Transcript No Slide Title

Industrial Bearings Market in
India :Issues and problems
Ajay K Gupta
Managing Director
Kamtech Associates Pvt Ltd.
www.bearingsindustry.com
Bearings of various types and sizes
are used for different sectors
The major sectors are as follows:
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Automobiles
Railways
Electrical Motors
Electric Fans
Diesel Engines
Pumps
Machine Tools
Textile machinery and
Other heavy industries (Steel Plants , Sugar Plants, Process Plants, Heavy
Engineering, Industries , Heavy Earth Moving Equipment , Cement Plants , Power
Generation Units
Replacement Market
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Replacement Demand is the after demand where as a part
of the maintenance of the machines or rotating machine ,
the bearings are replaced by new bearings after it is
failed as natural life deterioration / wear or tear or
due to premature failures and need replacement The
replacement market represents the demand arising on
account of replacing the used and worn-out bearings. The
size of replacement market is dependent on equipment
population and frequency of maintenance. Replacement
market accounts for 40% of total demand for bearing
industry. The margins in this market are relatively higher
placed as compared to OEM market.
Cont…
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The replacement market is highly price sensitive and has
higher share of unorganized players and cheaper imported
bearings. Exhibit4 represent the bearing demand per sector.
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From the inception of the industry, bearing manufacturing
in the country is dependent on foreign technology. The
organised sector of the industry has imported know-how
from various internationally leading manufacturers of
bearings. The import of technology is generally restricted
to small and standard bearings. Technology borrowing
specifically for special bearings has not taken place so far.
Imports
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30% of total demand for bearing industry is met by
imports. While a part of the imports come through official
channels, there is also a huge volume of illegal imports.
Legal Imports generally represent the specialized bearings
not manufactured in India. There are a large variants of
imported bearings, each holding a small market share in
India.
Though, the quality of bearings manufactured by large
players in India is comparable to world standards,
domestic manufacture is not viable due to the small size of
the market segment. It becomes uneconomical to
manufacture such type of bearings as it includes huge
capital expenditure.
Cont…
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Illegal imports generally represent the entry of spurious
imports of bearings. In the past, the Indian bearings
industry was highly protected on account of very high
import duties ranging from 150% to 240% ad- valorem. As
a result , illegal imports via smuggling and under invoicing
of imports was the order of the day, accounting for a high
45-50% of total imports. While duty rates have come down
over the last few years, a few countries like China, Russia,
Eastern Europe dump their excess production at a very low
rate. This leads to a huge price differential between
domestic and imported bearings (almost 40-50%),
encouraging imports.
Technological Interventions
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The heavy dependence on borrowed technology indicates
that continuous efforts towards development have not
yielded the desired results. Moreover, in spite of
collaborations the Indian industry generally has not
achieved standards of quality close to international levels.
Research and Development appears conspicuous more by
its absence, in this industry.
Cont…
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The industry undertakes routine development programmes
from time to time, in terms of additional bearing sizes or
increased production.
 The various reasons that have been put forward for
selection of a foreign collaborator are as follows :
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— The advantages associated with an internationally
renowned name.
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— Favourable terms and conditions of collaboration.
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— Quality of product.
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—Assured access to latest developments at the
international level.
COMPARISON OF TECHNICAL
SPECIFICATIONS
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Since the product is standardized internationally, the
designs followed by the industry are more or less, the
same. Technical specifications are restricted to basic
parameters. Quality specifications adopted from the
collaborator's specifications, vary usually.
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The bearing manufacturers have been adopting the
equipment technology suitable for low volume production.
This was essentially due to the demand pattern of rolling
bearings in the country being made up of a large
diversified range of bearings in small quantities. In view of
the very high cost of bearing equipment, most of the
bearing manufacturers did not venture to change their
equipment technology in favour of large batch production
or line production.
THRUST AREAS FOR
TECHNOLOGY
The thrust areas for indigenous technology would include :
 Development of indigenous machine tools and equipment for
testing, equivalent to international standards of precision.
 The suitability of these machines in the Indian working
environment would be the critical factor.
 Materials are available indigenously. However, the quality of
tubes in particular, is not to the satisfaction of the industry.
Moreover, consistency in supplies is also not experienced.
Cleanliness of material needs to be improved to a great extent
to enable the industry to take basic advantage of quality raw
material. As regards forged rings, suppliers meeting sufficient
quality standards need to be encouraged.
Cont…
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Operational expertise of a very high calibre has to be
achieved.
Maximum precision in the process, minimum handling
damages, and maximum cleanliness should be observed to
get the desired quality of bearings.
