Tapered Roller Bearings Latest Improvements

A tapered roller bearing can be described as a component that contains tapered rings as well as rollers. A roller bearing was designed with the purpose of handling combination loads. The tapered bearing allows the rings to improve rolling by coming together at particular locations. Such rollers with bearing have been found to lead to a significant reduction in friction. By keeping the contact angle in mind, bearing suppliers have been able to cater to a wide variety of load capacity requirements. Common uses of rollers with bearings include superior radial load movement and other heavy duty operations. Thus, the Tapered Roller Bearings Market is well placed to register a significant amount of growth during the forecast period of 2016-2021

Many a roller bearing company has focused on the tapered design for developing various advantages. Such bearing types not only decrease friction to a great extent, but also generate a smaller amount of heat. The generation of excessive heat was one of the main limitations to hold back previous roller bearing varieties.

The R&D efforts undertaken by the Tapered Roller Bearings Market has also led to a significant enhancement in operation life. Many a taper roller bearing manufacturer has witnessed the great rise demand for the purpose of transmission shafts as well as rotating axles. Since the latest models are so durable, the shafts can now be operated for thousands of miles without a breakdown or maintenance. Their reliability has also led to them being integrated with several heavy duty processes.

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Latest technique for production line bearing installation

Installing rolling element bearings on OEM production lines has always depended on the skill and experience of the installer. But new bearing designs and improved installation methods offer more reliable alternatives.

When rolling element bearings are required in manufactured products, an installer on the production line is often responsible for final assembly of the bearing, and for greasing and sealing it. This assembly task includes adjusting the bearing carefully so that its internal clearances — radial and axial distances between its inner and outer rings — meet the application requirements.

At the end of the line, workers test the product. In many plants, testing consists of an experienced worker listening closely to the product as it operates. Often, this is the only way to check if bearings and other components were installed properly.

Today, new bearing designs, improved installation tools, and monitoring devices offer manufacturers more reliable alternatives to traditional installation methods. These new methods take less time, reduce warranty costs, and improve the performance of the end products.For example, pre-adjusted, pre-lubricated unitized bearings greatly simplify the installation process, decreasing the risk of costly errors.

Unitized bearings

The use of unitized bearings — self-contained, pre-adjusted units — is increasing. This is especially so in the automotive industry, where unitized wheel bearing assemblies, called hub units, have become virtually standard in domestic cars.

Previously, assembly line workers collected and assembled wheel bearing components — inner and outer rings, grease, seals, spacers, and lock nut. They were responsible for adjusting bearings and lubricating them with the correct grease in the right amount. Errors could occur at each step of this procedure.

Bearing designers are working to integrate related functions into the hub unit. For example, one type of hub unit, which is typically used in driven wheel applications, also transmits power to the wheel via a splined inner ring bore.Other hub units incorporate a wheel speed sensor, an important part of the anti-lock braking system. Currently, in most vehicles, the sensor is a discrete unit that is mounted separately.

The auto industry is not alone in reaping the benefits of bearings with integrated sensors. Other companies, wanting to prevent machinery breakdowns, use sensor bearings to obtain feedback on critical machine functions, such as speed, load, force, and temperature.

Installation tools

Installers use four basic methods to mount bearings on shafts.

Mechanical mounting-which uses physical force. The other three methods rely on newer techniques to increase reliability and ease mounting of large bearings.

Temperature mounting-which uses heat to expand the bearing and make it easier to mount.

Hydraulic mounting-which uses hydraulic pressure to impart mounting force.
 
Oil injection method-which introduces a pressurized oil film between the shaft and inner ring to reduce frictional resistance.

Condition monitoring

Production line innovations aren’t limited to new bearing designs and improved installation tools. Condition monitoring devices are also gaining increased acceptance as a way to ensure proper bearing installation.

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Explorer class bearings promise faster speeds & improved reliability

Explorer high-performance, long-life bearings range now includes an improved single-row angular contact ball bearing that delivers a number of benefits for designers and operators of screw compressors, pumps, and gearboxes seeking to reduce the total cost of ownership of this equipment through improved reliability and energy efficiency.

Featuring a redesigned brass cage that delivers reduced noise and vibration levels and improved robustness, the new 40° contact angle bearings significantly increase the limiting speed up to 30 % compared to the previous design.

The new cage geometry and the use of stronger brass material reduce cage contact forces and increase cage strength, ensuring greater tolerance of shock loads and vibration, while delivering the significantly higher speed capability even under severe operating conditions.

