Causes of Bearing Failure

Lubricant contamination

Research and follow-up analysis by bearing producers and users has established lubricant contamination as the
predominant failure cause [3] (see chart above). Much of this
contamination finds its way into bearing housings through
openings where equipment shafts protrude through bearing
housings, or at vents and breathers provided somewhere on
the oil-lubricated assembly. Also, bearing housings undergo
temperature shifts from daytime to nighttime, and temperatures
differ when operating versus non-operating. With increasing
temperatures, the vapors floating above the liquid oil level will
expand; with decreasing temperatures the vapors will contract.
In a closed volume, increasing temperatures cause pressures
to go up, while decreasing temperatures cause pressures to
decrease. The laws of physics are at work here.The image on
the right Illustrates the consequences of this contamination.

The trouble with lip seals

Historically the most common way of protecting bearings

was to use a lip seal (see inset). They rely on surface contact
between the seal lip and the shaft to form the seal. This surface
contact often results in costly damage to the shaft itself (left). In
addition, as a consequence of this rubbing, lip seals cant fully
protect the bearing from moisture or particle ingress, which
ultimately results in bearing failure. Today however it is generally
accepted that lip seals have limitations[4], but due to inexpensive
initial cost they continue to be widely applied. Lip seals do not
meet the requirement of IEEE standard 841-2001[5] for electric
motors or American Petroleum Institute standard API610
11th Edition[6](section 6.10.2.6)

Benefits of Bearing Isolators

As a consequence of these findings and in an effort to reduce the pressure-related alternating in-and-out flow of
contaminated ambient air, conventional labyrinths are often replaced by rotating labyrinth seals, which are often
called bearing isolators or bearing protectors, for short. It should be noted that these rotating devices are designed
with inherent clearances. In essence, an air gap separates the rotating and stationary elements. Except for brief time
periods when the gap may be bridged by an oil film, this air gap is large enough to allow the continual exchange or
inflow-outflow of atmospheric air with its ever-present contaminants, primarily water vapor and air-borne dust.
It has been pointed out that bearing isolators work best when the housing vent is plugged. It has also been noted
that, if the housing vent is left open, the slight vacuum created by certain contaminant expulsion elements---often
just a contour milled into one of the machined components---will induce the flow of airborne dust, dirt, vapors and
everything available in the immediate environment through the bearing enclosure. With large clearances the action is
not unlike an oil bath style vacuum cleaner. This action is constant and the amount of induced debris build-up can be
significant.

Dynamic O-rings

Bearing isolators fitted with dynamic O-rings (right) try to close the gap through
which airborne contaminants can enter into the bearing housing. The design intent is
for the O-ring to effectively seal off the air gap at standstill (Ref. 2). As the shaft starts
rotating, the designers or manufacturers anticipate that centrifugal force acting on the
rotating O-ring will cause this O-ring to lift off. In other words, the design objective is
for the lifting distance to be sufficient to avoid the scraping and galling wear modes
noted on circumferentially contacting dynamic O-rings.
Common sense tells us that devices with circumferentially contacting dynamic
(flying) O-rings (see right) cannot seal tightly if the O-ring (made from a polymer
material) scrapes on the sharp corners of an oil ring retention groove. But neither can
the devices seal tightly if the retention groove is chamfered; in that case the resulting
air gap is too large. Long-term effective sealing is simply not possible with
circumferential dynamic O-rings.

O-rings in dynamic applications

It is for these rather obvious reasons that O-ring manufacturers do not recommend high-cycle dynamic
circumferential sealing applications. Nevertheless, bearing protectors/isolators equipped with dynamic vapor
blocking O-rings are likely to outperform simpler models of bearing housing protectors (bearing isolators) that do not
have blocking rings.
As regards bearing isolators that incorporate dynamic O-rings of any kind, many practicing engineers have voiced
concerns over mistaken claims that these devices provide hermetic sealing. Reliability professionals are correctly
reasoning that if an O-ring does lift off, there will still be the gap through which contaminated air moves either into the
bearing housing or out of the bearing housing---depending on prevailing temperatures and pressures. Conversely, if
there is no gap, there will be wear. It can thus be shown that, contrary to written claims dating back about two
decades, no bearing protectors/isolators designed with dynamic O-rings will be capable of hermetic sealing duty.
However, third-generation bearing isolators - as used in the LabTecta - developed in 2003 are able to fully
circumvent issues with radially outward-moving dynamic O-rings. Instead, they use an axially outward-moving O-ring
which can only make contact with a large, contoured sealing area (large area equals low contact pressure). At
standstill, this large diameter O-ring is being activated by a narrower profile outward-moving dynamic O-ring. At
operation, the dynamic O-ring exerts little, if any, load on the larger axially sliding O-ring. While not absolutely
hermetic, the LabTecta-style design exhibits no discernible wear after years of operation.
Magnetic Seals for Hermetic sealing
Hermetically sealing the bearing housing implies that nothing enters and
nothing escapes. Only face-to-face sealing devices - mechanical seals -
meet this definition most closely. However, in view of the generally
limited axial space available between bearing housings and fluid casings
of centrifugal pumps and other machinery, relatively narrow-width,
magnetically closing face seals have been developed in the recent
decades.

Whenever there exists a thin film of clean oil between either

spring-activated or magnet-activated seal faces, long seal life and
hermetic containment of the lubricating fluids results. Tens of thousands
of the magnetic face seals shown on the left have been used in aircraft
task pumps, as aircraft generator seals, and on vertical stabilizer
units[7]. They can tolerate rubbing velocities as high as 86 m/s (17,000
fpm) and temperatures as high as 200o C (392o F) and have frequently served to everyones satisfaction for over
50,000 operating hours. These seals have performed equally well in such industrial applications as gun drills,
gearboxes and pump housings. They use a single Al-Ni-Co magnet annulus to attract the opposing seal face.
A rather similar seal, incorporating a series of strong rare-earth magnet rods that attract the opposing face. Superior
face material combinations achieve coefficients of friction that, even without lubrication present, rival those of PTFE..
Many thousands of fluid machines in different parts of the industrial world have been fitted with these particular types
of magnetic seal.
It should be pointed out that magnetic seals obtain lubrication and cooling from the ever-present oil fog that surrounds
oil-lubricated bearings. Properly designed, using appropriate face materials and applying suitable selection criteria,
they represent the ideal choice of a bearing housing seal that prevents both egress of lube oil and ingress of
atmospheric contaminants. Should the temperature-dependent pressure inside a non-vented bearing housing rise
and overcome the magnetic closing force, the magnetic face seal would instantly release this pressure by opening
and immediately re-closing.

Magnetic seals of the type shown on the left will perform flawlessly,
either in conjunction with pressure-balanced constant level lubricators or
non-vented bearing housings filled with a finite amount of liquid lubricant.
An even more advanced dual magnetic face seal variant, (MagTecta,
shown right), has been available since 2005. It represents the ideal
bearing housing closure for closed, environmentally acceptable oil mist
lubrication systems.
In a closed oil mist application, the oil mist is introduced in the space
between magnetic seal and bearing[8] . Excess liquid or vaporized oil is
led off or collected at the bottom center location of the bearing
housing[9].