fluid film bearing services for the power generation industry
TRANSCRIPT
In alliance with
A Member of the Rolls-Royce Group
Licensee ofEngineering, Sales & Manufacturing 129 Battleground Rd.Kings Mountain, NC 28086
T (704) 937-7000T (888) 813-9001F (704) 937-9429
Administration & Western Sales 15 N. Ellsworth Ave.Suite 205, San Mateo, CA 94401
T (650) 347-0029T (888) 812-9001F (650) 347-0043
[email protected] [email protected]
Engineering Design Services
Fluid Film Bearing Services for the Power Generation Industry
New Radial & Thrust Bearings
Standard & Emergency Bearing RepairsTechnical Services, Training & Consulting
Fluid Pivot® Steady Rest Bearings
WELISTENTHINKANALYZEDESIGNSOLVEON TIME.YOU THRIVE.
Ask for a copy of our popular “Bearing Damage Flip Chart”, with descriptions and consequences of the 14 most common kinds of bearing damage.
In 2005, Michell Bearings, a member of the Rolls-Royce Group
(UK), granted Pioneer an exclusive babbitt and PTFE bearing repair
license agreement as part of the comprehensive alliance formed
with Michell that year.
All of this means that if you’re operating large turbine-generators
designed by Siemens, Westinghouse, Alstom, ABB, BBC, or GEC,
or machinery with Michell bearings, Pioneer holds or can quickly
obtain from the OEM the drawings and specifications to completely
re-manufacture and restore damaged bearings back to original OEM
drawing and engineering specifications. And we typically quote,
serve and invoice end-users directly to save time. You get the best
of both worlds, as intended by Siemens, Alstom and Michell—an
OEM authorized repair service from a smaller, independent company
responding faster for less cost. That’s true value.
On top of all these value-added benefits of our repair service,
consider the following:
• We offer American or European babbitt alloys. In 1996 we were
the only bearing company in North America to participate in the
inspection and test program of ABB in Baden, Switzerland, to
become qualified to pour the then newly introduced TEGOSTAR
738 alloy.
• We provide technical services at customer sites to assist in
bearing damage root cause analysis, installation, alignment,
start-up of operations, and dimensional and UT inspections.
• We offer a patented process to reduce the possibility of bond
embrittlement in bearings with babbitt bonded to copper or
copper-chrome, operating in elevated temperatures found,
for example, in some older Westinghouse 501 combustion
turbines. (Embrittlement is a potential catastrophic problem that
is not detectable by UT inspection at the time of manufacture,
much less at the time of repair.)
• Reliable Deliveries: we learned a long time ago the cost of down
time, especially when it’s unscheduled. When time counts, our
record for reliable deliveries and unparalleled quality make
Pioneer the best choice for bearing and seal repair services.
Our Fluid Pivot® JS tilting pad journal bearing, with
fully lubricated spherically-seated pads, provides
unprecedented dynamic alignment—more than 1
inch in 12 inches, an astonishing 5.0 degrees. It’s a
proven solution for the demanding requirements of
exciter steady rest bearings. If you’re considering an
upgrade to a static excitation system or improving the
performance of your existing steady rest bearing, ask
for our separate literature on our Fluid Pivot solution.
SINCE 1920With 90 years of experience under the same family
ownership and management, Pioneer Motor Bearing
Company is a leading U.S. firm providing professional
engineering, manufacturing, repair and technical support
services related to fluid film babbitt (whitemetal) bearings
and seals for OEMs and end users.
Our full spectrum of bearing services includes:
• Analysis of rotor dynamics and performance of
existing journal and thrust bearings to trouble-
shoot operational problems
• Custom engineering new designs or upgrades of
existing bearings
• Design development for OEMs
• Technical engineering & inspection services on site
at power plants in North and South America and
Europe, assisting OEM and power plant maintenance
personnel
• Repair and upgrade of existing bearings – standard
or emergency service
• Damage mechanism analysis
We are the exclusive bearing repair
licensee of Alstom Power and the
senior licensee of Siemens Energy,
making us an authorized service
organization for the repair of
bearings designed by Alstom,
ABB, ASEA, GEC, BBC, Siemens
and Westinghouse for fossil
fuel and nuclear power plants.
Pioneer is the U.S. alliance
partner of Michell Bearings,
a member of the Rolls-Royce
Group.
With the oldest independent, continuously operating, bearing
repair organization in North America, we’ve learned a great deal
from our exceptional history.
