Drive Shafts for Steel Mills
— Achieving high sealing performance of
cross bearings through
improved oil seals —
- Customer outlineDomestic and overseas steel manufacturers
- Industry
/FieldSteel industry, steel production equipment - ProductSteel rolling mills
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Problems
- Measures against water intrusion in harsh environments
- Preventing rust inside bearings
- Longer service life
- Preventing lubrication deterioration due to water intrusion
- Reducing maintenance costs
- Reducing costs by decreasing the frequency of replacing cross & bearings
- Measures against water intrusion in harsh environments
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Solutions
Improved oil seal performance-
Improved oil seal lip shape
- To prevent decreases in sealing performance due to axial movement,
by chaging the lip type from the axial contact side lip to the radial outerside contact lip.
- To prevent decreases in sealing performance due to axial movement,
- A compression spring is used on the radial outerside contact lip of the oil seal.
- To maintain stable interference along the outer circumference, a compression spring is used on the radial outerside contact lip.
- Improved materials
- To improve oil resistance, heat resistance, and wear resistance, the material was changed from nitrile rubber to high-nitrile rubber.
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Improved oil seal lip shape
Achievements
- Higher sealing performance
Improved sealing performance by material changes
(1) Permanent elongation under rolling mill water and high-temperature (90°C) environments has been reduced by 50% compared with conventional products.
Improved sealing performance by shape changes
Sealing performance against axial sliding has been improved by changing the side lip to a radial-contact type.
(2) Decreases of lip tension force have been reduced by 80% compared to conventional products.
(3) Rolling mill water intrusion has been decreased by 80% compared to conventional products.
- Maintenance cost reduction
Cross & bearing service life has been extended by preventing lubricat degradation caused by rolling mill water intrusion into cross & bearings, and suppressing sudden damage. This reduced the replacement frequency and contributed to lower maintenance costs.
Comments from Our Customers
We’ve had longstanding problems with rolling mill water intruding into cross & bearings and causing damage. When that happened suddenly, it would bring the production line stop,causing losses.
To address this, we started using an improved product with better sealing performance, which has reduced damage caused by water intrusion and reduced the frequency of cross & bearing replacements. As a result, our productivity improved and we are very satisfied.
A Message from JTEKT
Drive shafts for steel applications operate in harsh environments with heavy exposure to rolling mill water and scale, and there have been numerous cases in which water intrusion into cross & bearings has prevented drive shafts from achieving their full performance.
To address this, material and shape modifications were made to develop an oil seal with higher sealing performance. Because the drive shaft exhibits axial movement, we chaged the side lip from axial contact to radial contact, and a spring was added to further suppress the long-term deterioration of sealing performance (permanent set in fatigue).
As a result, we believe we have developed an oil seal that reduces water and scale intrusion into cross & bearings and helps extend customers’ maintenance intervals.
Industrial Solutions Engineering Dept.
Foundational Fields Engineering Office
Steel Mill Section
Product
Target models: D-series and U-series drive shafts for steel rolling mills
This newly developed product has been designed to improve sealing performance through optimized seal design and material selection, significantly reducing water intrusion and contributing to extended cross & bearing service life and lower maintenance costs.
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