The SKF Generalized Bearing Life Model is (GBLM) an innovative new bearing rating life model that is designed to help engineers calculate bearing rating life in a more realistic manner. The new model is a major step forward for the industry and will play an important role in enabling OEMs and end users to better match bearings and applications, resulting in improved machine life and reduced operating costs.

Design engineers across industries rely on pillow block bearings for a variety of tough and unconventional applications. Having access to data that backs housing strength performance claims is an integral part of choosing the right bearing to keep operations running optimally. What design considerations must be made when the application demands a pillow block installation on a non-horizontal orientation? What happens when bearing load is not applied through the base of the unit? Timken answers these questions with physical testing, advanced modeling and real-world experience to facilitate the selection of pillow block bearings for specific applications.

This paper presents a joint project conducted by Ashwoods Electric Motors and Oerlikon Fairfield that uses planetary drives with an integrated electric motor. Current solutions used in production of off-highway vehicles rely upon large, heavy and inefficient brushed DC or induction motors, coupled to a planetary gearbox. This presents a number of challenges to the vehicle designers such as: limited vehicle range, limited space around the motor/drivetrain, and motor durability. The proposed integrated system utilizes an Oerlikon Fairfield Torque Hub, widely used in off-highway vehicles, and the Ashwoods first-to-market, interior permanent magnet motor. How these products are integrated, i.e. incorporating a brake solution, represents a market-changing product. Using interior permanent magnet (IPM) technology in the motor design means the motor can be up to 70% lighter, 70% smaller and 20% more efficient than traditional motors used in off-highway traction applications.

This issue we cover frame sizes and two-speed motors in our continuing series of articles, courtesy of Baldor Electric, dedicated to motor basics.

Implementing a power-on-demand concept based on variable speed drives allows for energy saving in any application that involves pumps or hydraulic systems. And when used in combination with an intelligent wiring and communication system, relevant machine data can also be easily recorded - the basis for comprehensive power management.

Beginning with this initial installment , and with the gracious permission of ABB/Baldor Electric, we are pleased to announce the beginning of a new series -- Baldor Basics: Motors. This is a collection of basicsdriven, motor-intensive articles authored by former Baldor engineer Edward Cowern, PE, a respected name by many in the electric motor industry. During his tenure at Baldor, Cowern - now enjoying his retirement - was tasked with producing a number of motor- and basics-related tutorials, primarily in response to a steady flow of customer questions regarding motors. Today's customers continue to ask questions and seek answers to address their various motor-related issues. As with Cowern's original introduction to the series, we hope you find these articles useful and would appreciate any comments or thoughts you might have for future improvements, corrections or topics.

If you’re an electrical engineer you know how an electric motor works; if you aren’t, it can be extremely confusing. Therefore, here’s the simplified explanation (or the “how an electric motor works for dummies” version) of how a four-pole, three-phase AC induction motor works in a car.

I was invited by Tom Astrene of TLT to write a response to the July 2010 TLT article (Ref. 1). My rebuttal — “In Search of a Fatigue Limit: A Critique of ISO Standard 281:2007” — was published in Tribology and Lubrication Engineering, TLT, August 2010 edition (Ref. 10). While this article is also available online, I will attempt to summarize the essence of my response.

Until now the estimation of rolling bearing life has been based on engineering models that consider an equivalent stress, originated beneath the contact surface, that is applied to the stressed volume of the rolling contact. Through the years, fatigue surface–originated failures, resulting from reduced lubrication or contamination, have been incorporated into the estimation of the bearing life by applying a penalty to the overall equivalent stress of the rolling contact. Due to this simplification, the accounting of some specific failure modes originated directly at the surface of the rolling contact can be challenging. In the present article, this issue is addressed by developing a general approach for rolling contact life in which the surfaceoriginated damage is explicitly formulated into the basic fatigue equations of the rolling contact. This is achieved by introducing a function to describe surface-originated failures and coupling it with the traditional, subsurface-originated fatigue risk of the rolling contact. The article presents the fundamental theory of the new model and its general behavior. The ability of the present general method to provide an account for the surface–subsurface competing fatigue mechanisms taking place in rolling bearings is discussed with reference to endurance testing data.

For the lubrication of open gear drives used in different industrial applications such as cement and coal mills, rotary furnaces, or where the sealing conditions are difficult, semi-fluid greases are often used in preference to fluid oils. For girth gear applications the greases are used with a splash or spray lubrication system. The selection of such greases influences pitting lifetime and the load-carrying capacity of the gears, as well as wear behavior