearing life, as well as good corrosion protection
• A highly efficient combination of seals to prevent dirt ingress into the bearing. In addition to the current standard version, NKE can adapt the unit’s external geometry to allow customers to integrate the unit into existing designs or tailor it to new applications.
APPLICATIONS Agri Units are also being used for seeding discs and for liquid manure spreader discs, whose application is similar to the harrow discs mentioned above, yet smaller in size. These bearing units aim to replace the conventional solutions consisting of deep-groove or double-row angular- contact ball bearings with an all-in-one compact bearing unit. In addition to optimising the internal structure, lubrication, sealing and ease of handling of the bearing units for disc harrows, the designers focussed on minimising the unit’s external dimensions.
SOLUTIONS Beside its new Agri Units product line, NKE offers standard and special bearings that also cover scenarios in agricultural technology in which bearing units cannot be used. This includes, for example, balers, power take-off (PTO) gearboxes and track systems. In fact standard and special bearings are available for all industrial applications, the company explains.
NKE Austria
www.nke.at
DESIGN SOLUTIONS | MAY 2016 37
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