Bearing oil coolers

How bearing oil coolers work

The bearing generally sits immersed in the oil that has cooled it; otherwise, more oil is pumped over it from the sump below. Coolers sitting in the sump of a bearing housing are usually immersed in oil. However, the flow of oil is slow, and the resulting heat transfer depends on natural convection within the oil pool. The two controlling factors of the surface area requirements are:

• the rate of heat transfer from oil to tube
• the overall temperature differential between the oil and the coolant.

This means that the heat transfer requires a significant surface area.  An array of either plain or finned tubes can supply this surface area, depending on the geometry and location of the oil. Where finned tubes are used, the spacing of the fins must be wide enough to ensure capillary forces exhibited by the oil being cooled don’t restrict natural convection.

Our strengths

• Bespoke – We can work with you to design the appropriate amount of heat transfer surface, interfacing the cooler with the bearing housing.
  
  
• Production capabilities – We can manipulate both plane and finned tube arrays to meet a range of contours. This allows us to create semi-circular and circular coolers for vertical shaft bearing cooling applications.
  
  
• One off or batch capabilities – We can supply prototype, one-off and bespoke design solutions. We are also able to reverse engineer solutions where off-the-shelf coolers have not met customer requirements.

As a recognised manufacturer of bearing oil coolers, we can help you to get the best equipment for your application.

If you feel you need:

• • • another machine oil cooler, visit our generic machine oil cooler page
    • another type of heat exchanger, visit our products and services page
    • more information, contact us.