Hi Bearings An Understanding!

Hi Bearings An Understanding!

Bearings can trace their origins back to the royal halls of ancient Egypt. The logs that were used to roll immense stone blocks for the pyramids were some of the earliest bearings. Bearings work against both friction and gravity, for the purpose of increasing machinery speed and efficiency.

When designing or spec-ing in a bearing, the engineer must be at his best. If you’re creating, say, a U-handle, you can err a bit in size and configuration and still have the part perform its function. Not so with bearings: they require precision, or they will do more harm than good to a machine.

You’ll find these durable, high precision components in applications such as computers, VCRs, cars, trains, planes, construction equipment, machine tools, refrigerators and fans.. .wherever there is a requirement for high speed rotation, minimal vibration and noise reduction.

Plain bearings were developed for the automobile industry in the 1920s. Since then, all manner of these useful components have been developed.

Various combinations of bearing types can be combined in one housing to manage bearing loads from several directions at once.

Proper and stable mounting of the bearing are also essential to good performance. Looseness will result in vibration and noise, shock loads relative to speed, and eventually the actual destruction of the bearing and adjacent parts. Meanwhile, seeing as friction always creates heat, wear and tear, lubrication is an essential part of a bearing. Otherwise, once again bearing destruction is the result.

You’ll need to use your engineering expertise when calculating the appropriate bearing for your application, taking into account things like static and dynamic load ratings and limiting speed.