SKF is bringing new magnetic bearing and ceramic bearing technologies to Chillventa 2026, targeting higher-speed chillers and compressors used in data centers, heat pumps, and other demanding HVAC applications. The headline product is SKF’s new MBx active magnetic bearing series for high-speed chillers.
The company’s pitch is straightforward: reduce friction and eliminate oil in high-speed rotating systems to cut losses and downtime. SKF says it offers an integrated portfolio that spans high-speed motors levitated with magnetic bearing technology, active magnetic bearings, digital controllers, variable-speed drives, condition monitoring, and engineering services. In centrifugal chiller and other high-speed use cases, SKF says that combination enables compact, oil-free drive solutions that reduce wear, maintenance, and unplanned downtime, with energy-efficiency improvements of up to 30%–40% versus conventional technologies.
For data center operators, the practical point is that chiller efficiency and maintenance burden show up directly in operating cost and reliability, especially as facilities push more heat through mechanical plants. But claimed percentage gains are highly dependent on the baseline system and duty cycle, so engineers will want to see how those numbers map to specific compressor architectures and operating points.
The new MBx magnetic bearing is designed to optimize cost while “maintaining performance,” with SKF highlighting innovations including automatic winding. SKF also points to a modular design intended to enable semi-automated production and faster assembly, which it says can reduce lead times and expand production capacity for its high-speed motors aimed at the data center chiller market.
SKF is also showing hybrid ceramic bearings, including the optimized CeraDrive bearing series, for chillers, heat pumps, steam compressors, motors, fans, and pumps. SKF notes that ceramic rolling elements provide electrical insulation and support high-speed operation under demanding lubrication conditions.
Rounding out the set is SKF’s new Extreme super-precision bearings platform for high-speed centrifugal compressors in chillers, heat pumps, and mechanical vapour recompression systems. SKF describes it as a flexible platform that can be optimized for extreme requirements, including speeds up to 120,000 rpm, 2.4 Mndm, ring contact pressure up to 2.8 GPa, and turbine-side temperatures up to 200C.
“Cooling systems are becoming increasingly critical to reliability and energy efficiency of industrial and digital infrastructure,” said Thomas Grubbauer, Global Fluid Machinery Industry Manager, adding that SKF’s ceramic and magnetic technologies can help customers develop “more reliable and more efficient high-speed systems for data center cooling systems, heat pumps and other demanding applications.”
Source: SKF
