Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1 History
Ball bearing
1
2 1 HISTORY
5 Friction 8 Play
Reducing friction in bearings is often important for ef- Some applications apply bearing loads from varying di-
ficiency, to reduce wear and to facilitate extended use rections and accept only limited play or “slop” as the
at high speeds and to avoid overheating and premature applied load changes. One source of motion is gaps or
failure of the bearing. Essentially, a bearing can reduce “play” in the bearing. For example, a 10 mm shaft in a
friction by virtue of its shape, by its material, or by in- 12 mm hole has 2 mm play.
troducing and containing a fluid between surfaces or by Allowable play varies greatly depending on the use. As
separating the surfaces with an electromagnetic field. example, a wheelbarrow wheel supports radial and ax-
ial loads. Axial loads may be hundreds of newtons force
• By shape, gains advantage usually by using spheres left or right, and it is typically acceptable for the wheel
or rollers, or by forming flexure bearings. to wobble by as much as 10 mm under the varying load.
In contrast, a lathe may position a cutting tool to ±0.02
• By material, exploits the nature of the bearing ma- mm using a ball lead screw held by rotating bearings.
terial used. (An example would be using plastics that The bearings support axial loads of thousands of newtons
have low surface friction.) in either direction, and must hold the ball lead screw to
• By fluid, exploits the low viscosity of a layer of fluid, ±0.002 mm across that range of loads
such as a lubricant or as a pressurized medium to
keep the two solid parts from touching, or by reduc-
ing the normal force between them. 9 Stiffness
• By fields, exploits electromagnetic fields, such as
A second source of motion is elasticity in the bearing it-
magnetic fields, to keep solid parts from touching.
self. For example, the balls in a ball bearing are like stiff
• Air pressure exploits air pressure to keep solid parts rubber, and under load deform from round to a slightly
from touching. flattened shape. The race is also elastic and develops a
slight dent where the ball presses on it.
Combinations of these can even be employed within the The stiffness of a bearing is how the distance between
same bearing. An example of this is where the cage is the parts which are separated by the bearing varies with
made of plastic, and it separates the rollers/balls, which applied load. With rolling element bearings this is due to
reduce friction by their shape and finish. the strain of the ball and race. With fluid bearings it is
due to how the pressure of the fluid varies with the gap
(when correctly loaded, fluid bearings are typically stiffer
than rolling element bearings).
6 Loads
Bearing design varies depending on the size and directions
of the forces that they are required to support. Forces
10 Service life
can be predominately radial, axial (thrust bearings), or
bending moments perpendicular to the main axis. Fluid and magnetic bearings
bearings were stored before installation and use, as vibra- turers. For example, bearing mounting, temperature, ex-
tions during storage caused lubricant failure even when posure to external environment, lubricant cleanliness and
the only load on the bearing was its own weight;[15] the electrical currents through bearings etc. High frequency
resulting damage is often false brinelling. Bearing life is PWM inverters can induce currents in a bearing, which
statistical: several samples of a given bearing will often can be suppressed by use of ferrite chokes.
exhibit a bell curve of service life, with a few samples The temperature and terrain of the micro-surface will de-
showing significantly better or worse life. Bearing life termine the amount of friction by the touching of solid
varies because microscopic structure and contamination parts.
vary greatly even where macroscopically they seem iden-
tical. Certain elements and fields reduce friction, while increas-
ing speeds.
Strength and mobility help determine the amount of load
10.1 L10 life
the bearing type can carry.
Bearings are often specified to give an “L10” life (outside Alignment factors can play a damaging role in wear and
the USA, it may be referred to as “B10” life.) This is the tear, yet overcome by computer aid signaling and non-
life at which ten percent of the bearings in that applica- rubbing bearing types, such as magnetic levitation or air
tion can be expected to have failed due to classical fatigue field pressure.
failure (and not any other mode of failure like lubrication
starvation, wrong mounting etc.), or, alternatively, the life
at which ninety percent will still be operating.The L10 life
of the bearing is theoretical life and may not represent 11 Maintenance and lubrication
service life of the bearing. Bearings are also rated using
C0 (static loading) value. This is the basic load rating as Many bearings require periodic maintenance to prevent
a reference, and not an actual load value. premature failure, but many others require little mainte-
nance. The latter include various kinds of fluid and mag-
Plain bearings netic bearings, as well as rolling-element bearings that
are described with terms including sealed bearing and
For plain bearings some materials give much longer life sealed for life. These contain seals to keep the dirt out
than others. Some of the John Harrison clocks still op- and the grease in. They work successfully in many ap-
erate after hundreds of years because of the lignum vitae plications, providing maintenance-free operation. Some
wood employed in their construction, whereas his metal applications cannot use them effectively.
clocks are seldom run due to potential wear.
