SKF Seamless engineering delivered thanks to SKF and SMT collaboration

Engineers now have access to the ultimate design tool capability, through the integrations of SKF’s Bearing Module calculation service into the analysis software of SMT, a leader in mechanical and electromechanical transmission engineering services.

By combining SKF and SMT’s technical analysis and optimisation capabilities, engineers can now have a seamless experience when designing transmission systems. The SMT MASTA software helps engineers to accurately and rapidly design and predict performance characteristics. It also helps them to identify potential failure modes and undertake full-system (including time-domain MBD) simulations for any gearbox layout.

The combined software allows bearings to be assessed within the context of full system level models. It also includes SKF bearing data for thousands of the company’s bearings, alongside ISO 281 and ISO 16281 results. SKF rating life safety factors and reliability are displayed for individual load cases as well as combined for duty cycles and design states. These results are fully integrated into SMT’s MASTA software. They are also available in RUNNA, MASTA’s batch running capabilities, SMT’s innovative Custom Reporting Framework, MASTA’s Parametric Study Tool and MASTA’s extensive scripting functionality. The combination of SKF and SMT in this way means that engineers now have, at their fingertips, everything needed to design highly reliable rotating equipment.

Paul Langlois, Software Engineering Director, at SMT, says: "This latest addition to our ongoing collaboration with SKF adds great value for our mutual customers. This will allow them to assess their bearings within the context of full system level models in MASTA, while benefiting from the proprietary life calculations of SKF."

Hedzer Tillema, Product Line Manager Engineering Tools, at SKF, says: “This joint development is of high importance for SKF. It helps our customers to design reliable rotating equipment through key bearing knowledge and shows that ‘seamless engineering’ is becoming a reality for more and more machine design engineers.”