We capitalize on this unmatched opportunity of seeing hundreds
of examples of bearing damage every year by incorporating into
our solutions the best design features for performance and life
extension. These examples have taught us to avoid features that
may contribute to bearing damage or unnecessary costs.
New Applications
Whether you’re starting with a “clean sheet” or have functional
specifications, we can select and design an appropriate fluid-film
bearing for your machine with your budget in mind.
Whether you require thrust and/or radial bearings,
we’re prepared to review and consider all the
options for you: cylindrical, elliptical, multi-
lobe, pressure dam, offset half, and tilting-pad
bearings. We’ll achieve a match between
design details and functional requirements
using finite element analysis for fluid-film
properties. A design draftsman will translate
design details to manufacturing drawings with
accuracy in 3-D CAD format.
Bearing Modifications & Replacements
Machine requirements or dynamic behavior can change over time.
Often, modification of existing bearings may provide a smooth
running machine, reducing requirements for special maintenance
or restricted operations. We have the field experience, design
skills, and manufacturing facility to provide you with innovative,
cost-efficient solutions.
Tilting Pad Radial and Thrust Bearings
Tilting pad radial bearings can provide an extra margin of dynamic
stability for your high speed equipment. Pioneer is prepared to
evaluate your needs and offer an appropriate solution, from the
ordinary mechanically pivoted tilting pad bearing to more advanced
and “value-engineered” designs, such as our proprietary Fluid
Pivot® technology. Tilting pad thrust bearings offer high load
capacity with excellent misalignment accommodation. We design,
build and repair tilting pad thrust bearing assemblies that support
loads up to 2,000,000 pounds.
Value Engineering
Our technical service and production managers give all designs the
“third degree” to determine what design changes could reduce the
costs of making the part. We advise our customers of opportunities
to attain an acceptable balance between operational requirements
and the constraints of their project budgets.
Manufacturing and Quality AssuranceIn 2000, Pioneer transferred all manufacturing
and repair activity from our 42-year old plant in
the City of South San Francisco to our newer
plant near Charlotte, North Carolina. We opened
in 1990 with the help of some very experienced
key members of our team who moved from
California. We’ve since added on to the facility
so that today the plant is 34,000 square feet
(3,159 sq. meters), entirely devoted to fluid film bearings and seals.
We designed and built our North Carolina plant from the
ground up to serve our OEM and end user customers
with manufacturing, repair and upgrade services for
fluid film bearings ranging from outside diameters of
a few inches to over 100 inches (254 centimeters). With good
overhead crane capacity, we easily handle bearings weighing up to
10,000 pounds (over 4.5 metric tons) for the largest turbine and
generator bearings found in fossil and nuclear fuel power stations
and large hydroelectric plants.
For more than half a century, we’ve manufactured bearings for
OEMs of large rotating equipment and the U.S. Navy. Over the
past 15 years an increasing percentage of production is devoted
to our own designs. We design with 3-D CAD software. Next we
execute “virtual manufacturing” of a design with a 3-D, computer-
aided manufacturing (CAM) program. Then we cut real chips on
state-of-the-art computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools
to produce the final product. Proper and clear documentation
and in-process inspection insures we avoid unwanted surprises
at the stage of final inspection. Throughout the manufacturing
and repair process, we check bearings and seals with more
accuracy and clearer documentation because we use a portable
computer-linked coordinate measuring instrument.
The heart of our manufacturing and repair operations is our
casting department. Continuing a tradition established more than
60 years ago in California, we have invested in the equipment
necessary in the casting process to use the tin emersion method
of pre-tinning a bearing. That means we’re able to heat a bearing
shell up to proper temperature faster and, unlike the method of
using rose bud torches, we’re applying heat evenly to the shell.
That means we eliminate any chance of hot spots that could
degrade the quality of the babbitt bond.
Our Acute Awareness of Quality Standards
Pioneer demands and maintains a high standard of quality in all
departments. This helps to insure every single team member feels
responsible for maintaining the company’s 90-year reputation for
quality products and services, something we take great pride in.
Our “PMB Quality System” dictates operating methods and
procedures for all areas of our operations that can impact the
quality of our work product, including, for example, our sales,
engineering and service response times.
The first generation of our Quality Assurance Manual was established
back in the 1950’s to comply with applicable requirements of
the U.S. Department of Defense, including MIL-I-45208A, DOD-
STD-2183, DOD-STD-2188. We’ve made progressive revisions over
the years to facilitate compliance with nuclear and international
standards, including U.S. pursuant to 10CFR50, Appendix B
(Nuclear/Safety Related), 10CFR Part 21 (Reporting of Non-
Conformances), and ASME NQA-1 and ISO 9001.
