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Rubber Prop Shaft Bearings for Nuclear Ice Breaker
01 Dec 2003
The original metal backed bearing staves supplied by Johnson Duramax were installed in a dove-tailed housing. When rope caught in the propeller shaft bearing and damaged the aft seal, it was necessary to carry out emergency repairs with polyurethane bearing material which happened to be in stock at the repair yard. These polyurethane staves were used for partial replacement of damaged aft metal backed bearing staves. From the outset, these staves caused excessive shaft and bearing wear problems, with a closed system which required frequent cleaning due to clogged filters.
The Murmansk Shipping Company contacted Netherlands based Maprom Engineering BV to install new low friction ROMOR1 non-metallic rubber stern tube bearings, with Johnson Duramax LLC supervising.
Unlike other stave solutions, the ROMOR 1s were installed using a simple freezer, without liquid nitrogen or dry ice.
When the propeller shaft was removed, the forward bearing staves were also replaced despite being in good condition after 65,000 running hours.
With the installation quickly completed, Taymir's propeller shaft was again ready to encounter up to 300 shaft reversals per day under the most challenging of ice breaking conditions.
MJ Information No: 18912
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