Bearing Failure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bearing Failure - Essay Example The fan is driven by a large electric motor mounted vertically. These motors have been giving frequent problems due to the failure of the bearing, mounted on the shaft, on the underside of the motor. Repeated failure of these bearings is a cause of concern since it leads to frequent power outages and the attendant maintenance problems. The premature failure of the bearing also leads to damage of the stator, rotor and other parts making this a problem with much larger consequences than just the collapse of a single bearing. Bearings are used to provide smooth and low friction movement between two moving parts; the movement may be rotary, as in this case, or lateral. Bearings have no wearable surfaces and are designed to fatigue after a time. With proper use this time is measured in years and not hours. The usual causes for premature failure of motor bearings are detectable from a close examination of the failed bearing since every different type of reason for failure will leave its own tell-tale signs on the bearing. Detailed examination of several failed bearings was done to determine: The study of the possible causes, collection of information analysis and preparation of report was completed over a period of 50 days. The approximate number of days spent on each activity and the scheduling of work are given in Appendix II attached to this report. Discussion The fishbone diagram A fishbone diagram was drawn to consider all possible causes that may lead to a premature bearing failure. The diagram is enclosed as Appendix-I to this paper. All aspects The four M's: Manpower, Material, Machine and Method The four S's: Suppliers, Surroundings, System and Skills The four P's: Policies, People, Procedures and Place Were considered with care and as a first step the four P's were rejected as not being relevant to this particular situation. The others were combined to form four major reasons Manpower and Skills Material and Suppliers Machine and Surroundings Method and System Every angle of how these could have led to the failure of the bearings was explored and these were eliminated one by one and the root cause of the bearing failure was isolated. The considered opinion of this writer is that the failure resulted from incorrect design and installation of the motors. A different approach was then adopted to determine the exact cause of the bearing failure by examining the engineering aspects of the design, alignment and installation of the motors that caused the bearings to fail. Technical evaluation The motor is