Cetim now has a bearing test bench for railway applications

To meet the needs of bearing and mechanical transmission professionals, Cetim, a Carnot-accredited technological institute, has set up a shared test bench for railway bearings. This enables manufacturers to test innovative solutions and understand the phenomena at the heart of mechanical components under heavy load.

Impressive features: the test bench enables tests to be carried out on large bearings (bore: 160 mm, outside diameter: 250 mm) and under high loads (up to 15,000 daN constant radial, up to ±5,000 daN cycled axial). For a constant radial force, corresponding to the weight of the train, the axial forces applied are cyclic and correspond to phases of bending or misalignment of the track.

According to Ludovic Saunier, test engineer at NTN-SNR, "the difficulty with this type of equipment stems from the need for robustness in relation to the forces applied, the need for reproducibility and the need for axial force cycling. The test bench's control system enables load and speed cycles to be programmed up to 1,600 rpm, and effort, speed, temperature, vibration, etc.l to be recorded". Financed from the profession's "Bearings" collective action budget, this new shared test bench enables us to carry out tests with a high level of expertise, and at lower cost. We carry out homologation tests on railway bearings, but they are carried out on complex test benches over several months," says Ludovic Saunier. The characteristics of this type of test mean that we can't carry out the functional tests we need to improve our knowledge of railway equipment at the same time. And that's exactly the aim of Cetim's new test bench: to provide manufacturers with additional resources for innovation.