To help motor OEMs, machine builders and integrators combat the effects of electric arcing, SKF is making its advanced engineering services team available to clients. Until recently this team of advanced engineering consultants has been an in-house applications research group focused on the effects of electrical erosion. The team, which has access to proprietary software, testing facilities and a vast knowledge base, can provide customers with solutions they can use to combat the effects of stray electric currents.

Electric arcing, also called “flashover” or “electric erosion,” is best described as a stray electric current jumping from one bearing ring to another by way of the rolling elements, causing premature bearing failure. The problem has grown with the widespread use of variable speed drives and pulse-width modulated frequency converters.