Mining business is serious business, and so is everything else that revolves around it.

Due to the heaviness of operations and importance of processes being deployed in this industry, it becomes important that downtimes are minimized as much as possible. One of the many ways to do so is by keeping each and every part of the machinery up and running.

Down to the smallest units, we discuss bearings – and how they can be made to last for longer in mining equipment.

How to Choose the Right Bearings

If you have ever tried shopping bearings before, you will soon find out that there is a massive number of them out there. We make some too, so we know how much and different they can get.

Put in the fact that each and every type comes with its own ABEC rating, as well as other factors like hardness level, rolling friction, etc. – and you have an overwhelming task on your hand.

However, it does not have to be so. When choosing your bearings, the exact type of bearing that you go for is not the big deal. The big deal is in the way of your choice meeting the following requirements:

• Reliability – Mining operations are one of the most tasking ones out there. The equipment is subjected to a lot of abuse, and it is never given a break long enough to cover from this abuse. Thus, the best kind of bearing for you would naturally be the one that can take on a lot of this abuse and still come back for more.

By abuse, we mean constant rolling and grinding while not generating too much friction to slow down industrial processes, resistance to heat and thermal deformation, protection against corrosion and vibration-absorbing capabilities, among others.

• Load-Carrying Capacity – The mining industry makes use of excavators and conveyor belts. These belts can run for hundreds of meters at a stretch and they have rollers (both active and idle) which will need bearings. The ideal bearing in this case will be equipped to carry load and not fail under such weight.
• Maintenance – Remember what we said about a bearing for mining being able to take abuse? Likewise, we mentioned that downtimes should be minimized as much as possible for an efficient production operation. To that end, the bearing you pick should be the low-maintenance kind.

Note that this does not mean ‘zero maintenance’ will be done on the bearings, but as minimal as possible.

• Installation – Mining is a complex operation already, and it doesn’t have to get more complex. This is why OEMs – the ones who have the best interest of the industry at heart, anyways – will have their mining bearings come with easy mounting and dismounting features. That way, operations can be resumed faster, changes can be made quickly and repairs don’t have to take all the time.

What bearings do we recommend?

Speaking of mining bearings, there are a lot of different areas where you could need to apply them. Thus, not all bearings should be used in all areas of mining. Picking out a couple of major mining operations, here are the bearings that should go with the setup

• Deep groove ball bearings – filled with grease for longer service life, and properly protected against dust/ other foreign objects, they are deal for use on the belt conveyors
• Spherical roller bearings – they are specially designed to handle heavy loads, debris, supply uniform speed levels and stay extremely robust in diverse operating conditions. All that makes them applicable to a wide range of mining equipment.

Do you know what kinds of bearings are currently in your mining equipment?

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