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Schaeffler has extended its premium quality X-life range of cylindrical rolling bearings to now include larger size bearings with outside diameters up to 1,600mm.

Lightweight vehicle designs are quickly becoming fundamental to future sustainable mobility, not only for conventional drive systems, but also for electric vehicle concepts. One key area in which developers are currently focusing their efforts is in the optimisation of vehicle drive systems in order to contribute to the overall weight saving. Tier Two automotive supplier, Schaeffler has achieved notable successes in the development of shift masses, transmission selector hubs and gearshift forks.

Linear actuators are playing a vital role in helping a manufacturer of roof panels to eliminate virtually all sources of defects in its machining processes, which in turn has enabled the plant to double its annual production output of ready-to-fit roof components.

Schaeffler has successfully completed the design and build of the world’s largest, most powerful test rig for large size bearings. The test rig, officially opened at Schaeffler’s Schweinfurt plant in November, is now fully operational. The ‘Astraios’ test rig enables large size bearings weighing up to 15 tonnes with outside diameters up to 3.5m (particularly those used in wind power applications) to be fully tested in realistic conditions using a comprehensive simulation programme.

A new, groundbreaking sensor that enables the online condition monitoring of grease in rolling bearings has been developed by The Schaeffler Group in conjunction with Freudenberg Dichtungs- und Schwingungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG and lubricants specialist Klüber Lubrication. The new grease sensor incorporates a novel electronic evaluation system, which enables the condition of the grease to be monitored whilst the bearings are operating.