In addition to the redesigned 40° contact angle, a new contact angle of 25° is also offered, giving the bearing a further 20% increase in speed over that of the 40° version, while enabling higher radial loads to be accommodated. In each case, the ball-to-cage contact arrangement allows cooler running and greater temperature stability, while noise and vibration levels are reduced by 15% in both the 40° and 25° versions.

Sealed variants of these bearings are also available for applications that may be more difficult to maintain, preventing contaminants from entering the bearing during installation and subsequent operation. Bearing arrangements that include a 40° contact angle unit taking the main load with a 25° unit acting as a back-up bearing offer improved robustness for applications where the axial load is predominantly in one direction, resulting in longer service life.

Explorer class bearings are the result of years of development and accrued expertise in bearing design, tribology, metallurgy, lubrication and machining techniques. The new 40° and 25° Explorer class single row angular contact ball bearings are an attractive option for operators of screw compressors, pumps and gearboxes seeking cooler running, more energy efficient and longer life bearings that will ultimately set their products apart from the competition.

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Learn about new ideas for the gearbox bearings

Gearboxes have long taken blame as the typical cause for a failure, and for good reason. Many gearboxes fail to pass the five-year mark without need for component repairs or full replacement. But when the industry first got its start, few considered the high winds, vibration, or environmental conditions that turbines must withstand.

“At the time, the same basic gearboxes used at cement mills or in industrial applications were simply hauled up some 300 feet in the air, place inside a nacelle, and expected to work to the same standards,”

Nowdays gearbox is specifically designed for its intended application, such as for use in a wind turbine. However, the “gearbox legacy design issue,” as Brooks calls it, has led to years of lessons learned for the Bearings industry that continue to this day. “For example, Nowdays a  gearbox designed for a brand-new turbine today is exceptionally better than one even made five or seven years ago because of the accumulative knowledge engineers have gained and continue to gain over time.”

Although this progress has led to more durable gearboxes capable of better handling the harsh conditions turbines face, there is still one fundamental challenge. This challenge primarily relates to differences in speed, according to bearings industry. “A turbine’s rotor may be turning at about 15 rpm but the generators are going 1,500 rpm, which represents an increase of 80 to 100 times,”

Typically, a designer would select different types of bearings and lubricants for low and high-speed applications. “But here you have one gearbox handling different speeds and loads with one type of lubricant. This isn’t the best scenario.” the turbine design would make use of two different gearboxes — one for low and one for high speeds — but that’s too complicated and not economical or feasible for the industry.

“Nevertheless, you’re still stuck with a machine that must deal with compound speeds in a harsh and complex environment, while facing high dynamic loads. Over time that leads to failures.” the industry is likely never going to fully overcome this challenge in gearbox-driven turbines, but quality bearings properly maintained are one step in mitigating turbine downtime.

High-speed bearings

Although there is some truth to the statement that a gearbox is only as good as its components, even the highest quality equipment has a limited life expectancy in the industry. Bearings offer no exception.

Bearings serve numerous roles in a wind-turbine gearbox and show different failure rates based on their position. For example, planet carriers and low-speed bearings work with some thrust load but generally have a low failure rate.

Planetary bearings

While high-speed bearings have the highest failure rates and low-speed bearings have some of the lowest, planetary bearings rank somewhere in between. Life expectancy is about 10 years before failures typically set in, although this can vary depending on the make and model of the gearbox.

“But regardless of gearbox model or bearing type, we generally find that deflections and loading problems are the primary issues with planet bearings”, “This is because of the variable loads that come into the gearbox and cause undesired deflections. This is made worse when the main bearing wears and lets even more thrust and load than intended into the gearbox. Over time, these forces take a toll.”

Integrated bearings

A bearing typically has three pieces: the rollers, an inner race that is pressed onto a shaft, and an outer race that is pressed into the gear bore. But now there are options that integrate the inner race with the shaft or the outer race with the gear, or both, into one solid component. “Integrating essentially machines the bearing’s outer race into the inner bore of the gear,”

An integrated bearing reduces the total number of components in the assembly by directly machining bearing races into the surrounding components of a gearbox. It is an option for cylindrical and tapered gearbox planet bearings.

“In some ways it brings complexity into the manufacturing process because bearings are not made at gear plants nor are gears made at bearing plants,” says Brooks. “But there are a lot of advantages to integrating the two.” Most notably: integrated bearings show improved performance and greater power density.

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