Company Announcement - SKF presented a range of innovations customised to meet the needs of the oil & gas industry at the Offshore Technology Conference 2015. SKF demonstrated a range of innovations that improve reliability and efficiency in the oil & gas industry at the Offshore Technology Conference 2015. The solutions on display at the event have been customised specifically to meet the needs of OEMs and operators in this sector.

At the show, SKF presented its optimised SKF tapered roller thrust bearing, which has been designed to further improve the reliability of the top drive main thrust bearing by extending bearing service life and delivering higher load carrying capacity. This bearing features an enhanced design for increased load carrying capacity, high-wear resistance and greater ability to accommodate shocks - meeting the industry’s requirement for a main thrust bearing that can perform reliably in extreme operating conditions.

Visitors to the event experienced first-hand SKF’s new Sensor bearing unit, a total system solution that combines ruggedised speed sensor technology with the simplicity of a unitised assembly for easy field retrofit in Top Drives or Drawworks applications. Containing a hybrid deep groove ball or cylindrical roller bearing, a magnetic impulse ring and a sensor embedded in the end cover with integral seals and lubricated for life, the SKF Sensor bearing unit can be installed quickly and easily and is extremely reliable, even in the harshest oil & gas environments.

Also exhibited were Kaydon MTE-324T slewing ring bearings and Kaydon Reali-Slim® thin section bearings. The MTE-324T slewing ring bearing features a 4-point contact design and is ideal for use in a variety of oil & gas applications. It precisely and reliably carries radial, axial and moment loads simultaneously and has integral seals to resist contamination. Reali-Slim® thin section bearings feature a cross-section that stays constant as the bore diameter increases, providing more dynamic capacity than conventional bearings. Available in a wide range of styles and sized, benefits of Reali-Slim® thin section bearings include: space and weight savings for more compact designs; longer life than standard bearings; enhanced design flexibility; and consistently high-level performance.

SKF experts discussed the new Generalised Bearing Life Model, which has been developed as part of the SKF EnCompass Field Performance Programme. The Generalized Bearing Life Model is designed to help engineers, including those working in the oil & gas sector, to calculate a more realistic bearing service life by considering more application parameters than ever before. To address customer needs for improved bearing field performance, SKF has optimised the design of a number of its bearings. This includes SKF Explorer spherical roller bearings, which can now have a service life twice that of previous industry-leading SKF Explorer bearings, especially under contaminated or poor lubrication conditions.

Visitors had the opportunity to discuss customised sealing solutions for well control and valve applications with SKF experts. As a specialist provider of customised sealing solutions with a full range of proprietary NORSOK approved materials, SKF is able to rapidly develop customized seals to meet virtually any requirement. SKF’s well control sealing solutions include the FS seal, patented locking T-seal, hydraulic seals for blowout preventers and a new gate valve stem seal that has been recently qualified to the new API6A 21st edition specification for 20,000 psi applications.

In addition, visitors can learnt more about several new SKFS2M magnetic bearing technology innovations for turbo-machinery applications. For example, the E300V2 control system is a 300 Volt, 30 Amp digital electronic control cabinet that features a number of important new features, including remote monitoring and automatic diagnostics, greater redundancy of key components, backup UPS and a high-resolution data acquisition system. SKF S2M active magnetic bearings, which are installed at over 1,000 oil & gas sites around the world, deliver proven benefits for turbo-machinery, such as increased operating speed range, elimination of lubrication system, high reliability, no mechanical wear and lower energy consumption.

The SKF Upstream Oil and Gas Support app is now available to download from the App Store on iTunes. This helps OEMs to boost equipment reliability and performance by describing common goals, challenges and the SKF solutions on offer.