Ball Bearing
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the moving parts of the bearings – the inner and outer parts of the bearings. A ball bearing aims to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. Ball bearings are simple in design, durable, and easy to maintain.
About Ball Bearings
Components of a ball bearing
Ball bearing material
Application of Ball Bearings
Various Types of Ball Bearing
Deep Groove Ball Bearings
Single-Row Angular Contact Ball Bearings
Double-Row Angular Contact Ball Bearings
Thrust Ball Bearings
Miniature Ball Bearings
Self-Aligning Ball Bearings
The advantages of various types of bearings
Deep groove ball bearings
- Low friction and running temperatures, low noise, and vibration
- High running speeds
- Accommodate radial loads and axial loads in both directions
- Available with a variety of greases for most conditions
- Increased reliability and provided long bearing and lubricant service life
Self-Aligning Ball Bearings
- Excellent high-speed performance
- Self-aligning ball bearings have low minimum load requirements
- Accommodate static and dynamic misalignment
- Self-aligning ball bearings can reduce noise and vibration levels, for example, in fans
- The bearing temperature is lower because of low heat generation, leading to extended bearing life and maintenance intervals
Thrust Ball Bearings
- Various types to suit different needs
- Simple mounting – the shaft and housing washers can be mounted separately
- Lowest friction of all rotary bearings
- High-grade balls – Smooth and quiet operation even at high speeds
- High load capacity, High availability
- Withstands harsh environments
Ball Bearing Video
About Bearing FAQ
(1) What’s the difference between ball bearing and roller bearing ?
Ball Bearings
Ball bearings typically include an inner raceway and an outer raceway, a number of spherical elements separated by brackets, and usually a guard and/or seal to prevent dirt and grease from entering. When installed, the inner ring is usually pressed lightly on the shaft, while the outer ring is fixed inside the housing. The design can be used to handle pure radial loads, pure axial (thrust) loads, and combined radial and axial loads.Ball bearings are described as having point contact; that is, each ball contacts the race in a very small patch – a point, in theory. Bearings are designed such that the slight deformation the ball makes as it rolls into and out of the load zone does not exceed the yield point of the material; the unloaded ball springs back to its original shape. Ball bearings do not have infinite lives. Eventually, they fail from fatigue, spalling, or any number of other causes. They are designed on a statistical basis with a useful life where a certain number are expected to fail after a set number of revolutions.
Roller Bearings
Similarly constructed as ball bearings, roller bearings have line contact rather than point contact, enabling them greater capacity and higher shock resistance. The rollers themselves come in several shapes, namely, cylindrical, spherical, tapered, and needle. Cylindrical roller bearings manage only limited thrust loads. Spherical roller bearings can accommodate misalignment and more thrust, and, when doubled up, thrust in either direction. Tapered roller bearings can manage significant thrust loads. Needle bearings, a variant of cylindrical roller bearings, can handle high radial loads for their size, and can be made as needle roller thrust bearings.
(2) Three Ways of Roller Bearing Cage Guide?
Cage (namely bearing cage, also known as bearing retainer), refers to the part of the bearing that partially wraps all or part of the rolling body, and moves with it, to isolate the rolling body, and usually guide the rolling body and keep it in the bearing.When rolling bearings are working, bearing heating and wear are caused by sliding friction. Especially under high temperature operation conditions, the effect of inertial centrifugal force intensifies friction, wear and heating, which will cause cage burns or fractures in serious cases, causing the bearing to fail to work normally.Therefore, in addition to a certain strength, the material required for the cage must also have good thermal conductivity, small friction coefficient, good wear resistance, strong impact toughness, small density and linear expansion coefficient close to the rolling body.
There are three general guiding modes of bearing cage: rolling body guiding, inner ring guiding and outer ring guiding.
(3) What is the difference between angular contact bearings and deep groove ball bearings?
Deep groove ball bearings are a non-separable type bearing with the line connecting contact points of the inner ring, steel ball, and outer ring of 0º in the radial direction. They are designed to take mainly radial loads but can handle some axial load in either direction. Angular contact bearings are also a non-separable type. The line connecting contact points of the inner ring, steel ball, and outer ring creates an angle with the line drawn in the radial direction called the contact angle. Angular contact bearings can accommodate relatively heavy axial loads in one direction in addition to radial loads. The larger the contact angle, the larger the axial loading capacity becomes.
(4) What does a ball bearing do?
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that serves three main functions while it facilitates motion: it carries loads, reduces friction and positions moving machine parts. Ball bearings use balls to separate two “races,” or bearing rings, to reduce surface contact and friction across moving planes.