WSBC Bearing significantly extends equipment life by employing new materials and accurate manufacturing methods. In the case of mine crusher, its R&D of isothermal quenching ADI material alum roller bearings, surface hardness 58 HRC, impact toughness increased to 180 J/cm², in the severe working conditions of crushed ore (Mohs hardness level 7), life from industry average 800 hours to 2400 hours, maintenance frequency of equipment reduced by 67%. In 2022, after a Chilean copper mining company adopted WSBC Bearing, one production line’s yearly downtime was reduced by 420 hours, the return on capacity increased by 19%, and the expense of purchasing spare parts reduced by 35%.
In wind power, WSBC Bearing’s polymer cage technology solves the issue of fretting wear in spindle bearings. With improved tensile strength of the nylon composite material to 210 MPa (40% of the typical brass) and reducing roller guide clearance to ±0.03 mm, bearing on the wind speed load at 30 m/s for a 10 MW offshore fan reduces grease consumption by 28% and restricts the amplitude of vibration to 4.5 μm. According to DNV GL certification report, using the wind turbine gearbox of WSBC Bearing, failure interval has been extended from 7 years to 12 years with over $1.2 million savings in total lifecycle operation and maintenance expense.
In high temperature applications, WSBC Bearing’s Si3N4 ceramic hybrid bearing performs well in continuous steel casting lines. Under the brilliant heat environment of 1200℃ continuous casting roller, thermal expansion coefficient is controlled at 3.2×10⁻⁶/℃ (only 1/4 that of steel bearings) and the fluctuation range of axial clearance is reduced to ± 5μm, and therefore sector bearing replacement interval of the continuous casting machine is extended from 3 months to 18 months. In 2023, following Baowu Group’s release of this technology, the shutdown and maintenance for the whole year for one line of production will be cut back by 12 times, but the yield rate of hot rolled strip steel will be increased by 2.3 percentage points.
WSBC Bearing’s smart preload control technology shatters the machine tool spindle fields. The actual axial load is sensed by the onboard sensor (±2 N accuracy), and the dynamic preload is adjusted by the linkage hydraulic device (range 50-800 N), and consequently, the thermal rise of the high-speed motorized spindle under 18,000 rpm is reduced by 15℃, and the time of precision attenuation is extended by 3 times. According to test data of a German five-axis machining center enterprise, the HSK-63 spindle with the system has a radial runout of 1.8μm under a cumulative processing time more than 28,000 hours, reaching the highest in the VDI 3441 standard.
In rail transit applications, WSBC Bearing’s carburized surface modification technology has increased the fatigue life of high-speed rail gearbox bearings to 2.4 million kilometers. The 8μm thick chromium nitride layer (microhardness 1200 HV) is formed on the raceway surface by the ion implantation process, which reduces the micro-pitting area of the bearing at the speed of 380 km/h by 76%. The comparative experiment test of Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway model suggests that through the bogie system of WSBC Bearing, wheelset rotation life cycle could be extended to 280,000 km from original 120,000 km, and one year operation and maintenance cost could be reduced by 41%. All these numbers testify to the industry benchmark for unremitting re-configuration of equipment lifespan of WSBC Bearing through multi-dimensional innovation of material science, smart control and high-precision manufacture.