Our quality system and 90 years of experience make it easy for
us to routinely work to the standards of our major American,
European and Japanese OEM customers, and large electric utilities,
the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Repairs and Technical ServicesThough our primary heritage is manufacturing new bearings
and seals, Pioneer operates the longest continuing independent
bearing repair service in North America, since 1920.
When you need bearings repaired, trust people who
actually design and manufacture them for OEMs and
End Users.
As a manufacturer with renowned engineers, we know the
significance of OEM design features. We understand what it
takes to repair or completely restore a bearing to meet original
design specifications and we do so on a routine or emergency
basis every day.
So when you send your damaged bearings to Pioneer, you’re
not sending them to a “rebabbitting shop.” You’re trusting a
bearing manufacturing company with 90 years of experience
to perform after market services of the same high caliber our
OEM customers expect of us in satisfying their orders for new
bearings—to their designs or ours.
OEM Licenses
In 1989 we became the first bearing company in North America
to be designated by an OEM as an authorized bearing service
facility when Westinghouse Electric granted Pioneer an exclusive
bearing repair license. Today, following the acquisition of the
Westinghouse non-nuclear power generation business by Siemens
AG, we are the senior bearing repair licensee of Siemens Energy.
In 1993, following that example, ABB Power Generation, now
operating as Alstom Power in the U.S., also granted Pioneer an
exclusive bearing repair license.
Engineering SolutionsOur technical expertise, technology and experience in the field of
fluid film bearings and seals define us. But we’re not focused on
justifying a particular technology for its own sake. We’re customer
driven. Our longevity is based on technical know-how because that
is the best way to provide our customers with improved solutions
to their machinery problems.
A Customer Driven Process
We start with a solid grounding in tribology. Our engineers have a
thorough understanding of materials, friction, lubrication and wear
not merely from their formal education but from actually working
with large rotating machinery. Our knowledge of and experience
with radial and thrust bearing theory, materials, operations and
maintenance is unsurpassed in our industry. Armed with a full set of
complex diagnostic tools, they are ready on short notice to perform
an analysis of rotordynamics, critical speeds, thrust bearings, oil
cooling systems and bearing damage root cause.
Yet the origins of our engineering solutions arise from a simple
habit – listening. Our best ideas don’t begin around a conference
table. They begin with our customer. We know that a superior
solution starts with an in-depth understanding of the customer’s
needs. So we’re not afraid to crawl around machinery and ask
“dumb questions”. We integrate the customer into the design/
solution process.
Lessons Learned from Bearing Damage
Unlike bearing manufacturing companies without an active
repair service, our theoretical knowledge is enhanced
and influenced by what we’ve
observed over the decades in
our bearing repair department.
Pioneer’s specialized bearing engineering services to electric utilities include:
• Root cause bearing damage analysis;
• Design of modifications to the geometry or other features
of existing bearings to improve their performance;
• Design and manufacture of new bearings to improve the
operation of virtually any rotating equipment;
• Rotor dynamics evaluations;
• Training of operations and maintenance personnel.Continued on the back cover
In alliance with
A Member of the Rolls-Royce Group
Licensee ofEngineering, Sales & Manufacturing 129 Battleground Rd.Kings Mountain, NC 28086
T (704) 937-7000T (888) 813-9001F (704) 937-9429
Administration & Western Sales 15 N. Ellsworth Ave.Suite 205, San Mateo, CA 94401
T (650) 347-0029T (888) 812-9001F (650) 347-0043
[email protected] [email protected]
Engineering Design Services
Fluid Film Bearing Services for the Power Generation Industry
New Radial & Thrust Bearings
Standard & Emergency Bearing RepairsTechnical Services, Training & Consulting
Fluid Pivot® Steady Rest Bearings
WELISTENTHINKANALYZEDESIGNSOLVEON TIME.YOU THRIVE.
Ask for a copy of our popular “Bearing Damage Flip Chart”, with descriptions and consequences of the 14 most common kinds of bearing damage.
In 2005, Michell Bearings, a member of the Rolls-Royce Group
(UK), granted Pioneer an exclusive babbitt and PTFE bearing repair
license agreement as part of the comprehensive alliance formed
with Michell that year.
All of this means that if you’re operating large turbine-generators
designed by Siemens, Westinghouse, Alstom, ABB, BBC, or GEC,
or machinery with Michell bearings, Pioneer holds or can quickly
obtain from the OEM the drawings and specifications to completely
re-manufacture and restore damaged bearings back to original OEM
drawing and engineering specifications. And we typically quote,
serve and invoice end-users directly to save time. You get the best
of both worlds, as intended by Siemens, Alstom and Michell—an
OEM authorized repair service from a smaller, independent company
responding faster for less cost. That’s true value.
