Food processing customer shredding zucchini for distribution to restaurants, schools and other food manufacturers.
BACKGROUND
The food processing customer has a zucchini shredder under heavy washdown. The shredder uses two bearings each costing $1,000 that are protected by generic dual lip seals. Due to ingress of cleaning solution their bearings would fail every 6 weeks. The end user was looking for solutions to extend the life of their bearings.
CHALLENGES FACED
The customer has 6 shredders, each requiring a set of bearings every 6-8 weeks, leading to over $100K a year in additional bearing spend. In addition, they incurred the cost of downtime, which they have no way to make up as they are a 365 day a year operation, plus the associated maintenance expense to replace the bearings. The customer was looking for a way to protect their equipment and maintain their current washdown processes to preserve the cleanliness of their operation.
OPERATING CONDITIONS
Size: 130mm shaft
Temperature: 40°F - 130°F (4°C - 54°C)
Application: Shredder
Media: Water
Speed: 900 RPM
SOLUTION AND BENEFITS
Our friends at Garlock were able to design and produce two GUARDIAN™ bearing isolators tailored to the application. These have been in service for over 9 months without failure. The end user wanted to run until failure before changing out the other 5 shredders. Once converted, they will recognize a $100K/year annual savings, in addition to maintenance and downtime savings.
The original article was features on Garlock's website and can be found here.
Gallagher Fluid Seals is an authorized distributor of Garlock products. For more information about bearing isolators, or to see if they are right for your application, contact Gallagher Fluid Seals today.
