Sweden SKF manufactures shield machine bearings for China

Writer: Eric Bearing Limited

 In June 2020, in Gothenburg, Sweden, a red VOLVO heavy truck occupies 2 lanes, carrying a huge circular object, and slowly driving on the highway.

The huge round object is blue all over, with a diameter of 8 meters and a weight of 59 tons. It is like a giant's ring, shrouded in a veil of mystery.

In fact, this giant blue ring is a shield machine bearing manufactured by SKF Avalon factory in Sweden, which is also the largest diameter shield bearing produced by the factory. This bearing will be shipped to China after it leaves the factory, and the carrier is Cayon, a heavy-duty transportation company.   ERIC BEARING LTD have enough stock for SKF 23060 CC/W33  bearings , if you interested , pls contact us . 

Domestically produced shield machines account for nearly 80% of my country's market share. You may ask: Haven't all shield machines made domestically? Why are they imported from Sweden?

In fact, the shield machine bearing is the key and core component of the shield machine, especially the main bearing is regarded as the heart of the shield machine, known as the "jewel in the crown" of the slewing bearing, and its core technology has always been recognized by the American ANDREWS , American Timken, Japan NSK and Sweden SKF master.

The domestic development of shield main bearings started late, lacking corresponding test methods and related basic data. Compared with similar foreign products in the same period, there is still a big gap in their carrying capacity, life span, reliability and consistency.

In the operation of the shield machine, the large bearing bears the huge thrust and overturning moment of the cutter head during the tunneling and transmits it to the cutter head: bears the huge rotating torque of the cutter head drive system and transmits it to the cutter head to rotate; connect the cutter The disc and the cutter head support and bear the lifting weight. In addition, the impact load generated by the cutter head and the excavation surface during the tunneling process affects the large bearing .

Shield machine-driven slewing bearings are different from ordinary standard watch bearings. They have strong pertinence, complex forces, and high reliability and life. This is important for bearing materials, bearing processing technology, and bearing materials. The detection technology puts forward higher requirements .

Therefore, the large slewing bearing of shield machine is known as the "jewel in the crown" of the slewing bearing, and its core technology has been mastered by the American ANDREWS, the American Timken, the Japanese NSK and the Swedish SKF. The full name of Swedish SKF is "Svenska Kullager-Fabriken" and the Chinese transliteration name is "SKF"; SKF Group is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and is a leader in bearing technology and manufacturing.

SKF provides more than 20,000 standard products of various types of bearings, ranging from miniature bearings of 0.003 grams to giant bearings of 59 tons as large as the blue giant ring. In addition to rolling bearings, it also manufactures linear bearings, Sliding bearings, bearing boxes, ball and roller screws, textile machinery parts, retaining rings, machine tools and various precision machinery parts.

Such spectacular transportation scenes aroused the interest of French model master Manugo. He made the model of SKF giant bearing and its transportation bracket with 1:50 scale, using PVC material and cardboard, which is lifelike. Metal color.

After the production, Manugo also decrypted for us why the bearing is blue. In fact, the bearing is the natural color of metal, but before leaving the factory, SKF put a blue coat on the bearing as a protective layer, which is a tarpaulin covered on the bearing by a thermoforming process.