The use of friction-management know-how will help offer solutions that maximise performance, fuel-efficiency and equipment life.

Friction can be a good thing. If it weren’t for friction, you wouldn’t be able to hold on to a pen or pencil, and you would constantly feel like you were walking on a sheet of ice. Friction can be a good thing in mechanical devices too. Without friction, brakes wouldn’t work and you would have a tough time stopping vehicles from rolling or machines from turning.

But friction also creates a lot of problems.

It creates heat that may have to be vented or cooled and contributes to the early failure of the bearing.

It causes torque; the resistance to motion that requires additional energy to overcome.

And friction causes wear. When parts rub against each other, it causes wear that will eventually cause the parts to wear out.

Antifriction bearings are used to overcome these unwanted effects of friction.

The industry is ever-changing, from the evolution of advanced motion-control systems to the demands from your customers. The use of our friction-management know-how will help offer solutions that maximise performance, fuel-efficiency and equipment life. Bearing accessories and services like condition monitoring systems and services, encoders and sensors, seals, premium lubricants and lubricators extend bearing life and lower operational costs.

Bearing life is greatly affected by various parameters depending on the applications. Contamination, insufficient or over lubrication, misalignment, bearing steel cleanliness and other environmental factors are some of the factors that affect life.

Spherical roller bearings

Spherical roller bearings are one of the most versatile and popular anti-friction bearings used in various applications today.

One of the advantages of this barrel design is that the spherical rollers are self-aligning. This means that this type of bearing can tolerate greater misalignment in applications than most other types of bearings.

In fact, these bearings can tolerate axial or bearing mounting misalignment as high as 1.5 degree of misalignment. In low speed applications, they can tolerate even greater misalignment and shaft deflection.

This feature makes spherical a poor choice in applications that require high rigidity where the shaft must be held precisely but a good choice in applications with high misalignment or shaft deflection.

This design has relatively high torque, which means that they require more energy to turn.

Because of broad contact surface, sphericals can handle very heavy radial loads.

They do a better job than ball or cylindrical bearings for axial loads, but are still not very good for applications with high axial loads. The axial load capacity of a radial spherical bearing is about 25% of the radial load.

Choosing the right bearings for the right application

Choosing the right bearing can help you increase your productivity and gain a competitive edge in your industry. When you choose a high performance bearing, you keep production rates high and downtime low.

Whether it is a wheel assembly for a family vehicle, bearings out-fitted for a deep-sea oil drilling rig, repair services for rail bearings or steel for an aircraft engine shaft, right bearing selection help keep the world turning.

Timken spherical roller bearings

Timken spherical roller bearings need less energy to move and to keep moving, in part due to the elimination of a center guide ring. This reduces the cost of ownership to a large extent to maximize savings Higher load ratings + lower operating temperatures = longer bearing life. Extending the life of a bearing ensures reduced replacement and downtime costs.

Technology that moves you

Innovation is one of Timken’s core values, and we are known for our ability to solve engineering challenges. We focus on improving performance in the most difficult applications, and we are passionate about creating technical solutions and services that help your equipment perform faster, harder, smoother and more efficiently.

We are committed to finding new avenues for system sustainability. In the area of power density, we are creating systems where we replace larger, more cumbersome components with smaller, more efficient bearings to help improve systems’ performance.

Timken’s wide range of friction management solutions can include evaluations of your entire system – not just individual components. This provides cost-effective solutions to help you reach specific application goals. Working together, we help you meet these demands and ensure all your systems run smoothly.

Timken India Ltd, Bangalore. Tel: 080-41362000. Email: salesbangalore@timken.com