The SKF Three-Barrier Solution

Professionals in the mining industry are facing many challenges. Operations managers and site managers need to increase availability and output. Maintenance managers and engineering managers need to find ways of solving everyday reliability problems to meet operational targets.

The availability challenge

Efficient automation is key to the mining industry. However, average plant availability varies between 84 and 88%, and four out of ten plants perform below 80%. Only a few plants reach 92% or more.

At an SKF lifecycle management conference in 2018, a poll showed that conveyors are the most problematic asset in mining. We also know from case studies that pulley bearings are the main reason for conveyor breakdowns. Shifting from conventional open pulley bearings to a contamination-reducing bearing solution makes everybody a winner.

More working hours for conveyors

One example of a contamination-reducing bearing solution is the SKF Three-barrier solution. The pulley bearing is protected from ingress of dirt and loss of grease by three barriers. You only have to re-grease every third month, compared with once a week for open bearings, and service life is three times longer than for the open counterpart. Longer intervals make it possible to take predictive maintenance to another level.

See how the solution works

• SKF mining-specific housing with SKF Taconite sealing or other contact seal
• Housing cavity grease (SKF recommends SKF LGGB 2 biodegradable grease)
• Sealed SKF Explorer spherical roller bearing

Three levels of protection

Since 2007, we have offered the SKF Three-barrier solution for conveyor pulley applications. The solution protects the pulley bearing from contamination and insufficient lubrication; the two main reasons why bearings fail early. Start your journey towards higher conveyor uptime.

• 3 x longer MTBF
• Up to 92% conveyor uptime
• Up to 90% less grease used
• Up to 99.9% less grease if not purged
• Reduced maintenance
• Increased safety