Best of the best” in the drive technology category

Testament to the success of Schaeffler’s Industry 4.0 activities

Deep groove ball bearings in customer testing, cylindrical and tapered roller bearings in development

At the beginning of June, Schaeffler’s VarioSense sensor bearing was named “Best of the best” by the industrial magazine “MM Maschinenmarkt” in the drive technology category of its “Best of Industry” awards.

“We are especially proud to receive this award because it is voted for in part by the magazine’s readers and thus represents outstanding recognition by design engineers and developers. We defined Industry 4.0 as a future opportunity as part of our future-oriented program “Agenda 4 plus One” and began developing this highly-integrated sensor bearing at an early stage, using a standard bearing as a basis. Because we did this, we are now able to respond flexibly to customer requirements across a wide range of applications”, enthuses Peter Schuster, Vice President of Research and Development in the Industry 4.0 strategic business field.

Only companies that have already won or been nominated for an industry award or whose innovation has proven to generate a very high level of reader interest on the magazine’s online portal were nominated for this award. The process of determining the prizewinners combined an evaluation by an independent specialist jury made up of “MM Maschinenmarkt” editors and experts from the fields of industry and research with an online poll in which 12,000 readers were allowed to cast their vote.

Schaeffler’s VarioSense bearings make multiple sensor signals available at once for machine and process monitoring in a single compact unit and thus make Industry 4.0 solutions possible. Up to five sensor elements can be arranged in the sensor cluster ring, which has a standardized section width of 7 millimeters. These record various physical values in the machine, which can then be used for controlling drives, monitoring processes, or calculating the remaining useful life.

The version based on a standard deep groove ball bearing that was presented in 2017 is now being tested by several customers, while VarioSense cylindrical and tapered roller bearings are also currently in the development stage.

As part of its future-oriented program “Agenda 4 plus One”, Schaeffler is positioning itself as a premium supplier of innovative mechatronic products and smart services. When digitalized components are designed, the rolling bearing generally represents an ideal “measuring point” for recording operating loads, process parameters, and the condition of machines: The integration of sensors, actuators, controllers, and software will make innovative functions and business models possible that allow the availability of machines and equipment to be increased and processes optimized.