SKF (www.skf.com) and Proximion AB (www.proximion.com) (a subsidiary of Hexatronic Group AB) have entered into a development partnership for the industrialisation of fibre-optic sensing systems.

They will work together to combine SKF’s fibre-optic bearing sensing technology with Proximion’s application integration experience and knowledge in the development and production of advanced fibre-optic sensors and data-collection hardware.

Victoria Van Camp, SKF CTO, said: “Fibre-optic sensing technology is an exciting opportunity, as it enables bearings to become process and quality control instruments.

We have worked for some time to develop these sensors; by taking the next step together, we will be able to speed up the process of integrating them into customer applications.”

Fibre-optic technology allows for end-of-line integration into existing bearing production environments, while most existing sensor technologies place additional requirements on rebuilding manufacturing sites to cater for the safe handling of electronics.