Nonsealed bearings often have a grease fitting, for pe-
Flexure bearings riodic lubrication with a grease gun, or an oil cup for
periodic filling with oil. Before the 1970s, sealed bear-
Flexure bearings rely on elastic properties of mate- ings were not encountered on most machinery, and oiling
rial.Flexure bearings bend a piece of material repeatedly. and greasing were a more common activity than they are
Some materials fail after repeated bending, even at low today. For example, automotive chassis used to require
loads, but careful material selection and bearing design “lube jobs” nearly as often as engine oil changes, but to-
can make flexure bearing life indefinite. day’s car chassis are mostly sealed for life. From the late
1700s through mid 1900s, industry relied on many work-
Short-life bearings ers called oilers to lubricate machinery frequently with oil
cans.
Although long bearing life is often desirable, it is some-
Factory machines today usually have lube systems, in
times not necessary. Tedric A. Harris describes a bear-
which a central pump serves periodic charges of oil or
ing for a rocket motor oxygen pump that gave several
grease from a reservoir through lube lines to the vari-
hours life, far in excess of the several tens of minutes life
ous lube points in the machine’s bearing surfaces, bear-
needed.[15]
ing journals, pillow blocks, and so on. The timing and
Composite bearings number of such lube cycles is controlled by the machine’s
Depending on the customized specifications (backing computerized control, such as PLC or CNC, as well as
material and PTFE compounds), composite bearings can by manual override functions when occasionally needed.
operate up to 30 years without maintenance. This automated process is how all modern CNC machine
tools and many other modern factory machines are lu-
bricated. Similar lube systems are also used on nonau-
10.2 External factors tomated machines, in which case there is a hand pump
that a machine operator is supposed to pump once daily
The service life of the bearing is affected by many pa- (for machines in constant use) or once weekly. These are
rameters that are not controlled by the bearing manufac- called one-shot systems from their chief selling point: one
6 11 MAINTENANCE AND LUBRICATION
pull on one handle to lube the whole machine, instead of olution is often needed to identify these frequencies dur-
a dozen pumps of an alemite gun or oil can in a dozen ing a FFT analysis. The natural frequencies of a rolling
different positions around the machine. element bearing with the free boundary conditions are 3
The oiling system inside a modern automotive or truck kHz. Therefore, in order to use the bearing component
engine is similar in concept to the lube systems mentioned resonance bandwidth method to detect the bearing fault
above, except that oil is pumped continuously. Much at an initial stage a high frequency range accelerometer
of this oil flows through passages drilled or cast into the should be adopted, and data obtained from a long dura-
engine block and cylinder heads, escaping through ports tion needs to be acquired. A fault characteristic frequency
can only be identified when the fault extent is severe, such
directly onto bearings, and squirting elsewhere to provide
an oil bath. The oil pump simply pumps constantly, and as that of a presence of a hole in the outer race. The har-
monics of fault frequency is a more sensitive indicator
any excess pumped oil continuously escapes through a re-
lief valve back into the sump. of a bearing outer race fault. For a more serious detec-
tion of defected bearing faults waveform, spectrum and
Many bearings in high-cycle industrial operations need envelope techniques will help reveal these faults. How-
periodic lubrication and cleaning, and many require oc- ever, if a high frequency demodulation is used in the en-
casional adjustment, such as pre-load adjustment, to min- velope analysis in order to detect bearing fault character-
imise the effects of wear. istic frequencies, the maintenance professionals have to
Bearing life is often much better when the bearing is be more careful in the analysis because of resonance, as
kept clean and well lubricated. However, many appli- it may or may not contain fault frequency components.
cations make good maintenance difficult. For example, Using spectral analysis as a tool to identify the faults in the
bearings in the conveyor of a rock crusher are exposed bearings faces challenges due to issues like low energy,
continually to hard abrasive particles. Cleaning is of lit- signal smearing, cyclostationarity etc. High resolution is
tle use, because cleaning is expensive yet the bearing is often desired to differentiate the fault frequency compo-
contaminated again as soon as the conveyor resumes op- nents from the other high-amplitude adjacent frequen-
eration. Thus, a good maintenance program might lubri- cies. Hence, when the signal is sampled for FFT analysis,
cate the bearings frequently but not include any disassem- the sample length should be large enough to give adequate
bly for cleaning. The frequent lubrication, by its nature, frequency resolution in the spectrum. Also, keeping the
provides a limited kind of cleaning action, by displacing computation time and memory within limits and avoid-
older (grit-filled) oil or grease with a fresh charge, which ing unwanted aliasing may be demanding. However, a
itself collects grit before being displaced by the next cy- minimal frequency resolution required can be obtained
cle. by estimating the bearing fault frequencies and other vi-
bration frequency components and its harmonics due to
shaft speed, misalignment, line frequency, gearbox etc.
