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9/10/2015

The Timken Co.: EcoTurn© labyrinth seal

Bearing seals impact rail-car performance and rail-car operating costs. The Timken Co.’s EcoTurn® labyrinth seal is designed to enhance the Timken® AP-2 Class K and AP Class F rail bearing assemblies.

The one-piece molded elastomer, patent-pending seal contains no rubbing surfaces, eliminating virtually all seal-generated torque, the company says. The EcoTurn seal is designed to:

• offer almost zero torque, which can save thousands of gallons of fuel annually and reduce emissions by several tons per year (based on a 100-car train traveling 100,000 miles per year);
• reduce hot-box set-outs;
• minimize temperature trending removals;
• provide water-exclusion capabilities for the duration of the wheel life;
• decrease grease weepage; and
• reduce water etching and corrosion.

For freight-rail applications, the reduction in operating torque per bearing can lower the yearly fuel consumption required to pull a 100-car train by more than 13,500 gallons — which, in turn, reduces environmental emissions (including nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide) by four tons. This is the equivalent of removing 240 automobiles from the road, Timken says.