Bearing arrangements of all types do not only consist of bearings but include the associated components, such as shafts and housings, as well as seals. The performance of the seal is of decisive importance where lubricant cleanliness is concerned and this cleanliness has considerable influence on bearing life, as can be seen, for example, when the SKF rating life is applied.
For the designer, this means that bearings and seals must be considered as constituting a system. When designing the sealing arrangement and selecting the seal, the bearing arrangement and the requisite bearing life must not be neglected.
For SKF, this means that even greater attention is now being paid to the question of how bearings and bearing arrangements should be sealed as well as to the question of sealing in general. For this reason, two important European seal manufacturers as well as the largest seal manufacturer in the USA now belong to the SKF Group.
This general technical section of the catalogue contains information and recommendations regarding the selection and application of seals.
Obviously, it is not possible to cover all the aspects sufficiently in detail to deal with all eventualities so that reference is made in many places to the SKF application engineering service. The higher the technical requirements placed on a seal, the greater the advisability of contacting SKF, particularly if in-house experience is lacking.
Data which are specific to a certain type of seal will be found in the text preceding the relevant product table section. |