On top of all these value-added benefits of our repair service,
consider the following:
• We offer American or European babbitt alloys. In 1996 we were
the only bearing company in North America to participate in the
inspection and test program of ABB in Baden, Switzerland, to
become qualified to pour the then newly introduced TEGOSTAR
738 alloy.
• We provide technical services at customer sites to assist in
bearing damage root cause analysis, installation, alignment,
start-up of operations, and dimensional and UT inspections.
• We offer a patented process to reduce the possibility of bond
embrittlement in bearings with babbitt bonded to copper or
copper-chrome, operating in elevated temperatures found,
for example, in some older Westinghouse 501 combustion
turbines. (Embrittlement is a potential catastrophic problem that
is not detectable by UT inspection at the time of manufacture,
much less at the time of repair.)
• Reliable Deliveries: we learned a long time ago the cost of down
time, especially when it’s unscheduled. When time counts, our
record for reliable deliveries and unparalleled quality make
Pioneer the best choice for bearing and seal repair services.
Our Fluid Pivot® JS tilting pad journal bearing, with
fully lubricated spherically-seated pads, provides
unprecedented dynamic alignment—more than 1
inch in 12 inches, an astonishing 5.0 degrees. It’s a
proven solution for the demanding requirements of
exciter steady rest bearings. If you’re considering an
upgrade to a static excitation system or improving the
performance of your existing steady rest bearing, ask
for our separate literature on our Fluid Pivot solution.
SINCE 1920With 90 years of experience under the same family
ownership and management, Pioneer Motor Bearing
Company is a leading U.S. firm providing professional
engineering, manufacturing, repair and technical support
services related to fluid film babbitt (whitemetal) bearings
and seals for OEMs and end users.
Our full spectrum of bearing services includes:
• Analysis of rotor dynamics and performance of
existing journal and thrust bearings to trouble-
shoot operational problems
• Custom engineering new designs or upgrades of
existing bearings
• Design development for OEMs
• Technical engineering & inspection services on site
at power plants in North and South America and
Europe, assisting OEM and power plant maintenance
personnel
• Repair and upgrade of existing bearings – standard
or emergency service
• Damage mechanism analysis
We are the exclusive bearing repair
licensee of Alstom Power and the
senior licensee of Siemens Energy,
making us an authorized service
organization for the repair of
bearings designed by Alstom,
ABB, ASEA, GEC, BBC, Siemens
and Westinghouse for fossil
fuel and nuclear power plants.
Pioneer is the U.S. alliance
partner of Michell Bearings,
a member of the Rolls-Royce
Group.
With the oldest independent, continuously operating, bearing
repair organization in North America, we’ve learned a great deal
from our exceptional history.
We capitalize on this unmatched opportunity of seeing hundreds
of examples of bearing damage every year by incorporating into
our solutions the best design features for performance and life
extension. These examples have taught us to avoid features that
may contribute to bearing damage or unnecessary costs.
New Applications
Whether you’re starting with a “clean sheet” or have functional
specifications, we can select and design an appropriate fluid-film
bearing for your machine with your budget in mind.
Whether you require thrust and/or radial bearings,
we’re prepared to review and consider all the
options for you: cylindrical, elliptical, multi-
lobe, pressure dam, offset half, and tilting-pad
bearings. We’ll achieve a match between
design details and functional requirements
using finite element analysis for fluid-film
properties. A design draftsman will translate
design details to manufacturing drawings with
accuracy in 3-D CAD format.
Bearing Modifications & Replacements
Machine requirements or dynamic behavior can change over time.
Often, modification of existing bearings may provide a smooth
running machine, reducing requirements for special maintenance
or restricted operations. We have the field experience, design
skills, and manufacturing facility to provide you with innovative,
cost-efficient solutions.
Tilting Pad Radial and Thrust Bearings
Tilting pad radial bearings can provide an extra margin of dynamic
stability for your high speed equipment. Pioneer is prepared to
evaluate your needs and offer an appropriate solution, from the
ordinary mechanically pivoted tilting pad bearing to more advanced
and “value-engineered” designs, such as our proprietary Fluid
Pivot® technology. Tilting pad thrust bearings offer high load
capacity with excellent misalignment accommodation. We design,
build and repair tilting pad thrust bearing assemblies that support
loads up to 2,000,000 pounds.
