ARTICLE
Moving materials with a sustainable focus
Products like low-friction bearings can extend the life of conveyors and lifts and help to boost sustainability in the material handling sector , says Jerome Pommereul , Global Business Engineer at SKF .
The climate meeting in Paris proved that politicians are capable of coming to agreement on important issues . While they can be commended for their diplomatic skills , the hard work of implementing environmental targets will largely be down to industry .
SKF ’ s Director of Corporate Sustainability , Rob Jenkinson , recently said that industry will need to “ roll up its sleeves and plot a way forward ” in putting these commitments into practice . This needs to begin straight away , by investing in lower-carbon technologies and addressing specific sustainability needs .
The material handling sector encompasses everything from elevators in skyscrapers , cranes , light conveyors ( like baggage handling lines ) and conveyors in mines . Each part of the industry is very different , but has similar underlying sustainability concerns – such as boosting energy efficiency , extending service life and lubricant disposal .
Grease disposal
At one time , lubrication grease was simply disposed of but now it must be recycled . This , however , is not so easy at achieve . For this reason , there is a concerted effort to cut the use of grease in applications such as lifts , conveyor pulleys and cranes . Less grease means less disposal , which ultimately means less pollution .
One solution is to use bearings that do not need re-lubrication . In bearings with solid oil the lubricating oil leaves the oil saturated polymer material onto the bearing raceways . The part is then lubricated for life – which has the added advantage of cutting the need for maintenance operations .
In the heavy conveyors application , another popular way to solve the problem is to use a ‘ three barriers ’ solution . The solution consists of : a housing with a seal , a sealed bearing , and grease filled in the space between the bearing and the housing seal . The solution has environmental benefits , since the use of grease is significantly lower , because you no longer need to purge the bearing clean with grease . The bearing itself needs small quantities of grease to function . Furthermore , the bearing life is significantly improved because it is working in a protected and clean environment . In a conveyor Jerome Pommereul pulley this means that the Global Business Engineer life of the bearing system is
SKF longer or equal to the lagging on the pulley thus no longer a bottle neck .
Added efficiency
A far more pressing concern is energy efficiency – as it is for many sectors . Elevator manufacturer KONE estimates that up to 10 % of a building ’ s energy consumption comes from the elevators , which makes it a key target for efficiency gains . There are already ways of clawing back some of this energy , through regenerative drives for example , or through traffic analysis optimizing the flow of people and number of elevators .
The move towards more sustainable and energy efficient products in lifts and elevators is partly accounted for by the strict LEED certification required for new building . This informs everything from building materials to construction methods . Regarding lifts , customers can specify the type of system they want and there is a definite trend in that they are increasingly demanding ones with higher standards of efficiency .
A third – and crucial – element of sustainability is to extend the working life of a product and its components . Every time
20 Global MDA Journal may 2018