Sealing Systems for Oil Film Bearings in Flat Rolling Mills

摘要

One of the most frequent issues on oil film bearings in flat rolling mills is the efficiency of the sealing system. On the one hand reducing oil losses and water ingress is requested but simultaneously wear of sealing components should be minimized to provide maximum sealing life time. This paper focuses not only on the sealing systems itself but also gives a summarizing overview of impacts for the sealing system's efficiency determined by mill operation and the variables surrounding the sealing system. Specifically, the impact of axial bearing positioning on the Back Up Roll (BUR) will be discussed. Most of the mills in North America and Europe are based on older designs and the sealing systems in the oil film bearings have huge potential for improvements and upgrades by using re-designed sealing system components such as newly developed pre-sealing components minimizing water ingress into the bearing.