Rex® Auxiliary Caps for Clinker Cooler Fan Bearings

Author: Dale Stallard

Category: Bearings

Article Tags:

auxiliary

bearings

caps

cement

Clinker

Cooler

fan

Industrial

Cooler Fan in Cement Industry Application

Rex® Auxiliary Caps Protect Clinker Cooler Fan Bearings From Contamination

Cement manufacturers know to expect downtime and lost costs when cooling fans stop working. Lost productivity and unexpected costs are a pain point in any industry, but there is a way to keep industrial fans online by protecting them from contamination.

Why Are Fans Used In Cement Manufacturing?

To make cement, manufacturers mix various materials then heat them in a rotary kiln. Once at the proper temperature, the material leaves the kiln and enters a cooling section. Large industrial fans circulate air through the cooling section. This brings down the temperature of the material.

These fans are critical to the entire cement manufacturing process. If just one of these fans drops out of service for any reason, it will disrupt the entire process. This downtime will result in loss of production as well as high loss of material costs.

What Causes Industrial Fan Failure?

Contamination is the leading cause of bearing failure for industrial cooling fans. Abrasive cement dust and moisture entering the fan housing will wear down the bearings and other components. Because cement is made outdoors, manufacturers need to be on guard against contamination.

How To Protect Industrial Fans From Contamination

Outdoors, manufacturers need to deal with the elements and varying temperatures. These conditions demand a bearing seal that offers the highest protection. Rex® Auxiliary Bearing Caps from Regal Rexnord specifically offer the maximum level of protection.

These auxiliary caps can be bolted to each side of the housing. They are used along with the standard bearing seal. The caps come in both open-end and closed-end styles.

About Rex® Auxiliary Bearing Caps

The closed-end caps offer the greatest amount of protection. However, they are not suitable for fan arrangements where the shaft passes through both bearings. In this type of arrangement, we recommend using two open auxiliary caps.

The caps consist of a heavy-duty cap casting equipped with a labyrinth grease seal. The seal is machined into the casting where the shaft passes through the cap. A grease fitting on the cap allows users to fill the cap with grease and purge it independently from the bearing. The shaft also has a V-ring seal with the lip riding against the outside machined face of the cap.

The auxiliary cap sets up several obstacles to contamination. With a cap in place, contamination would have to pass by the initial V-ring seal, under the labyrinth area, through the grease filled cavity, and, finally, move past the primary bearing seal. Before this has a chance of happening, users add grease through the provided fitting. This allows the entire cap cavity to be purged of any contamination.

Rex Auxiliary Bearing Caps have a track record of providing high reliability demanded by clinker cooler fan applications in cement manufacturing.

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Dale Stallard

Dale Stallard started with Rexnord in 1988 and has held different positions in Quality Control and Product Design and Development at multiple facilities. Dale is a Senior Application Engineer supporting Rexnord's bearing business. In his current role, he provides customers with support such as helping them select the proper bearing, onsite assistance, maintenance and installation training, and troubleshooting with any issues.