1. Angular Contact Ball Bearings
There is a contact angle between the raceway and balls, with standard angles of 15°, 30°, and 40°. A larger contact angle increases axial load capacity, while a smaller angle favors high-speed rotation. Single-row bearings can withstand radial and unidirectional axial loads. Structurally, two single-row angular contact ball bearings in a back-to-back configuration share an inner and outer ring, allowing for radial and bidirectional axial loads.
Main Applications:
Single-row: Machine tool spindles, high-frequency motors, gas turbines, centrifuges, small automobile front wheels, differential pinion shafts.
Double-row: Oil pumps, Roots blowers, air compressors, various transmissions, fuel injection pumps, printing machines.
2. Self-Aligning Ball Bearings
These bearings have double rows of steel balls, with the outer raceway shaped like an inner sphere, allowing for automatic alignment to compensate for shaft misalignment due to shaft or housing deflection. Tapered-bore bearings can be easily mounted using fasteners and are primarily for radial loads.
Main Applications: Woodworking machines, textile machinery drive shafts, and vertically mounted self-aligning bearings.
3. Spherical Roller Bearings
These bearings feature spherical rollers between the spherical raceway of the outer ring and the double raceway of the inner ring. Based on internal structure, they come in R, RH, RHA, and SR types. The arc center of the outer ring aligns with the bearing center, giving self-aligning capabilities to handle shaft misalignment. They can carry radial and bidirectional axial loads.
Main Applications: Paper machinery, reduction gears, railway vehicle axles, rolling mill gearbox housing, rolling mill roller paths, crushers, vibratory screens, printing machinery, woodworking machinery, and various industrial reducers with vertical self-aligning bearings.
4. Thrust Spherical Roller Bearings
These bearings feature inclined spherical rollers with a self-aligning ability due to the spherical seating of the raceway, accommodating some shaft inclination. They offer high axial load capacity while supporting some radial load and generally use oil lubrication.
Main Applications: Hydroelectric generators, vertical motors, ship propeller shafts, rolling mill screws, tower cranes, coal pulverizers, extruders, and forming machines.
5. Tapered Roller Bearings
Equipped with tapered rollers guided by an inner ring flange, these bearings have raceways whose apexes converge at a common point on the bearing's axis. Single-row bearings can handle radial and unidirectional axial loads, while double-row bearings can handle radial and bidirectional axial loads, making them suitable for heavy and shock loads.
Main Applications: Automotive (front and rear wheels, transmissions, differential pinion shafts), machine tool spindles, construction machinery, large agricultural equipment, rail vehicle gearboxes, and rolling mill necks and reducers.
6. Deep Groove Ball Bearings
Deep groove ball bearings have uninterrupted grooves on each ring that encircle about one-third of the ball's equatorial circumference. Primarily used for radial loads, they can also handle axial loads. With increased radial clearance, they acquire properties similar to angular contact bearings and can carry bidirectional axial loads. Compared to other bearings of similar size, they have lower friction, high speed, and high precision.
Main Applications: Automobiles, tractors, machine tools, motors, pumps, agricultural machinery, and textile machinery.
7. Thrust Ball Bearings
Thrust ball bearings comprise washers with raceway grooves and ball-and-cage assemblies. The raceway washer matching the shaft is called the shaft washer, and the one matching the housing is the seat washer. Double-direction bearings have a middle washer, allowing for unidirectional or bidirectional axial load but cannot support radial loads.
Main Applications: Automotive steering joints and machine tool spindles.
8. Thrust Roller Bearings
Designed for axial loads with radial loads not exceeding 55% of axial load, these bearings offer low friction, high speed, and self-aligning ability. Model 29000 bearings use asymmetrical spherical rollers, reducing relative motion between rollers and raceways. They feature long rollers with large diameters, offering high load capacity, generally oil-lubricated but occasionally grease-lubricated at low speeds.
Main Applications: Hydroelectric generators, crane hooks.
9. Cylindrical Roller Bearings
Typically, cylindrical roller bearings have rollers guided by two flanges on one ring. The cage, rollers, and guiding flange form an assembly separable from the other ring. These bearings are easy to install and disassemble, especially advantageous for tight fits of inner and outer rings. They primarily handle radial loads, but single-row bearings with flanges can carry small steady axial loads or larger intermittent axial loads.
Main Applications: Large motors, machine tool spindles, axle boxes, diesel crankshafts, automotive transmissions.
10. Four-Point Contact Ball Bearings
These bearings support radial and bidirectional axial loads, and a single bearing can replace front or back combinations of angular contact ball bearings, ideal for pure axial loads or loads with a high axial component. They create contact angles when axial loads are applied in any direction, with rings and balls in contact at two opposite points.
Main Applications: Aircraft jet engines, gas turbines.
11. Thrust Cylindrical Roller Bearings
Composed of washer-shaped raceway washers (shaft washer and seat washer), cylindrical rollers, and cage assemblies, these bearings have rollers processed with convex surfaces, ensuring even pressure distribution and a high axial load capacity with strong axial rigidity.
Main Applications: Oil drilling rigs, iron and steel machinery.
12. Thrust Needle Roller Bearings
These separable bearings consist of raceway washers and needle roller-cage assemblies, compatible with thin stamped or thick cut washers. Non-separable bearings are precision-pressed assemblies of washers and needle rollers, supporting unidirectional axial loads. They save space and aid compact designs, often using only needle roller-cage assemblies with the shaft and housing surface as raceways.
Main Applications: Automotive, tillers, machine tool transmissions.
13. Thrust Tapered Roller Bearings
Featuring tapered rollers guided precisely by the washer flanges, these bearings converge at a common axis point. Unidirectional bearings handle unidirectional axial loads, while bidirectional bearings support bidirectional loads.
Main Applications:
Unidirectional: Crane hooks, oil rig swivels.
Bidirectional: Rolling mill roll necks.
14. Mounted Bearing Units (Ball Bearings with Housing)
Mounted bearing units consist of double-sealed ball bearings in cast or stamped steel housings. The bearing's internal structure matches deep groove ball bearings, but with a wider inner ring and spherical outer surface, allowing automatic alignment within the housing.
Main Applications: Mining, metallurgy, agriculture, chemical, textile, printing and dyeing, and conveyor systems.