Value Engineering
Our technical service and production managers give all designs the
“third degree” to determine what design changes could reduce the
costs of making the part. We advise our customers of opportunities
to attain an acceptable balance between operational requirements
and the constraints of their project budgets.
Manufacturing and Quality AssuranceIn 2000, Pioneer transferred all manufacturing
and repair activity from our 42-year old plant in
the City of South San Francisco to our newer
plant near Charlotte, North Carolina. We opened
in 1990 with the help of some very experienced
key members of our team who moved from
California. We’ve since added on to the facility
so that today the plant is 34,000 square feet
(3,159 sq. meters), entirely devoted to fluid film bearings and seals.
We designed and built our North Carolina plant from the
ground up to serve our OEM and end user customers
with manufacturing, repair and upgrade services for
fluid film bearings ranging from outside diameters of
a few inches to over 100 inches (254 centimeters). With good
overhead crane capacity, we easily handle bearings weighing up to
10,000 pounds (over 4.5 metric tons) for the largest turbine and
generator bearings found in fossil and nuclear fuel power stations
and large hydroelectric plants.
For more than half a century, we’ve manufactured bearings for
OEMs of large rotating equipment and the U.S. Navy. Over the
past 15 years an increasing percentage of production is devoted
to our own designs. We design with 3-D CAD software. Next we
execute “virtual manufacturing” of a design with a 3-D, computer-
aided manufacturing (CAM) program. Then we cut real chips on
state-of-the-art computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools
to produce the final product. Proper and clear documentation
and in-process inspection insures we avoid unwanted surprises
at the stage of final inspection. Throughout the manufacturing
and repair process, we check bearings and seals with more
accuracy and clearer documentation because we use a portable
computer-linked coordinate measuring instrument.
The heart of our manufacturing and repair operations is our
casting department. Continuing a tradition established more than
60 years ago in California, we have invested in the equipment
necessary in the casting process to use the tin emersion method
of pre-tinning a bearing. That means we’re able to heat a bearing
shell up to proper temperature faster and, unlike the method of
using rose bud torches, we’re applying heat evenly to the shell.
That means we eliminate any chance of hot spots that could
degrade the quality of the babbitt bond.
Our Acute Awareness of Quality Standards
Pioneer demands and maintains a high standard of quality in all
departments. This helps to insure every single team member feels
responsible for maintaining the company’s 90-year reputation for
quality products and services, something we take great pride in.
Our “PMB Quality System” dictates operating methods and
procedures for all areas of our operations that can impact the
quality of our work product, including, for example, our sales,
engineering and service response times.
The first generation of our Quality Assurance Manual was established
back in the 1950’s to comply with applicable requirements of
the U.S. Department of Defense, including MIL-I-45208A, DOD-
STD-2183, DOD-STD-2188. We’ve made progressive revisions over
the years to facilitate compliance with nuclear and international
standards, including U.S. pursuant to 10CFR50, Appendix B
(Nuclear/Safety Related), 10CFR Part 21 (Reporting of Non-
Conformances), and ASME NQA-1 and ISO 9001.
Our quality system and 90 years of experience make it easy for
us to routinely work to the standards of our major American,
European and Japanese OEM customers, and large electric utilities,
the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Repairs and Technical ServicesThough our primary heritage is manufacturing new bearings
and seals, Pioneer operates the longest continuing independent
bearing repair service in North America, since 1920.
When you need bearings repaired, trust people who
actually design and manufacture them for OEMs and
End Users.
As a manufacturer with renowned engineers, we know the
significance of OEM design features. We understand what it
takes to repair or completely restore a bearing to meet original
design specifications and we do so on a routine or emergency
basis every day.
So when you send your damaged bearings to Pioneer, you’re
not sending them to a “rebabbitting shop.” You’re trusting a
bearing manufacturing company with 90 years of experience
to perform after market services of the same high caliber our
OEM customers expect of us in satisfying their orders for new
bearings—to their designs or ours.
OEM Licenses
In 1989 we became the first bearing company in North America
to be designated by an OEM as an authorized bearing service
facility when Westinghouse Electric granted Pioneer an exclusive
bearing repair license. Today, following the acquisition of the
Westinghouse non-nuclear power generation business by Siemens
AG, we are the senior bearing repair licensee of Siemens Energy.
In 1993, following that example, ABB Power Generation, now
operating as Alstom Power in the U.S., also granted Pioneer an
exclusive bearing repair license.
