Thordon’s COMPAC bearing with solitary essential style.
A current examination of the twenty-year-old Thordon water-lubricated prop shaft bearings set up on a twin-screw cruise liner were located to be within category culture criteria and also ideal for proceeded usage for a more 10 years of procedure, the bearings producer records.
At the shipowner’s demand, Thordon Bearings went to the docking in Brest, France, to evaluate the prop shaft linings and also outboard bearings of a 2,500 passenger-capacity cruise liner in which the firm’s COMPAC bearings had actually been set up in 1999.
,“After more than twenty years of service and 6,100 annual operating hours, bearing clearances were significantly below Lloyd’s Register’s 10.5mm (0.41in) maximum allowable clearance,” claims Jeffrey Butt, Thordon’s Business Development Manager–Marine “The maximum clearance recorded was 7.34 mm (0.29in) on a starboard shaft bearing. The vessel could potentially operate these same bearings for another ten years.”
The problem of the 83,000 gt vessel’s shaft linings– themselves a measure of effective bearing efficiency– was similarly outstanding.
Gus Juarez, Thordon Bearings’ professional from the Global Service & & Support group associated with the examination, stated: “There were some minor circumferential marks on the shaft liners, but they looked well-polished. There was no indication of circumferential grooving or damage. All liners were determined to be in satisfactory shape.”
Copies of all the examination video clips were given to the Lloyd’s Register land surveyor and also shipowner agents adhering to the October drydocking.
The ship checked at the Brest shipyard is the 2nd cruise liner to arise from a drydocking with a Thordon bearing in close to excellent problem after years of procedure. In September 2015, throughout the examination of a sibling ship, land surveyors tape-recorded a bearing use down of 7 mm (0.28 in). This was 17 years after the system was set up.
Craig Carter, Director of Marketing and also Customer Service, Thordon Bearings, stated: “Based on our cruise installations to date, a seawater-lubricated propeller shaft system typically has a wear-life of 25 years, saving millions in maintenance costs and emergency repairs. There are no lubricants to purchase, no service contracts to sign, reduced maintenance budgets and zero pollution risk.”
