Customer: Susiram Enterprises, Tamilnadu, India
Market: Textiles
Application: Post spinning textile equipment
The Timken Advantage: Through testing, Susiram discovered the following benefits to using Timken Shaft Guarding Technology™:

• Reduced energy consumption by 29 percent
• Increased shaft and bearing life 
• Less potential downtime and associated maintenance costs

Bearing maintenance and replacement costs can use up a major part of a plant’s budget, especially when the bearings fail or become damaged before the warranty has expired. With Timken® wide inner ring bearings equipped with Timken Shaft Guarding Technology™, Timken is helping customers extend bearing life well beyond the warranty period while also improving energy efficiency.

Susiram Enterprises, a textile machinery manufacturer based in India, recently benefited from advanced Timken bearing technology after switching from a competing brand. The competitor’s housed unit bearings were being used in singeing and winding equipment but were wearing out during the warranty period. Susiram had to replace both the housed units and the polished shafts upon which the units were mounted.

After visiting Susiram to study the application, Timken engineers suggested a wide inner-ring bearing with Timken Shaft Guarding Technology. Shaft Guarding Technology employs a hardened stainless steel band inserted into a groove cut into the bore of the bearing to absorb pressure from the setscrews, securing the shaft without marking or corroding it.

Shaft Guarding Technology is more effective at preventing shaft damage than standard locking practices, which involve tightening setscrews through the bearing inner ring and allowing it to turn. After many hours and revolutions, the screws dig into the shaft or groove, raising the metal or corroding the surface. Eventually, the screws lose their grip, the shaft begins to slip and the process comes to a halt.

This puts the machinery out of commission until the bearing can be cut or pressed off the damaged shaft and replaced.

Susiram placed a small initial order and set up a test using two machines in similar conditions. One was equipped with the new Timken bearings with Shaft Guarding Technology and the other one with the competitor’s bearing. In addition to performing beyond the warranty period, the Timken bearings also provided greater energy efficiency. According to Susiram, the machine equipped with Timken bearings consumed 29 percent less energy in the test.
Susiram was so pleased with its test results that the company no longer uses the competitor’s bearing in this application.

Timken® is a registered trademark of The Timken Company
© 2009 The Timken Company