The Best Type of Bearing for Your Application: A Selection Guide

Bearings have applications in all types of industries, though each individual bearing has its ideal uses. Common industrial applications of bearings include:

• Aggregate, concrete, and mining. These sectors require bearings like transmission and conveyor bearings with a superior capacity for load and the ability to tolerate harsh conditions. They have applications in equipment like vibrating screens, tunnel borers, and bucket wheels.
• Electric motor repair. Bearing types like deep groove or angular contact ball bearings and cylindrical roller bearings aid in electric motor repair. They’re often found in electric motors for the automotive, aerospace, industrial equipment, HVAC, and appliance industries. Ceramic hybrid bearings and electrical current grounding devices are increasingly being used to extend bearing life.
• Machine tools. Machine tool bearings have applications in equipment such as machining centers, high-speed spindles, automated screw machines, and water jet equipment. These tools rely on bearings like angular contact bearings, ceramic hybrid spindle bearings, high-precision cylindrical roller bearings, and ball screw support bearings.
• Marine spares. Options like craft split and split spherical bearings support optimal functionality in marine components like stern shafts, rope guards, sonar equipment, and hydraulic or electronic thrust metering machinery.
• Material handling. Mast guide, cam follower, double row, and leaf chain bearings facilitate material handling applications. They’re commonly found within forklift trucks, conveyor systems, and heavy cranes.
• Metal processing. Grooved and roller bearing varieties can assist in metal processing, supporting wire forming and metal recycling applications.
• Packaging/food processing. Filling plants in the food and beverage processing sectors, for example, utilize options like slewing ring, crossed roller, and four-point contact bearings. Stainless steel bearings and solid-lube are available for increased service life.
• Plastic processing and forming. Using roller, linear, and thrust ball bearings, among others, this industry facilitates machine part movement in ejector shafts, extrusion gearboxes, and injection, mold clamping, and press cylinders.
• Power generation. Turbines, generators, compressors, pumps, drives, and more all use bearings to help generate power. The power generation market typically utilizes roller, ball, blade, radial, pillow block, and yaw bearing types.
• Pulp, paper converting, and printing. Converting and printing processes use a wide range of bearings, including ball bearings, cylindrical and spherical roller bearings, linear bearings, one-way clutch bearings, and free running bearings. They facilitate smooth operations in rollers, slitters, rewinders, and more.
• Pump, compressor, and oil field. Oil sectors require various ball and roller bearing varieties with high load capacities to operate pumps, compressors, and drives.
• Recreation. Diverse recreational equipment such as go-karts, ski areas, inline skates, bowling pinsetting machines, and fishing reels make use of ball, roller, and ceramic bearings.
• Robotics and automation. Automated machinery relies on super precision and linear motion bearings to ensure accurate and repeatable movements for robot arms, conveyor systems, AGVs, and more.
• Transportation. The transportation industry uses bearings in automobile, railcar, and aircraft components like chassis, drive systems, brakes, and axles. Prime choices are ball bearings and cylindrical or taper roller bearings.
• Wastewater treatment. Ceramic bearings are one variety with applications in wastewater treatment. Bearings for this sector are useful in valves, drives, pumps, flowmeters, and hydraulic machinery.
• Wood products. In wood production applications, you might use bearings for log-processing operations or within finished cabinetry. Spherical roller bearings, radial ball bearings, and P53 bearings are good choices for this market.

When choosing bearings for your application, consider the following:

• Required rotational speed. One way to choose the right bearing type is to identify your application’s rotational speed. For instance, roller bearings are well-suited for low-speed tasks, and ball bearings are ideal for high-RPM applications.
• Lubrication needs. The appropriate lubrication type for your application depends on its speed. Applications with lower speeds benefit from an oil bath, whereas higher speeds may require grease or even oil misting, should the n*dm value exceed the allowable maximum speed for grease.
• Bearing rigidity and runout. Evaluating your application’s tolerance for deviations in its runout is also important. For example, ball bearings are best if your application only allows minor fluctuations.

• Necessary capacity and load for your bearings. Roller bearings can handle heavy loads while ball bearings are better suited to small or average loads. Considering the necessary load capacity for your application will help you choose between these types.

Click to Download

Bearing maintenance and lubrication are both important factors in prolonging the life of your bearings. Regular lubrication with oil or grease minimizes bearing friction and heat generation, while routine inspections help identify general wear and bearing damage early. Ideally, you should have an advanced monitoring system in place to assist in this, enhancing bearing failure detection to ensure timely troubleshooting and maintenance.