Boosting bolt tightening

These enable reliable and repeatable bolt tightening for customers in a variety of applications, including marine, traditional power, aeronautics and mining. The Hydrocam tensioner range includes both manual and automatic systems and can tighten bolts from 5 to 500mm.

The range is said to ensure that high performance of each bolted assembly is achieved, therefore preventing seal leakage, avoiding shear stresses on the bolts, resisting spontaneous loosening effects, and most importantly ensuring they are capable of supporting external loads.

In the standard range of Hydrocam bolt tensioners, SKF offers six different types of tensioners, including the HTA, HTS, HTS N, HTS 2, HTC R and HTHR. These cover a wide range of bolt dimensions from M8 to M160 (5/16 to 6 in), and enable pre-tightening loads ranging from 50 to 8500 kN. The latest ETQR Quick Connect Nut and HTQR Quick Connection Tensioner extend the range still further, while helping to reduce installation and setup times.

SKF also offers customised tensioners in the event that the standard range does not meet the needs of a customer’s application. If this is the case, SKF can easily customise a standard range tensioner by adapting the brace, skirt, socket or reaction nut of the tensioner to fit the customer’s size and accessibility constraints.

In addition, if an application presents special characteristics where both the standard range and customised tensioners are unsuitable, SKF designs, computes, optimises and manufactures a tailor-made tensioner to meet exact requirements.

"SKF’s latest range of tensioners have been designed to offer customers the widest range of options and customisation,” said Phil Nicholas, product manager linear actuation technologies at SKF. "Hydrocam bolt tensioners are compatible with a wide variety of bolt materials, including stainless steel and titanium, and can be used for tightening an existing assembly as well as new.”