A model of stabilizer roll bearing for a continuous hot-dip galvanizing line

The short service life of the hardware inside the molten zinc pot is often the cause for the unscheduled shutdown of a galvanizing line. The lifetime of the hardware used in these lines is not only a function of materials used but also on factors such as line speed, sheet tension, bearing contact pressure, bearing alignment, zinc pot temperature, corrosion as a function of pot chemistry, and surface finish of the materials used. Dr. James Snider has developed a comprehensive data file on the wear rate and corrosion properties of currently available bearing materials. Dr. Snider\u27s dissertation research as well as this thesis work was funded under DOE Project Award Number DE-FC36-01D14042. Snider\u27s research advisor Dr. John Loth designed a new roller bearing configuration which reduces bearing contact pressure by a factor of three without increase in bending moment. It assures bearing alignment and loading uniformity on line. As wear rate is proportional to contact pressure squared, this new configuration has the potential for increased roller bearing life by up to 3.;2 = 9 fold. West Virginia University owns the patent rights toLoth\u27s US Patent No: 7,040,482, issued May 9, 2006 and titled: Bearing Life Extender for Conveyor Type Rollers . This thesis contains detailed and dimensioned components for a redesigned roller for Weirton Steel galvanizing Line No: 5. It uses an 8 diameter by 59.25 long roller, complete with mounting hardware. This thesis describes the features of the new design and their required component tolerances. All components and assemblies were drawn and dimensioned using CAD software Pro-Engineer. The structural finite element analysis performed in ANSYS 10.0