Bearing Inner Race Damage Diagnosis
A bearing defect was flagged for replacement due to BPFI and BSF harmonics in the spectrum, indicating inner race damage. The damage was more significant on the right-hand side of the raceway, possibly due to a lack of grease flow.
One of my first bearing defects I flagged for replacement and it is still one of the most memorable.
The spectrum showed a clear BPFI and BSF with harmonics. The sidebands around the inner race frequency is typical of a 'live shaft' pulley. Retrieving the components and inspecting them to find correlation with the original data was a great feeling.
What are your thoughts on the inner race damage? Why is the damage more significant on the RHS of the raceway (End cap side)?Knowing that the lubrication line goes to the centre of the bearing. My thoughts are that the LHS of the bearing (Seal side) has a clear path for grease to push through and clear metal being generated. The RHS doesn't have this path.
While it's not ideal to reach this level of deterioration, we were able to replace the bearing during a maintenance window and avoid unplanned downtime. Great result!
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