What are the types and functions of bearings?

Bearings are a kind of device which is used to allow linear or rotational movement while handling the stress and reducing the friction. The bearings resembles like wheels which literally allows the devices to move and roll while it reduces friction in between the bearing surface and the particular surface that it is rolling or moving over.  Bearings are very crucial in both linear and rotary fashion because it helps significantly in making the movement easier while reducing the friction, therefore enhancing the efficiency and speed of the device.

How does bearing work?

The structure of the bearing is specifically designed to allow it to perform its function accurately and smoothly.  The bearing structure is relatively simple; it is composed of an external metal with smooth surface and internal metal with a ball in it, which is used to aid in the rolling.  The ball is responsible for carrying the load or weight and the force coming from the load’s weight is responsible for driving the rotation of the bearing.

But, not all kind of loads may put a force on the bearing in that manner.  There are actually two types of loading the radial and thrust. 

Radial load like pulley works by putting a weight on the bearing in which it makes the bearing to rotate or roll because of the tension while a thrust load is different in such as way that it puts the stress on the bearing on a very different manner.   The thrust load works by flipping the bearing on the side and it is then subjected to a complete force in that angle.  An example of this, is a bearing which is used for supporting a bar stool.

There are many bearings which are prone in experiencing the radial and the thrust loads.  As an illustration, car tires may carry radial load when it is driving with a straight way and the tires may roll forward like a rotational manner because of the weight and tension that is supporting.  But, when the car is going in for a corner, it will be subjected to thrust load because the car tire is not moving into the radial fashion and the force of the cornering is weigh on that side of the bearing.

The Kinds of Bearings

There are various types of bearings which are designed to handle thrust load, radial load or a combination of the two types of loading.  There are different applications that are required for bearings specifically because it is designed to handle a particular load and varying weight amount, thus the differences in the kinds of bearings depends on its load weight and capacity to handle a particular weight.

Ball Bearings

Ball bearings are the common types of bearings which can handle both the radial and the thrust loads, but it can only handle a smaller weight.  It can be found in various applications like the hard drives and roller blades.  Ball bearings are prone to deform if it is overloaded.

Roller Bearings

Roller bearings are specifically designed to handle heavy loads.  The main or primary roller refers to the cylinder wherein the load is specifically distributed to the larger areas which enables the bearings to handle a larger weight.  The structure is specifically designed to handle only the radial loads and not the thrust loads.  But for those applications, which have a smaller space, the needle bearing is preferred because it can work with cylinders with a small diameter.  Needle bearings also fit with smaller applications.

Ball Thrust Bearings

Ball thrust bearings are designed to carry exclusively the thrust loads in a low weight and low speed applications.  As an example, the bar stools are using this bearings for supporting the seat.

Roller Thrust bearings

Roller thrust bearings are almost similar with the ball thrust bearings because both can carry thrust load.  The only difference however is on the amount of load or weight that the bearing can carry or handle.  Roller thrust bearings are known for supporting significantly large amounts of the thrust load and can be found in the car transmissions which are used for supporting the helical gears.  The gear support is a usual application for the roller thrust bearings.

Tapered Roller Bearings

Tapered roller bearings are designed to carry both the large types of radial and the thrust loads because of its versatility in handling loads.  It can be found in the car hubs because of its extreme radial and thrust loads which the car wheels are known to carry.

Other Specialized Bearings

There are also various types of bearings which are manufactured and produced for particular applications like the giant roller bearings and magnetic bearings.  The giant roller bearings are applied for heavy and extremely large loads like the big structural components and buildings.  The magnetic bearings can be found in the devices with high-speed features because it has no any moving parts – the stability of the bearing allows it to support devices that moves in unconscionably fast way.

For any bearing requirements, you can send your inquiry to us at export@macina.ae.  We have wide-array of high quality bearing products from several origin and brands for you to choose from.  You may also visit our website at www.macina.ae for more information.



Written By: Aileen R. Billones, Marketing Executive, Macina LLC