NKE supplies the bearings for the gearboxes of the Sea-Gen tidal current turbines in Northern Ireland. Tidal current turbines are installed undersea and work much like an underwater windmill but are driven by the tidal current rather than air. The gearbox developers and manufacturers, Orbital2 and Wikov, selected NKE bearings partly for the quality of the company¡¯s technical support and its short production lead times. The availability of large main rotor shaft bearings was a decisive factor. NKE supplies nine types of bearings for the gearboxes, including deep groove ball bearings, tapered roller bearings, cylindrical roller bearings and four-point contact ball bearings, with outside diameters from 300 mm to 1,090 mm.
