NSK, Motion & Control

NSK bearings for Food & Beverage Industries

As a longtime partner to some of the World´s leading food and beverage manufacturers, NSK has gained enormous experience and understanding of their sector; thus enabling us to help our customers manage their costs and improve production efficiencies.
Apart from having to be highly reliable, maintenance-free and operate at high speeds, bearings for the food processing industry have to comply with the hygiene requirements synomymous with the industry.

To meet these rigorous demands, we have developed a comprehensive range of products specifically for the various processing machinery components, such as washing systems, baking machinery, conveying systems, electric motors and pumps, to name just a few.

Condition challenge

The challenges that bearings have to face are immense and varied: chemical exposure, continuous washdowns, fluctuating temperatures, even contamination. Since bearing failure can shut down entire processing lines, understanding the causes of the problem and acting quickly to find solutions to it is vital. This is the Condition Challenge.    

At NSK we are always mindful of these demands, and consider the conditions that bearings work in as an important factor in their design and development. Therefore we have grouped our bearings by the conditions they have to work under, thus making the right choice for your processing requirements that much easier: Wet and Clean, Hot and Cold, Contaminated.

Products for the Food & Beverage industries

• SPACEA Series - a range of NSK bearings specifically designed to meet the needs of the food and beverage industries.
  
  
• Molded-Oil - designed to be maintenance-free, providing excellent performance in water- and dust-contaminated environments.
  
  
• AIP - Asset Improvement Programme - focusses on solutions to problems that take up valuable time and money, and therefore impact on a company´s entire profitability.

Wet / clean conditions

Applications requiring hygiene, cleanliness and, consequently, frequent washdowns.

We have a range of bearings specifically conceived with materials, sealing and lubrication to fulfil the requirements of machinery components in such environments. On conveying and washing systems and, more generally, on any application subjected to regular washdown, where bearings come into contact with cleaning products.

Our engineers understand that clean application conditions are a necessity on machinery where frequent decontamination is required, or where edible process materials come into contact with bearings. They also understand how frequent washdowns can damage bearings, leading to costly downtime and increasing maintenance needs. With our industry experience, we can help and advise you on the right choice of bearing for your application requirements, thus reducing the costs of downtime.

See how we saved customers €'000s on their wash down applications...
Meat processing plant
Sweet manufacturer

Products for wet / clean conditions

• ES1 Stainless - ES1 provides better corrosion resistance than standard stainless steel in high humidity environments.
  
  
• Aqua bearings - equipped with special features to meet a broad range of light applications in water, alkali and strong acid environments.
  
  
• Nickel Coated bearings - nickel coating on the inner and outer rings enhances corrosion resistance and durability. 

Products for wet / clean conditions

• Silver-Lube® - corrosion-resistant bearing units specifically for use in industries where frequent washdowns are necessary.
  
  
• Life-Lube™ - combining the corrosion resistance of Silver-Lube™ and the exceptional lubricating properties of Molded Oil™.
  
  
• Stainless steel mounted units - using Molded Oil™ bearings, these units are suited to applications where cleanliness and high corrosion resistance are priorities.

Hot / Cold conditions

HOT / HEAT CONDITIONS
Applications where bearings are subjected to sustained temperatures up to 260°C.

Bearings in many food and beverage applications or processing machinery have to sustain constant high temperatures, such as more than 90°C for dehydration, up to 160°C for frying and up to 260°C in baking and roasting.

We have bearing materials that can provide solutions to ensure that your machinery continues to perform reliably under just such extreme temperature conditions.

COLD CONDITIONS
Applications where bearings are subjected to sustained zero / subzero temperatures.

In addition to their basic function of enabling moving machine elements to perform satisfactorily, bearings in the food and beverage industries often have to perform under a wide range of temperatures. To meet these needs, we have designed a range of bearings that continue to perform reliably at zero and subzero temperatures.

See how we extended the application life in:
A frozen food processing plant

A furnace in a can producers plant

Products for hot / cold conditions

• Nickel Coating - nickel coated bearings are resistant to chemical wash processes.
  
  
• HLT inserts - provide opportunities to reduce maintenance, downtime and replacement costs in high / low temperature environments.
  

Contaminated conditions

Any application where hard or soft particles are present in high concentrations; or where bearings come into contact with contaminated water, such as on vegetable conveyors, milling, fruit or vegetable washing, or baking machinery.

The food and beverage process requires that machinery work in dirty, gritty or contaminated water conditions. Ever increasing health and safety legislation means processing companies demanding safer products and cleaner machinery, as well as reduced downtime and maintenance. At NSK, we recognise these needs and have, as a result, developed a range of bearings suitable for applications where incidental contact with the product may occur, or where contamination is present.

See how we solved repeated failure of bearings due to water & soil exposure...
Potato brush scrubber
Vegetable washer

Products for contaminated conditions

• Molded Oil  - environmentally friendly bearings offering high performance in applications contaminated with water and dust.
  
• Triple Lip Seal - bearings that continue to perform despite exposure to heavy dust and water contamination.
  
• Aqua bearings - equipped with special features to meet a broad range of light applications in water, alkali and strong acid environments.