SKF is increasing its capacity to innovate by opening a new European Test Centre dedicated to high-speed aeronautical bearings.

The new European High-Speed Aeronautical Bearings Test Centre, located at the SKF Aeroengine site in Valenciennes, France, will enable full-scale, high-speed bearing testing under representative operating and environmental conditions.

Due to their critical role in aircraft and helicopter engines and transmissions, development cycle times for engine shaft bearings, accessory drives and transmission gearboxes remain significant.

The test centre will be developed to continuously improve the representativeness, reliability and repeatability required by major aeronautical manufacturers.

Beyond bearing-related technologies, the test centre will also make it possible to speed up the maturity ramp-up for advanced technologies, such as those linked to sensors and signal processing.

Rutger Barrdahl, Head of Aerospace at SKF says, “Our customers are looking for weight-savings, increased service life and better lifetime predictability to improve the operational, economic and environmental performance of their aircraft. In this sense, our new test centre is a catalyser and accelerator for innovation in the area of high-speed aeronautical bearings.”

The timetable for the development of SKF’s European High-Speed Aeronautical Bearings Test Centre will be aligned with SKF customer roadmaps, and with the European Clean Sky 2 programme, for which SKF has been selected for several projects.