Plant Operations: Spindle Bearing Health Monitoring: Study of Different Methods for Failure Detection

Chicago, Illinois - Spindle bearing failures can be a serious nuisance for any machine builder, resulting in significant costs due to damage of the spindle and in some cases associated machinery. Close to 80% of failures for machine tool main spindles can be categorized under the topic of seizure/abnormal temperature rise or abnormal noise. In order to determine the most effective method for prevention of bearing seizure, NSK developed a test rig to monitor failures due to seizures and abnormal noise. Three performance attributes were monitored and evaluated for effectiveness in predicting bearing failures: temperature rise, vibration level and oil film thickness. This paper will present the tests and results showing how each of these methods can be used and which method was the most effective. The monitoring of spindle bearing behavior can allow for repair of the spindle prior to catastrophic failure or seizure thereby avoiding damage of additional machine components and added cost.

About the speakers

Bimal Nathwani
IBT Engineering Manager
NSK Corp.

• Application Engineering Manager for NSK Corporation
• Nearly 22 years in the bearing industry
• Previously worked in the Machine Tool segment as project manager, segment manager and sr. application engineer in support of Machine Tool and Linear Motion applications for both the industrial OEM and Aftermarket for NSK

Yuu Koiwa
Product Specialist
NSK Corp.

• Product Manager for NSK Corporation.
• Over 18 years in the bearing industry.
• Previously worked within R&D for bearings for Machine Tool applications as well as in support of major industrial OEM customers for NSK