11.1 Rolling-element bearing outer race
fault detection
11.2 Packing
Rolling-element bearings are widely used in the industries
today, and hence maintenance of these bearings becomes
Some bearings use a thick grease for lubrication, which
an important task for the maintenance professionals. The
is pushed into the gaps between the bearing surfaces, also
rolling-element bearings wear out easily due to metal-to-
known as packing. The grease is held in place by a plastic,
metal contact, which creates faults in the outer race, inner
leather, or rubber gasket (also called a gland) that covers
race and ball. It is also the most vulnerable component
the inside and outside edges of the bearing race to keep
of a machine because it is often under high load and high
the grease from escaping.
running speed conditions. Regular diagnostics of rolling-
element bearing faults is critical for industrial safety and Bearings may also be packed with other materials. His-
operations of the machines along with reducing the main- torically, the wheels on railroad cars used sleeve bearings
tenance costs or avoiding shutdown time. Among the packed with waste or loose scraps of cotton or wool fiber
outer race, inner race and ball, the outer race tends to soaked in oil, then later used solid pads of cotton.[16]
be more vulnerable to faults and defects.
There is still a room for discussion whether the rolling el-
ement excites the natural frequencies of bearing compo-
11.3 Ring oiler
nent when it passes the fault on the outer race. Hence we
need to identify the bearing outer race natural frequency For more details on this topic, see Ring oiler.
and its harmonics. The bearing faults create impulses and
results in strong harmonics of the fault frequencies in the Bearings can be lubricated by a metal ring that rides
spectrum of vibration signals. These fault frequencies are loosely on the central rotating shaft of the bearing. The
sometimes masked by adjacent frequencies in the spectra ring hangs down into a chamber containing lubricating
due to their little energy. Hence, a very high spectral res- oil. As the bearing rotates, viscous adhesion draws oil up
7
the ring and onto the shaft, where the oil migrates into the 13 See also
bearing to lubricate it. Excess oil is flung off and collects
in the pool again.[17] • Axlebox
• Ball bearing
• Rolamite
• Rolling-element bearing
11.5 Pressure lubrication
• Scrollerwheel
For high speed and high power machines, a loss of lubri-
• Shock Pulse Method
cant can result in rapid bearing heating and damage due
to friction. Also in dirty environments the oil can become • Slewing bearing
contaminated with dust or debris that increases friction.
In these applications, a fresh supply of lubricant can be • Spherical plain bearing
continuously supplied to the bearing and all other con-
tact surfaces, and the excess can be collected for filtration, • Spherical roller bearing
cooling, and possibly reuse. Pressure oiling is commonly • Spiral groove bearing
used in large and complex internal combustion engines
in parts of the engine where directly splashed oil cannot
reach, such as up into overhead valve assemblies.[19] High
speed turbochargers also typically require a pressurized
14 References
oil system to cool the bearings and keep them from burn-
ing up due to the heat from the turbine. [1] Merriam-Webster, “headwords “bearing” and “bear"",
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, online subscrip-
tion version. Paywalled reference work.
[10] R. Stribeck, Kugellager für beliebige Belastungen • Choosing the correct bearing type
Zeitschrift des Vereins Deutscher Ingenieure, 1901, Nr.
3, Band 45, p. 73-79 • Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library
(KMODDL) - Movies and photos of hundreds of
[11] N.N. (R. Stribeck), Kugellager (ball bearings), Glasers working mechanical-systems models at Cornell Uni-
Annalen für Gewerbe und Bauwesen, 1901, No. 577, p. versity. Also includes an e-book library of classic
2-9, Published 01. July 1901
texts on mechanical design and engineering.
[12] A. Martens, Schmieröluntersuchungen (Investigations on
• Types of bearings, Cambridge University
oils) Part I: Mitteilungen aus den Königlichen technischen
Versuchsanstalten zu Berlin, Ergänzungsheft III 1888, • Mounted Ball Bearings Technical Information
p. 1-37, Verlag von Julius Springer, Berlin and Part II:
Mitteilungen aus den Königlichen technischen Versuch-
sanstalten zu Berlin, Ergänzungsheft V, 1889, p. 1-57,
Verlag von Julius Springer, Berlin, (Note: These files can
be downloaded from the website of BAM: http://www.
bam.de/de/ueber_uns/geschichte/adolf_martens.htm)
15 External links
• Comprehensive review on bearings, University of
Cambridge
• Bearing lubricants
16.2 Images
• File:BallBearing.gif Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/BallBearing.gif License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contribu-
tors: Own work Original artist: PlusMinus
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nal artist: ?
• File:Early_Timken_roller_bearing.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Early_Timken_roller_bearing.
jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Rankin Kennedy C.E. (1912) The Book of the Motor Car, Caxton Original artist: Rankin Kennedy
C.E.
• File:Edit-clear.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg License: Public domain Contributors: The
Tango! Desktop Project. Original artist:
The people from the Tango! project. And according to the meta-data in the file, specifically: “Andreas Nilsson, and Jakub Steiner (although
minimally).”
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Contributors:
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Tkgd2007
• File:Tapered_steering_head_bearings.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Tapered_steering_head_
bearings.jpg License: Attribution Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons. Original artist: The original uploader was
Motorrad-67 at English Wikipedia
• File:Wingquist_patent_PRV_25406_1907.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Wingquist_patent_
PRV_25406_1907.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: PRV archive drawing, patent no. 25407, 1907. Original artist: Sven Wingquist
• File:Шарикоподшипники.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/%D0%A8%D0%B0%D1%80%
D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%88%D0%B8%D0%BF%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8.jpg
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