SKF advances Insight bearing technology through collaboration with Sentea

Bearing and seal manufacturer SKF has partnered with fiber-optic sensing specialist Sentea to develop and produce SKF Core, a unified hardware platform engineered to power the next generation of SKF Insight bearings. The collaboration combines embedded fiber-optic interrogation technology with bearing engineering to accelerate the commercialization and scaling of bearing intelligence systems across industrial machinery.

Context of the Cooperation
Industrial operators and machine tool builders increasingly require granular, real-time visibility into machine operating conditions to enhance process stability, extend asset life, and avoid unplanned downtime. However, conventional condition monitoring technologies rely heavily on external sensors that react slowly, introduce signal noise, or cannot capture physical micro-shifts directly at the contact point.

To overcome these operational limitations, cooperation was established between SKF and Sentea. The partnership aligns SKF’s mechanical engineering and bearing diagnostic algorithms with Sentea’s proprietary fiber-optic sensing and silicon photonics interrogation hardware, providing a scalable route to bring embedded bearing intelligence into series production.

Technical Solution and Responsibilities
The technological solution integrates fiber-optic sensing elements inside the bearing structure with the SKF Core processing unit, transforming internal mechanical strain into real-time operational data. Responsibilities are divided across the partners to align sensing hardware production with mechanical integration:

Sentea leads the development and volume production of the SKF Core hardware platform, providing compact fiber-optic interrogation technology and optical sensor signal processing.

SKF integrates the sensing elements into the bearing geometry, supplies diagnostic and analytical algorithms, and delivers the complete SKF Insight bearing assembly to machine builders and end-users.

At a system level, SKF Insight bearings embed fiber-optic sensors featuring Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) directly into the bearing ring. As dynamic loads, temperatures, vibrations, and rotational speeds shift, the reflected wavelength of light changes instantly without electrical interference or mechanical drift. The SKF Core platform consolidates optical sensing, signal processing, and communication protocols into a single, compact industrial unit. The latest platform generation broadens monitoring parameters to deliver insights into contact pressures, bearing health, and lubrication conditions, enabling machine builders to transition from reactive maintenance schedules to closed-loop machine protection and predictive control.

Deployment or Implementation
The implementation strategy focuses on reducing integration complexity for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) designing next-generation machining centers and heavy industrial rotating equipment. By housing sensing, computation, and communication functions inside a standardized unit, the SKF Core platform enables machine builders to adopt embedded machine intelligence without redesigning spindle housings or adding external instrumentation footprints.

SKF and Sentea will formally introduce the SKF Core platform alongside the next-generation SKF Insight bearing line at the AMB exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany. During the event, live demonstrations at the SKF booth will showcase real-time condition data acquisition, demonstrating the platform's readiness for industrial deployment across machine tool and manufacturing applications.

Edited by Romila DSilva, Induportals Editor, with AI assistance.