The Timken Company has launched the Timken brand line of Poly-Round Plain Bearing Housed Units, corrosion resistant and lubrication free bearings ideal for applications where sanitation and contamination are critical concerns.

Poly-Round Plain Bearings are self-aligning bearing inserts manufactured from a variety of high-performance bearing-grade polymer materials that are suitable for various operating conditions. In applications where the environment contributes to premature failure of ball bearings, Poly-Round bearings may be a good alternative because they operate with no grease, no seals or shields, no rolling elements, are unaffected by washdown and are corrosion-resistant.

The Poly-Round portfolio consists of five different polymer bearing inserts that address specific application needs, including a wide variety of temperature ranges, food and beverage environments, metal detectability, operational loads and more.  Each Poly-Round insert type is visually distinguishable and gives the producer a range of bearing types to choose from, based on food safety and machinery maintenance schedules.

"The Poly-Round plain bearing insert is ideal in many production environments, particularly food and beverage processing where cleanliness is absolutely critical," said Dirk Wernecke, Timken manager of global marketing. “It’s grease-less, it doesn’t have any rolling elements, and is engineered to perform in a wide range of temperatures, depending on the type of polymer material needed for a particular application.” 

The Poly-Round insert operates in temperature ranges up to 260°C (500°F). It dimensionally interchanges with industry-standard ball bearings and is available from 20 mm to 50 mm (3/4 inch to 2 inch) bore. Larger sizes are available upon request.

Previously, Poly-Round Plain Bearings were branded EDT but moving forward they will exclusively carry the Timken name. In 2016, Timken acquired EDT Corp. a manufacturer of polymer housed units and stainless steel ball bearings used widely by the food and beverage industry.