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HANDLING AND STORAGE OF
BEARINGS
If possible, determine when a bearing was manufactured and if it was
properly stored before being purchased. Ask the bearing distributor
about his storage and handling procedures. It might be prudent to have
a representative from your company personally visit the bearing
distributor to confirm how bearings are being stored. For example, a
tapered roller bearing should be stored with the taper down and never
stacked, one on top of another.
Store bearings in an attitude “angle” that will reduce or eliminate the
possibility of damage to rolling elements and raceway. It may be
weeks or months before the bearing is called into service. Reducing the
risk of startup damage begins with proper storage.
Bearings are manufactured with extremely tight tolerances and
therefore require special care when moving or handling. Consider them
fragile at all times and make the effort to treat them as such.
Consider the proximity of the storeroom to areas of the plant that are
affected by vibration. Could a railroad main line affect the storeroom?
Does the plant have equipment that vibrates nearby buildings?
Bearings subjected to even minor daily vibrations can become
damaged while in storage. Take the necessary steps to insulate stored
bearings
from
any
vibrations.
Always store bearings in a clean and sterile environment. Keep them
free of moisture, dust, and chemicals.
Bearing installation and
handling
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Take care when removing old or damaged bearings from their shafts
and housings. Be careful to not damage holders or surfaces where the
new bearings will be installed.
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• Clean all housings, shafts, holders, keyways, etc., before attempting
to install a new bearing. Inspect the shafts and equipment for damage.
Install new bearings in as clean and dry an environment as possible. If
possible, use sterile gloves to prevent contamination. Contamination at
this stage will ensure a shorter bearing life cycle.
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• Carefully inspect the new bearing for any obvious damage that may
have occurred during shipping, storage, or manufacture. Inspect
bearings to determine if all parts are present. Bearings have been
known to ship from the factory missing roller elements and other parts.
Also, check for factory lubricant. Lack of lubricant from the factory
can cause rust.
Storage of Bearings
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a. Avoid storing bearings in
places with high humidity.
b. Store bearings in a cool
place.
c. If bearings come packed
in a wooden box, take them
out
of the wooden box
immediately, and store them
on a shelf.
d. Do not take bearings out
of the cardboard boxes or
protective wrappings.
e. Do not stack bearings
because the protective antirust
compound may be
squeezed out of bottom
bearings.
Temperature’s Effects on
Mounted Bearings
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I can’t lay my hand on the bearing because it's operating too hot!" While this is a commonly heard
complaint, most sleeve and rolling element bearings can operate successfully at temperatures well
above the pain threshold of a human hand. The stabilized operating temperature of a bearing is the
result of many factors. The key influences on operational temperature are bearing style, lubrication
type, operational factors, environmental conditions and level of maintenance
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The particular bearing style (ball, roller, sleeve, etc.), the shaft mounting style (slip fit, adapter
mounted, press fit, etc.) and auxiliary items (housings, seals, shields, flingers, etc.) all contribute to a
final operating temperature. For a given set of application conditions, a particular bearing type will
generate friction given off as heat. A typical bearing temperature rise range would be 40° to 80°F (4°
to 27°C) for most industrial applications. However, a bearing temperature rise over ambient of up to
a 120°F (49°C) can be observed at extreme conditions
MOISTURE
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Moisture is generally referred to as a chemical contaminant
when suspended in lubricating oils. Its destructive effects
in bearing applications can reach or exceed that of particle
contamination, depending on various conditions. Like
particles, vigilant control must be exercised over entry of
water to minimize its accumulation in the lubricants and its
damage to bearing surfaces
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Once water enters the casing of a machine where bearings
are used, such as an engine, turbine, or gear box, it may
move through several chemical and physical states. These
changes are complex, but important to understanding how
to control and analyze its movements. To begin with, water
will enter an oil in generally one of the five following ways
PRE LOAD
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Preload is the force that is applied to a
bearing assembly during installation to
remove the axial play and to further
compress the bearing to provide both axial
and radial stiffness. It is an important design
parameter, affecting rotational performance
and lifetime of a bearing assembly. After
preload, the resulting ball contact angle α
must be considered
Minimum Loads
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Rolling element bearings require minimum loads to function
satisfactorily. This is because the balls or rollers must rotate
when
carrying
the
load.
Skidding will occur if the load is not sufficient to overcome cage
friction and the resistance from the lubricant, especially during
periods of low temperature operation.
 The consequent is damage to both raceways and rolling
elements. Usually the load from the shaft assembly is sufficient
to prevent this from happening. In cases where the load is not
sufficient, the bearings can be pre-loaded by the use of springs.
