Plain Bearings Move Heavyweight Radial Gates

Customer Success Story

Maintenance-free spherical plain bearings from Schaeffler were the number one choice for a new dam construction project in Vietnam.They ensure that the 19 radial gates remain moveable, allowing the lock to be reliably opened and closed, despite high water pressure.

Thanks to ELGOGLIDE, the bearings can support extremely high loads and require zero maintenance. This ensures a long service life.

Mr. Nguyen Binh Minh

Deputy Managing Director von Nam Anh Technology Construction Equipment Co. Ltd.

Advantages
Challenge
Solution
What´s special
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Advantages

Maintenance-free spherical plain bearings withstand high loads and temperature fluctuations.
Thanks to ELGOGLIDE no lubrication necessary.
The bearings are characterized by a long service life and low friction.
An additional seal protects against contamination.
Holistic engineering support from Schaeffler.

Challenge

The Tra Khuc River Downstream Dam is located in Quang Ngai city, in Quang Ngai province, central Vietnam, approximately 900 km from Hanoi. The objective of the dam project is to regulate the water level of the Tra Khuc River in order to improve the environment in Quang Ngai city and create transportation waterways to the neighboring cities. In the construction of the dam, 19 radial gates were integrated for water regulation.These moveable assemblies require highperformance and durable bearing designs. Waterpressure and the weight of the lock act as a single-direction load on the spherical plain bearings,making it almost impossible to lubricate the bearings subjected to such load zones. Despite these extreme conditions, the lock gates must still be able to slide at low speeds to open and close the gates.

Technical Information about the dam

Length 947 m, height 5.5m
Completion of dam in 2022, bearings installed in 2020

Additional Features

The dam consists of 19 river compartment gates, with a total length of 718.2 m
Each compartment gate is 37.8 m long
Four overflow chambers; the total width of the spillways is 143.8 m
Bridges and roads on the dam have a total length of 974.2 m and width of 12 m wide

Solution

Schaeffler maintenance-free spherical plainbearings with ELGOGLIDE were chosen due to the ELGOGLIDE sliding layer in the outer ring. With this special sliding layer, the bearing does not require any lubrication and is able to withstand high loads, high temperature fluctuations and is sealed from contaminants.In addition, the bearing is also able to provide low-friction and moment-free transfer of loads, making it an ideal bearing for the dam application.

Our Elgoglide brand uses high-performance, maintenance-free sliding materials that are based on Teflon fabric.Suitable for dynamic loads at contact pressures ranging from 1 to 3000 MPa, they are particularly appropriate for applications that require minimal friction.

Technical Information about the solution

Application	Guide wheels in the radial gates
Bearing type	76 maintenance-free spherical plain bearings
Bearing designation	GE200-UK-2RS
Dimensions (mm)	D 290 x d 200 x B 130
Weight	28 kg
Contact pressure	150 N/mm²
Special features	ELEGOGLIDE sliding layer in the outer ring Additional seals

Learn more about our ELGOGLIDE bearings here.

What’s special

Thanks to the close collaboration between Schaeffler Vietnam and Nam Anh, Quang Ngai city can regulate the water level to improve on the transportation waterways, thereby contributing to the urban development expansion plan.

Meeting of the planning team.
Schaeffler spherical plain bearings mounted on one of the radial gates.
Dam gate equipped with Schaeffler plain bearings in the guide wheels.

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Plain Bearings Move Heavyweight Radial Gates
Maintenance-free spherical plain bearings from Schaeffler were the number one choice for a new dam construction project in Vietnam
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Contact

Our Schaeffler Lifetime Solutions customer support is ready to help you implement your predictive maintenance strategy and solution.

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