SWEDEN – SKF, a Swedish bearing and seal manufacturing company, has announced the development of the first spherical roller bearings specifically designed for the food and beverage industry.
These bearings with food-grade grease and seals have a longer service life than SKF open spherical roller bearings and raise relevant food safety standards in the food and beverage industry.
Together, these factors help the Food line bearings to lower the risk of food contamination, raise machine reliability and extend maintenance intervals.
It is made of ‘high-fatigue-resistant’ steel, enhancing dynamic load-carrying capacity while decreasing vibration and heat generation. The spherical roller bearings extend service life by up to three times compared to open bearings.
“This new spherical roller bearing with food-grade grease and integral seal from SKF helps increase both machine performance and hygiene standards. The new bearing fully complies with food industry standards and has a high load carrying capacity,” said Benjamin Geiser, Application Specific Offer Manager at SKF.
The bearing is said to contribute towards enhanced sustainability through its low friction seal that helps to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
Additionally, the extended lifespan reduces the frequency of replacements, thereby decreasing the demand for raw materials, manufacturing and transport.
The bearing is pre-filled with NSF category H1 grease, which is optimised for food industry use and comes with a high-performance, nitrile butadiene rubber contact seal – both FDA- and EC-approved – protects against water, detergent and contaminant ingress.
SKF says that the seal prevents grease leakage from the bearing reducing relubrication and raises bearing performance and service life while its blue color enhances visibility should fragments of the seal end up in food.
The new product extends SKF’s food industry offering – following last year’s launch of its Food line deep-groove ball bearing.
