advertisement

---

The Timken Co.'s "intelligent" bearing technology will play an integral role in an upcoming Federal Railroad Administration field-testing demonstration project.

The company is supplying the Timken® Guardian™ bearing featuring intelligent wireless sensor technology and the Timken® generator bearing.

"This next generation of rail bearing products offers significant safety and productivity advantages to the railroad industry," said Mathew Happach, Timken's president - rail, in a prepared statement issued Sept. 20. "It will allow for continuous inspection of the railways by monitoring wheel impacts due to wheel or track irregularities."

The Timken Guardian bearing is designed to detect temperature, vibration and wheel rotational speed, and the Timken generator bearing contains an integrated electrical power generator designed to provide a charge for the on-board battery system.

"The sensing system located inside the intelligent wireless bearing sends radio frequency transmissions of data to a receiver on the car," said David Toth, Timken's chief engineer - rail. "The receiver on the car that can be powered by the Timken generator bearing can either store data or network with on-board or off-site computers for future analysis."

Timken manufactures of the Timken® AP™, SP™ and AP-2™ bearings, as well as self-contained, pre-assembled and pre-lubricated tapered roller bearings. The company also supplies related products and services, including rail bearing grease and reconditioning services. Timken also has bearing reconditioning facilities in Brazil, India, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.