Estimated Navy Cost Avoidance:
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Minimum annual:
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$ 5,500 K
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Minimum 15 Year:
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$ 82,500 K
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| The ceramic bearings final report and summary paragraph were sent to the Warrant Technical Holder at NAVSEA and other respective parties within the Fleet for their review and consideration. It was originally believed that the cost of ceramic bearings would be similar to that of the steel ones; however, the ceramic ones actually cost three to five times more than the steel ones (on average), while lasting up to five times longer than the steel ones. Approval for this project was never received because there was concern that sailors and maintenance technicians would not notice the difference between the stainless steel and ceramic bearings and would possibly throw out the more expensive ceramic ones well before their end of life. |
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Problem:
| The Navy has 400,000 pump-motor combinations (74,000 applications) in the fleet. Current bearings require greasing on a quarterly basis and must be replaced every three years, on average. |
Solution:
| Ceramic bearings have demonstrated a very high reliability-the replacement rate should be increased by a factor of 5-10. Because of the lower heat and wear, greases also last longer. In many cases, the lifetime of the bearing will cease being a function of the hardware and will become a function of the survivability of the grease (sealed bearing applications). Because many of the applications are considered critical, this new equipment must be shock tested to the most strenuous standards. |
Fleet Impact:
| Given the huge number of bearings in operation at sea, any improvement in the reliability of the bearings and decrease in the maintenance requirements will have a very large impact on fleet time and resources. |
Applications:
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