Roller Bearing

Roller Bearings are mechanical assemblies that consist of cylindrical or tapered rolling elements usually captured between inner and outer races. They provide a means of supporting rotating shafts and minimizing friction between shafts and stationary machine members. Roller bearings are used primarily in machinery with rotating shafts that require the support of heavier loads than ball bearings provide. Tapered roller bearings are often used to accommodate higher thrust loads in addition to the radial loads. Types range from cylindrical to spherical rollers. Roller bearings are standardized like ball bearings, albeit to a lesser degree. Considerations include

1. Higher load capacities than ball bearings
2. Can withstand high axial loads

A rolling-element bearing, also known as a rolling bearing, is a bearing which carries a load by placing rolling elements (such as balls or rollers) between two bearing rings called races. The relative motion of the races causes the rolling elements to roll with very little rolling resistance and with little sliding.

One of the earliest and best-known rolling-element bearings are sets of logs laid on the ground with a large stone block on top. As the stone is pulled, the logs roll along the ground with little sliding friction. As each log comes out the back, it is moved to the front where the block then rolls on to it. It is possible to imitate such a bearing by placing several pens or pencils on a table and placing an item on top of them. See “bearings” for more on the historical development of bearings.

Rolling element rotary bearing uses a shaft in a much larger hole, and cylinders called “rollers” tightly fill the space between the shaft and hole. As the shaft turns, each roller acts as the logs in the above example. However, since the bearing is round, the rollers never fall out from under the load.

Rolling-element bearings have the advantage of a good trade off between cost, size, weight, carrying capacity, durability, accuracy, friction, and so on. Other bearing designs are often better on one specific attribute, but worse in most other attributes, although fluid bearings can sometimes simultaneously outperform on carrying capacity, durability, accuracy, friction, rotation rate and sometimes cost. Only plain bearings are used as widely as rolling-element bearings. Common mechanical components where they are widely used are – automotive, industrial, marine, and aerospace applications. They are products of great necessity for modern technology. The rolling element bearing was developed from a firm foundation that was built over thousands of years. The concept emerged in its primitive form in Roman times (Hammock and Anderson 1983); after a long inactive period in the Middle Ages, it was revived during the Renaissance, developed steadily in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Cylindrical roller

A cylindrical roller bearing

    Roller bearings are the earliest known type of rolling-element-bearing, dating back to at least 40 BC. Common roller bearings use cylinders of slightly greater length than diameter. Roller bearings typically have higher radial load capacity than ball bearings, but a lower capacity and higher friction under axial loads. If the inner and outer races are misaligned, the bearing capacity often drops quickly compared to either a ball bearing or a spherical roller bearing.

As in all radial bearings, the outer load is continuously re-distributed among the rollers. Often fewer than half of the total number of rollers carry a significant portion of the load. The animation on the right shows how a static radial load is supported by the bearing rollers as the inner ring rotates.

Spherical roller

A spherical roller bearing

 

Spherical roller bearings have an outer ring with an internal spherical shape. The rollers are thicker in the middle and thinner at the ends. Spherical roller bearings can thus accommodate both static and dynamic misalignment. However, spherical rollers are difficult to produce and thus expensive, and the bearings have higher friction than an ideal cylindrical or tapered roller bearing since there will be a certain amount of sliding between rolling elements and rings.

 

Gear bearing

A gear bearing

Gear bearing is roller bearing combining to epicyclical gear. Each element of it is represented by concentric alternation of rollers and gearwheels with equality of roller(s) diameter(s) to gearwheel(s) pitch diameter(s). The widths of conjugated rollers and gearwheels in pairs are the same. The engagement is herringbone or with the skew end faces to realize efficient rolling axial contact. The downside to this bearing is manufacturing complexity. Gear bearings could be used, for example, as efficient rotary suspension, cinematically simplified planetary gear mechanism in measuring instruments and watches.

Tapered roller

A tapered roller bearing

 

Tapered roller bearings use conical rollers that run on conical races. Most roller bearings only take radial or axial loads, but tapered roller bearings support both radial and axial loads, and generally can carry higher loads than ball bearings due to greater contact area. Tapered roller bearings are used, for example, as the wheel bearings of most wheeled land vehicles. The downsides to this bearing is that due to manufacturing complexities, tapered roller bearings are usually more expensive than ball bearings; and additionally under heavy loads the tapered roller is like a wedge and bearing loads tend to try to eject the roller; the force from the collar which keeps the roller in the bearing adds to bearing friction compared to ball bearings.

Needle roller

A needle roller bearing

 

Needle roller bearings use very long and thin cylinders. Often the ends of the rollers taper to points, and these are used to keep the rollers captive, or they may be hemispherical and not captive but held by the shaft itself or a similar arrangement. Since the rollers are thin, the outside diameter of the bearing is only slightly larger than the hole in the middle. However, the small-diameter rollers must bend sharply where they contact the races, and thus the bearing fatigues relatively quickly.