NKE recently introduced all-in-one bearing units designed for use in agricultural machines that require a rotating union between a disc-shaped tool and its mounting arm. They have dubbed these rolling bearings Agri Units. 

Whereas producers of agricultural machinery previously often had to buy and assemble up to ten separate components, Agri Units are a single part in the form of a fully assembled bearing unit. This cuts down on costs for the customer, since purchasing, storage and spares inventories are limited to just one component and no prior assembly is needed.

One design is for use in disc harrows with a disc diameter of up to 650 mm (Fig. 1). The design, which is comparable with existing solutions of similar size, has a number of special features: an optimized internal geometry that maximizes load capacity and resistance to tilting motions; and a high quality grease filling in a sufficiently high quantity for the operating conditions to ensure a long lubricant and therefore bearing life as well as good corrosion protection; a highly efficient combination of seals to prevent dirt ingress into the bearing (Fig. 2). In addition to the current standard version, NKE can adapt the unit’s external geometry to allow customers to integrate the unit into existing designs or tailor it to new applications.

Agri Units can also be used in seeding discs and for liquid manure spreader discs. These bearing units aim to replace the conventional and often no longer satisfactory solutions consisting of deep-groove or double-row angular-contact ball bearings with an all-in-one compact bearing unit. In addition to optimizing the internal structure, lubrication, sealing and ease of handling of the bearing units for disc harrows, the designers focused on minimizing the unit’s external dimensions. 

Besides its new Agri Units product line, NKE offers standard and specialty bearings for applications such as balers, power take-off (PTO) gearboxes and track systems. NKE also offers comprehensive technical support, including application consulting and the development of customer-specific solutions as well as commercial and logistic services, such as just-in-time (JIT) delivery. NKE products are distributed in North America by Ritbearing.