Knowledge of Roller Bearings

Time：2019.12.02  Source：Roller Bearings Suppliers

Roller bearings are a kind of rolling bearing and mechanical assemblies. It consists of four basic components, an inner ring, an outer ring, rollers and a cage. Rollers are used to separate inner and outer ring of the bearing. Under normal operating conditions, bearing rings and rollers carry the load while the cage spaces and retains the rollers on the cone. Based on several common questions, I’d like to teach you something about roller bearings.

1. What are roller bearings used for?

Roller bearings are used to replace sliding movement with low friction, rolling motion in rotary applications. And it’s designed to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads and used for heavy moderate-speed equipment.

2. What are the distinctions between a ball bearing and a roller bearing?

Based on the shape of the rolling elements, rolling bearings can be divided into ball bearings and roller bearings. Roller bearings use a roller to maintain the separation between the moving parts of the bearing, while ball bearings use a ball to work. But in addition to the different shapes of the rolling elements, these two types of bearings can also bear different loads.

Generally speaking, under the same external dimensions, the bearing capacity of roller bearings is 1.5 to 3 times that of ball bearings, so we can choose roller bearings first when there is a large load or an impact load. But when the diameter is less than or equal to 20mm, the bearing capacity of the two is similar, and the price of ball bearings is lower than roller bearings, so we prefer ball bearings.

3. Types of roller bearings.

There are numerous types of roller bearings to meet specific application requirements. WSBC bearing is a professional roller bearing manufacturer, which can supply high-quality roller bearings including the following popular types:

Spherical roller bearings

Spherical roller bearings have two rows of spherical rollers. And the outer ring has a common concave spherical raceway, while the inner ring has two concave raceways inclined at an angle to the bearing axis. This intelligent construction makes it self-aligning. It’s not affected by misalignment of the shaft and bearing box or deflection of the shaft. It’s more applicable to the occasion of the angular error caused by mounting error or shaft deflection. Spherical roller bearings are mainly used in a variety of mechanical equipment in the steel, mining, shipbuilding and other industries.

Tapered roller bearings

Tapered roller bearings have tapered inner and outer ring raceways with tapered rollers arranged between them. All conical surfaces’ projection lines meet at one point on the axis of the bearing. Therefore, Tapered roller bearings are particularly suitable for bearing composite loads. Tapered roller bearings are widely used in automobiles, rolling mills, mining, metallurgy, plastic machinery and other industries.

Cylindrical roller bearings

The internal structure of the cylindrical roller bearing adopts rollers arranged in parallel. Interval retainers or spacing blocks are installed between the rollers, which can prevent the tilting of the rollers or friction between the rollers, and effectively prevent the increase of rotational torque. Cylindrical roller bearings are commonly used in large and medium-sized electric motors, rolling stock,  generators, gas turbines and other machines.

Spherical roller thrust bearings

The load of a spherical roller thrust bearing is transmitted from one raceway to another raceway at an angle to the bearing axis. Therefore, this bearing is suitable for bearing both radial and axial loads. Another essential feature of spherical roller thrust bearings is their self-aligning ability. This makes the bearing insensitive to shaft deflection and misalignment errors to the bearing seat.