Engineering SolutionsOur technical expertise, technology and experience in the field of
fluid film bearings and seals define us. But we’re not focused on
justifying a particular technology for its own sake. We’re customer
driven. Our longevity is based on technical know-how because that
is the best way to provide our customers with improved solutions
to their machinery problems.
A Customer Driven Process
We start with a solid grounding in tribology. Our engineers have a
thorough understanding of materials, friction, lubrication and wear
not merely from their formal education but from actually working
with large rotating machinery. Our knowledge of and experience
with radial and thrust bearing theory, materials, operations and
maintenance is unsurpassed in our industry. Armed with a full set of
complex diagnostic tools, they are ready on short notice to perform
an analysis of rotordynamics, critical speeds, thrust bearings, oil
cooling systems and bearing damage root cause.
Yet the origins of our engineering solutions arise from a simple
habit – listening. Our best ideas don’t begin around a conference
table. They begin with our customer. We know that a superior
solution starts with an in-depth understanding of the customer’s
needs. So we’re not afraid to crawl around machinery and ask
“dumb questions”. We integrate the customer into the design/
solution process.
Lessons Learned from Bearing Damage
Unlike bearing manufacturing companies without an active
repair service, our theoretical knowledge is enhanced
and influenced by what we’ve
observed over the decades in
our bearing repair department.
Pioneer’s specialized bearing engineering services to electric utilities include:
• Root cause bearing damage analysis;
• Design of modifications to the geometry or other features
of existing bearings to improve their performance;
• Design and manufacture of new bearings to improve the
operation of virtually any rotating equipment;
• Rotor dynamics evaluations;
• Training of operations and maintenance personnel.Continued on the back cover
SINCE 1920With 90 years of experience under the same family
ownership and management, Pioneer Motor Bearing
Company is a leading U.S. firm providing professional
engineering, manufacturing, repair and technical support
services related to fluid film babbitt (whitemetal) bearings
and seals for OEMs and end users.
Our full spectrum of bearing services includes:
• Analysis of rotor dynamics and performance of
existing journal and thrust bearings to trouble-
shoot operational problems
• Custom engineering new designs or upgrades of
existing bearings
• Design development for OEMs
• Technical engineering & inspection services on site
at power plants in North and South America and
Europe, assisting OEM and power plant maintenance
personnel
• Repair and upgrade of existing bearings – standard
or emergency service
• Damage mechanism analysis
We are the exclusive bearing repair
licensee of Alstom Power and the
senior licensee of Siemens Energy,
making us an authorized service
organization for the repair of
bearings designed by Alstom,
ABB, ASEA, GEC, BBC, Siemens
and Westinghouse for fossil
fuel and nuclear power plants.
Pioneer is the U.S. alliance
partner of Michell Bearings,
a member of the Rolls-Royce
Group.
With the oldest independent, continuously operating, bearing
repair organization in North America, we’ve learned a great deal
from our exceptional history.
We capitalize on this unmatched opportunity of seeing hundreds
of examples of bearing damage every year by incorporating into
our solutions the best design features for performance and life
extension. These examples have taught us to avoid features that
may contribute to bearing damage or unnecessary costs.
New Applications
Whether you’re starting with a “clean sheet” or have functional
specifications, we can select and design an appropriate fluid-film
bearing for your machine with your budget in mind.
Whether you require thrust and/or radial bearings,
we’re prepared to review and consider all the
options for you: cylindrical, elliptical, multi-
lobe, pressure dam, offset half, and tilting-pad
bearings. We’ll achieve a match between
design details and functional requirements
using finite element analysis for fluid-film
properties. A design draftsman will translate
design details to manufacturing drawings with
accuracy in 3-D CAD format.
Bearing Modifications & Replacements
Machine requirements or dynamic behavior can change over time.
Often, modification of existing bearings may provide a smooth
running machine, reducing requirements for special maintenance
or restricted operations. We have the field experience, design
skills, and manufacturing facility to provide you with innovative,
cost-efficient solutions.
Tilting Pad Radial and Thrust Bearings
Tilting pad radial bearings can provide an extra margin of dynamic
stability for your high speed equipment. Pioneer is prepared to
evaluate your needs and offer an appropriate solution, from the
ordinary mechanically pivoted tilting pad bearing to more advanced
and “value-engineered” designs, such as our proprietary Fluid
Pivot® technology. Tilting pad thrust bearings offer high load
capacity with excellent misalignment accommodation. We design,
build and repair tilting pad thrust bearing assemblies that support
loads up to 2,000,000 pounds.
Value Engineering
Our technical service and production managers give all designs the
“third degree” to determine what design changes could reduce the
costs of making the part. We advise our customers of opportunities
to attain an acceptable balance between operational requirements
and the constraints of their project budgets.