In some instances reduced bearing internal clearance may help
but great caution should be taken to avoid a high pre-load
condition, which can result in catastrophic failure
Minimizing Bearing Damage
Inclusion-A fatigue crack starts just below the
raceway surface at a nonmetallic inclusion (micro
impurity) and propagates to the surface.
Geometric Stress Concentration-Damage occurs in
a localized region of high stress at the raceway
edges due to high rolling loads and misalignment.
Point Surface Origin-Damage originates at a
localized, high-stress point on the raceway surface,
typically caused by insufficient lubricant film
thickness separating the bearing surfaces.
Degrees of Life enhancement
Various degrees of power density can be applied to
enhance bearing life and durability,
Typically an enhanced bearing will provide a minimum of
1.5 times the life of a standard bearing, although in more
severe operating conditions, performance gains of 4-5
times are not uncommon.
To clearly identify the design and life enhancement
potential of power dense bearings, the designer should
make a detailed application analysis of the many bearing
design variables as well as operating and environmental
factors. Bearing manufacturers can apply advanced
software to accurately quantify these effects.
Fully-enhanced bearings increase life by
minimizing the three primary modes of
fatigue
damage
through
the
incorporation of cleaner steel, superfinished rolling contact areas (rollers and
raceways) and optimized geometry.
Super-clean, air melt steel provides an
additional 30 percent increase in life to
fully enhanced bearings.
Selectively-enhanced bearings offer the flexibility
of
selecting
or
applying
only
those
enhancements needed to economically optimize
performance in specific applications. Service life
can increase within the range shown in Figure
and depends both on the specific enhancements
chosen as well as the specific operating
conditions.
Such bearings fill the performance gap between
standard and fully enhanced bearings. Selectively
enhanced bearings are especially cost-effective
in large bearings (8 to 84" OD), where fullyenhanced features may not be readily feasible.
Bearing selection
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Procure the correct bearing for the application. Often, the
replacement bearing is not compatible with the equipment where it
is to be installed. Depending upon the age of the equipment,
advances in bearing technologies may exist that make the OEM
bearing obsolete. Knowing the limits of the equipment and what
bearing best suits the application will save time and money.
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• Determine the maximum load for the bearing. This is important
both vertically and horizontally.
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• Determine the minimum and maximum running speeds for the
bearing. This will help determine the correct lubricant and bearing
for the application.
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• Determine all possible environmental conditions to which the
bearing will be exposed. Very hot or cold environments often
require varied bearing specifications. This may, in turn, change the
type of lubricant and relubrication requirements as well.
Materials -- Improved micro-cleanness, alloys and processing
techniques .
Design -- Improved internal geometry, such as roller/race profiles, to
carry higher loads and handle misalignment within a given envelope
Tribology -- Optimized interaction of bearing surface topography with
lubricants, lubricant additives and debris .
Manufacturing -- Advances in processing techniques for surface
finish, plus precision tolerances, improved profiles, material
cleanness and heat treatment.
Application Analysis -- Advanced performance-prediction tools that
consider the effects of bearing design features as well as significant
bearing environmental influences such as load zone, misalignment,
lubrication, temperature, housing rigidity, load and speed
Bearing repair: An alternative to
replacement
Bearing repair is not a new concept, nor has it changed a
great deal over the years — and that's good news.
Repairing damaged bearings is a precise science that
has been fine-tuned over time through careful and
gradual enhancements to provide superior results.
Just as new designs and technologies improve bearings,
growing expertise and technology of bearing repair
continues to increase the reliability and performance of
reconditioned bearings, keeping it an economical
alternative to purchasing new bearings
Knowing and understanding the value of bearing repair
means knowing what repair can do, when to use it, and
where to get it done.
Bearing Life
Bearing life refers to the amount of time any bearing will perform in a
specified operation before failure. Bearing life is commonly defined in
terms of L-10 life, which is sometimes referred to as B-10. This is the life
which 90% of identical bearings subjected to identical usage applications
and environments will attain (or surpass) before bearing material fails
from fatigue. The bearing’s calculated L-10 life is primarily a function of
the load supported by (and/or applied to) the bearing and its operating
speed.
Many factors have a profound affect on the actual life of the bearing.
Some of these factors are:
•
Temperature
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Lubrication
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Improper care in mounting resulting in:
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Contamination
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Misalignment
•
Deformation
As a result of these factors, an estimated 95% of all failures are classified
as premature bearing failures.
The Butterfly Effect
An event as small as
a butterfly flapping
its wings in Texas
could set off a chain
reaction of events
culminating
in
a
snow
storm
in
Tibet.”
 …extraordinary
results
can stem from attention to
the smallest details.
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