For the past seven years, Swedish musician Martin Molin has been working on a new musical instrument, something that he calls a “marble machine”, which is playable but is, he admits, completely impractical. “A guitar is a good tool to make music,” he says. “A midi keyboard is perfect. A marble machine is almost the worst possible solution you can have.” So why would anybody spend seven years – and counting – to develop such an imperfect instrument? To an extent, Molin says, it’s because he sees the machine more as a piece of art than as a piece of engineering, and in fact he often describes ..read more

Large engineering structures dominate our modern landscape. Whether skyscrapers or a football stadium, they draw the viewer’s eye to their sheer immensity. “People see hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of concrete, but they don’t see the small stuff,” says Tom op ’t Roodt, a project leader at building contractor Sassevaart. “There’s an incredible amount of detail that goes into these superstructures, and incredibly tight tolerances.” He is part of a consortium that is building a different superstructure – a new lock on the Terneuzen–Ghent canal. The lock will allow more and larger ships ..read more

Magnus Kellström doesn’t let convention stand in the way of a good idea. You can tell that from his bicycle. Retired since 2005, he gets around his hometown on a recumbent two-wheeler, sitting back in a reclining seat with the pedals positioned far forward over the front wheel. It’s a design that enthusiasts say is more comfortable and more aerodynamic than what’s found on standard bicycles. The same willingness to challenge status quo characterized Kellström’s 39-year career at SKF, where he worked in a wide range of product development roles. During this time, Kellström helped to push forw ..read more

Lubrication is critical to manufacturing, yet it is often treated as an afterthought – something so basic that it seems unworthy of anybody’s time. This is despite knowing that without lubrication, machinery can quite literally grind to a halt. Poor lubrication practices and contamination account for around half of all premature rolling bearing failures, and even more if we consider equipment such as industrial chains. Over time, very little has changed. While there are new lubricants, tools and even some lubrication management software tools, this dismissive approach remains. Inappropriate ..read more

On the Thornton sandbank, 30 kilometres off the Belgian coast, 54 wind turbines spin in the North Sea breeze. Today, the 325 MW C-Power wind farm is one of nine offshore renewable energy installations in the area, with a total capacity of 2.2 GW. An additional 3 GW is in development. When the C-Power wind farm’s initial phase of six turbines was switched on in 2009, it was Belgium’s first commercial offshore renewable project. It was arranged in two grids, separated by a channel for power and gas pipeline. Although the 5 and 6 MW turbines on the farm are only half the size of today’s largest ..read more

For high performance and a long service life, bearing ring materials must meet conflicting objectives. They must be hard, to resist the loads imposed by rolling elements, but they must also be tough, so that they don’t crack under pressure. Manufacturers achieve this tricky balance by making rings from a relatively soft material, then treating them to create a hard, wear-resistant component, balancing the competing properties of hardness and toughness. This process can be conducted in various ways, but almost all the methods require the application of significant heat. Hardening is tradition ..read more

The motorbike that made the journey from northern Italy to northern Norway on one fuel tank. SKF has played its part in securing a new world record: the furthest distance travelled by a prototype motorcycle on a single tank of fuel. The prototype bike clocked up 4,183.8 km on its journey from Albino in northern Italy to North Cape in Norway – without needing to refuel. SKF helped motorcycle components supplier Acerbis in its AC50 project to design the two-wheeler. The main efficiency losses we identified were the wheels – so we offered a customised design for the wheel bearings and seals ..read more

Imagine flying a kite in the wind. You can feel the force in the string you’re holding. When you steer the kite laterally, it picks up speed and generates additional force. This is the simple principle behind the patented technology developed by Minesto, a marine energy technology developer. But the kite, instead of flying in the wind, flies in the ocean. Water is nearly a thousand times denser than air, so the energy it generates is more concentrated. The tidal kite, whose design resembles an aeroplane, has been built to cause as little resistance as possible. The wings of the kite use the ..read more

The global aviation industry has endured a turbulent few years. First it suffered a collapse in passenger demand due to the lockdowns and travel restrictions arising from the coronavirus pandemic. Then, as the world began to get back to normal, it experienced a huge bounceback effect: there was a 47 percent increase in air passenger numbers in 2022 alone. The International Civil Aviation Organization expects demand for passenger air transport to climb beyond pre-pandemic levels during 2023, and aircraft makers are reporting busy production lines and full order books. Although that’s great ne ..read more

SKF has extended its Microlog Analyzer family of data collection devices with a new model that offers faster measurement collection and greater diagnostic power. “The new SKF Microlog Analyzer dBX is part of our broad portfolio of condition monitoring solutions,” says Janne Westerlund, director Services & Technologies EMEA at SKF. “Built on state-of-the-art technologies, it is a powerful tool for stand-alone troubleshooting as well as part of a comprehensive predictive maintenance programme. SKF Microlog Analyzer dBX, together with our analytic software, is providing best-in-class inform ..read more