Manufacturing and Quality AssuranceIn 2000, Pioneer transferred all manufacturing
and repair activity from our 42-year old plant in
the City of South San Francisco to our newer
plant near Charlotte, North Carolina. We opened
in 1990 with the help of some very experienced
key members of our team who moved from
California. We’ve since added on to the facility
so that today the plant is 34,000 square feet
(3,159 sq. meters), entirely devoted to fluid film bearings and seals.
We designed and built our North Carolina plant from the
ground up to serve our OEM and end user customers
with manufacturing, repair and upgrade services for
fluid film bearings ranging from outside diameters of
a few inches to over 100 inches (254 centimeters). With good
overhead crane capacity, we easily handle bearings weighing up to
10,000 pounds (over 4.5 metric tons) for the largest turbine and
generator bearings found in fossil and nuclear fuel power stations
and large hydroelectric plants.
For more than half a century, we’ve manufactured bearings for
OEMs of large rotating equipment and the U.S. Navy. Over the
past 15 years an increasing percentage of production is devoted
to our own designs. We design with 3-D CAD software. Next we
execute “virtual manufacturing” of a design with a 3-D, computer-
aided manufacturing (CAM) program. Then we cut real chips on
state-of-the-art computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools
to produce the final product. Proper and clear documentation
and in-process inspection insures we avoid unwanted surprises
at the stage of final inspection. Throughout the manufacturing
and repair process, we check bearings and seals with more
accuracy and clearer documentation because we use a portable
computer-linked coordinate measuring instrument.
The heart of our manufacturing and repair operations is our
casting department. Continuing a tradition established more than
60 years ago in California, we have invested in the equipment
necessary in the casting process to use the tin emersion method
of pre-tinning a bearing. That means we’re able to heat a bearing
shell up to proper temperature faster and, unlike the method of
using rose bud torches, we’re applying heat evenly to the shell.
That means we eliminate any chance of hot spots that could
degrade the quality of the babbitt bond.
Our Acute Awareness of Quality Standards
Pioneer demands and maintains a high standard of quality in all
departments. This helps to insure every single team member feels
responsible for maintaining the company’s 90-year reputation for
quality products and services, something we take great pride in.
Our “PMB Quality System” dictates operating methods and
procedures for all areas of our operations that can impact the
quality of our work product, including, for example, our sales,
engineering and service response times.
The first generation of our Quality Assurance Manual was established
back in the 1950’s to comply with applicable requirements of
the U.S. Department of Defense, including MIL-I-45208A, DOD-
STD-2183, DOD-STD-2188. We’ve made progressive revisions over
the years to facilitate compliance with nuclear and international
standards, including U.S. pursuant to 10CFR50, Appendix B
(Nuclear/Safety Related), 10CFR Part 21 (Reporting of Non-
Conformances), and ASME NQA-1 and ISO 9001.
Our quality system and 90 years of experience make it easy for
us to routinely work to the standards of our major American,
European and Japanese OEM customers, and large electric utilities,
the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Repairs and Technical ServicesThough our primary heritage is manufacturing new bearings
and seals, Pioneer operates the longest continuing independent
bearing repair service in North America, since 1920.
When you need bearings repaired, trust people who
actually design and manufacture them for OEMs and
End Users.
As a manufacturer with renowned engineers, we know the
significance of OEM design features. We understand what it
takes to repair or completely restore a bearing to meet original
design specifications and we do so on a routine or emergency
basis every day.
So when you send your damaged bearings to Pioneer, you’re
not sending them to a “rebabbitting shop.” You’re trusting a
bearing manufacturing company with 90 years of experience
to perform after market services of the same high caliber our
OEM customers expect of us in satisfying their orders for new
bearings—to their designs or ours.
OEM Licenses
In 1989 we became the first bearing company in North America
to be designated by an OEM as an authorized bearing service
facility when Westinghouse Electric granted Pioneer an exclusive
bearing repair license. Today, following the acquisition of the
Westinghouse non-nuclear power generation business by Siemens
AG, we are the senior bearing repair licensee of Siemens Energy.
In 1993, following that example, ABB Power Generation, now
operating as Alstom Power in the U.S., also granted Pioneer an
exclusive bearing repair license.
Engineering SolutionsOur technical expertise, technology and experience in the field of
fluid film bearings and seals define us. But we’re not focused on
justifying a particular technology for its own sake. We’re customer
driven. Our longevity is based on technical know-how because that
is the best way to provide our customers with improved solutions
to their machinery problems.
