Green Bearing Protection

When I see a large pickup truck or tractor trailer driving 65 mph, I often wonder, “how often do they fill up”? A standard tractor’s diesel engine hauling a trailer will manage 5 to 7 mpg, where the gasoline burning tractor can get about 3 mpg. I just recently purchased a Kia Forte Eco which is rated to 37 mpg highway. I can travel 100 miles for under 10 dollars. It would cost a tractor trailer over 60 dollars to make the same trip on diesel ($112 using gas). Tractor trailers are the best solution for hauling large loads of product, however when an efficient traveling solution is required, an eco-friendly car is evidently the best approach.   Oil seals have been used for many years to seal lubrication within gearbox and motor assemblies. They will seal in aggressive environments, but aren’t designed to last as long when running full speed. Bearing isolator labyrinth seals were designed in the late 1970s to provide customers with a sealing solution rated for similar lubrication retention capabilities of an oil seal, but with increased contamination exclusion. When discussing sealing solutions throughout industry, it is often overlooked that a seal actually requires a specific amount of power to function. In a controlled lab test, several bearing isolators were tested for power consumption over several 60 minute sessions. The equipment this test was conducted on had a shaft size of 2.560 inches and a bore size of 4.331 inches. Traditional contact lip seals required on average 300 watts of additional power to rotate the equipment at a steady velocity. The same test was conducted using bearing isolators. Metallic bearing isolators (GUARDIAN^®) used about 5 watts of power whereas non-metallic bearing isolators (ISO-GARD^®) used on average about 15 watts.   Energy savings directly equates  to financial savings. A standard bearing isolator will be in operation roughly 5 years, due to scheduled maintenance and repair, whereas a traditional oil seal will last anywhere from 6-9 months. In a 5 year lifespan, a metallic bearing isolator will cost about $0.22 to operate due to power consumption, while a traditional oil seal will cost $13.14 to operate. A mill or plant which currently has 100 traditional oil seals could save up to $1,300 in power consumption alone when switching to bearing isolators. Do you have any other questions about bearing isolators? Or energy efficiency questions about our oil seals or bearing isolators? Please contact me at Patrick.rhodes@Garlock.com