A Customer Driven Process
We start with a solid grounding in tribology. Our engineers have a
thorough understanding of materials, friction, lubrication and wear
not merely from their formal education but from actually working
with large rotating machinery. Our knowledge of and experience
with radial and thrust bearing theory, materials, operations and
maintenance is unsurpassed in our industry. Armed with a full set of
complex diagnostic tools, they are ready on short notice to perform
an analysis of rotordynamics, critical speeds, thrust bearings, oil
cooling systems and bearing damage root cause.
Yet the origins of our engineering solutions arise from a simple
habit – listening. Our best ideas don’t begin around a conference
table. They begin with our customer. We know that a superior
solution starts with an in-depth understanding of the customer’s
needs. So we’re not afraid to crawl around machinery and ask
“dumb questions”. We integrate the customer into the design/
solution process.
Lessons Learned from Bearing Damage
Unlike bearing manufacturing companies without an active
repair service, our theoretical knowledge is enhanced
and influenced by what we’ve
observed over the decades in
our bearing repair department.
Pioneer’s specialized bearing engineering services to electric utilities include:
• Root cause bearing damage analysis;
• Design of modifications to the geometry or other features
of existing bearings to improve their performance;
• Design and manufacture of new bearings to improve the
operation of virtually any rotating equipment;
• Rotor dynamics evaluations;
• Training of operations and maintenance personnel.Continued on the back cover
In alliance with
A Member of the Rolls-Royce Group
Licensee ofEngineering, Sales & Manufacturing 129 Battleground Rd.Kings Mountain, NC 28086
T (704) 937-7000T (888) 813-9001F (704) 937-9429
Administration & Western Sales 15 N. Ellsworth Ave.Suite 205, San Mateo, CA 94401
T (650) 347-0029T (888) 812-9001F (650) 347-0043
[email protected] [email protected]
Engineering Design Services
Fluid Film Bearing Services for the Power Generation Industry
New Radial & Thrust Bearings
Standard & Emergency Bearing RepairsTechnical Services, Training & Consulting
Fluid Pivot® Steady Rest Bearings
WELISTENTHINKANALYZEDESIGNSOLVEON TIME.YOU THRIVE.
Ask for a copy of our popular “Bearing Damage Flip Chart”, with descriptions and consequences of the 14 most common kinds of bearing damage.
In 2005, Michell Bearings, a member of the Rolls-Royce Group
(UK), granted Pioneer an exclusive babbitt and PTFE bearing repair
license agreement as part of the comprehensive alliance formed
with Michell that year.
All of this means that if you’re operating large turbine-generators
designed by Siemens, Westinghouse, Alstom, ABB, BBC, or GEC,
or machinery with Michell bearings, Pioneer holds or can quickly
obtain from the OEM the drawings and specifications to completely
re-manufacture and restore damaged bearings back to original OEM
drawing and engineering specifications. And we typically quote,
serve and invoice end-users directly to save time. You get the best
of both worlds, as intended by Siemens, Alstom and Michell—an
OEM authorized repair service from a smaller, independent company
responding faster for less cost. That’s true value.
On top of all these value-added benefits of our repair service,
consider the following:
• We offer American or European babbitt alloys. In 1996 we were
the only bearing company in North America to participate in the
inspection and test program of ABB in Baden, Switzerland, to
become qualified to pour the then newly introduced TEGOSTAR
738 alloy.
• We provide technical services at customer sites to assist in
bearing damage root cause analysis, installation, alignment,
start-up of operations, and dimensional and UT inspections.
• We offer a patented process to reduce the possibility of bond
embrittlement in bearings with babbitt bonded to copper or
copper-chrome, operating in elevated temperatures found,
for example, in some older Westinghouse 501 combustion
turbines. (Embrittlement is a potential catastrophic problem that
is not detectable by UT inspection at the time of manufacture,
much less at the time of repair.)
• Reliable Deliveries: we learned a long time ago the cost of down
time, especially when it’s unscheduled. When time counts, our
record for reliable deliveries and unparalleled quality make
Pioneer the best choice for bearing and seal repair services.
Our Fluid Pivot® JS tilting pad journal bearing, with
fully lubricated spherically-seated pads, provides
unprecedented dynamic alignment—more than 1
inch in 12 inches, an astonishing 5.0 degrees. It’s a
proven solution for the demanding requirements of
exciter steady rest bearings. If you’re considering an
upgrade to a static excitation system or improving the
performance of your existing steady rest bearing, ask
for our separate literature on our Fluid Pivot solution.