A spherical roller bearing is a

rolling-element bearing In mechanical engineering, a rolling-element bearing, also known as a rolling bearing, is a bearing which carries a load by placing rolling elements (such as balls or rollers) between two concentric, grooved rings called races. The relative m ...

that permits rotation with low friction, and permits angular misalignment. Typically these bearings support a rotating shaft in the bore of the inner ring that may be misaligned in respect to the outer ring. The misalignment is possible due to the spherical internal shape of the outer ring and spherical rollers. Despite what their name may imply, spherical roller bearings are not truly spherical in shape. The rolling elements of spherical roller bearings are mainly cylindrical in shape, but have a (barrel like) profile that makes them appear like cylinders that have been slightly over-inflated (i.e. like a barrel).

Construction

Spherical roller bearings consist of an inner ring with two raceways inclined at an angle to the bearing axis, an outer ring with a common spherical raceway, spherical rollers, cages and, in certain designs, also internal guide rings or center rings. These bearings can also be sealed.

History

The spherical roller bearing was invented by engineer Arvid Palmgren and was introduced on the market 1919 by

SKF AB SKF (Swedish: ''Svenska Kullagerfabriken''; 'Swedish Ball Bearing Factory') is a Swedish bearing and seal manufacturing company founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1907. The company manufactures and supplies bearings, seals, lubrication and l ...

. The design of the bearing that Arvid Palmgren invented is similar to the design that is still in use in modern machines.

Designs

Schema Roller bearing, self-aligning double

Schema Roller bearing, self-aligning single

Most spherical roller bearings are designed with two rows of rollers, allowing them to take very heavy radial loads and heavy axial loads. There are also designs with one row of rollers, suitable for lower radial loads and virtually no axial load. These are also called "barrel roller bearings" or "Tonnenlager" and are typically available in the 202- and 203-series. The internal design of the bearing is not standardised by ISO, so it varies between different manufacturers and different series. Some features that may or may not exist in different bearings are: * Lubrication features in inner or outer ring * Central flange * Guide ring or center ring * Integrated seals * Cage

Dimensions

External dimensions of spherical roller bearings are standardised by

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

in the standard ISO 15:1998. Some of the common series of spherical roller bearings are: 213, 222, 223, 230, 231, 232, 238, 239, 240, 241, 248, 249.

Materials

Bearing rings and rolling elements can be made of a number of different materials, but the most common is "chrome steel", (high carbon chromium) a material with approximately 1.5% chrome content. Such "chrome steel" has been standardized by a number of authorities, and there are therefore a number of similar materials, such as: AISI 52100 (USA), 100CR6 (Germany), SUJ2 (Japan) and GCR15 (China). Some common materials for bearing cages: *

Sheet steel Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Sheet metal is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and it can be cut and bent into a variety of shapes. Thicknesses can vary significantly; ex ...

(stamped or laser-cut) *

Polyamide A polyamide is a polymer with repeating units linked by amide bonds. Polyamides occur both naturally and artificially. Examples of naturally occurring polyamides are proteins, such as wool and silk. Artificially made polyamides can be made through ...

(injection molded) *

Brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

(stamped or machined) * Steel (machined) The choice of material is mainly done by the manufacturing volume and method. For large-volume bearings, cages are often of stamped sheet-metal or injection molded polyamide, whereas low volume manufacturers or low volume series often have cages of machined brass or machined steel. For some specific applications, special material for coating (e.g. PTFE coated cylindrical bore for vibratory applications) is adopted.

Manufacturers

Some manufacturers of ''spherical roller bearings'' are

Schaeffler Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG, also known as Schaeffler Group (''Schaeffler-Gruppe'' in German), is a German manufacturer of rolling element bearings for automotive, aerospace and industrial uses. It was founded in 1946 by brothers Dr. ...

Timken Company The Timken Company is a global manufacturer of bearings and power transmission products. Timken operates from 42 countries. Company history In 1898, Henry Timken obtained a patent for an improved tapered roller bearing, and in 1899 incorporat ...

NSK Ltd. , also known in some markets as NSK Automation, is a large manufacturer of bearings globally and the largest in Japan. The company produces industrial machinery bearings, precision machinery and parts, and automotive bearings and components. ...

NTN Corporation (a.k.a. Niwa, Tomoe, Nishizono) is one of the most prominent manufacturers of bearings in Japan, second domestically only to NSK Ltd. The company is one of the largest exporters worldwide of friction-reducing products such as constant-velocit ...

and

JTEKT JTEKT Corporation is a Japanese corporation created in January 2006 upon the merger of two companies: Koyo Seiko Co. and ''Toyoda Machine Works''. Toyoda Machine Works, Machine tool sales for North, Central and South America, aftermarket suppor ...

. Since

introduced the spherical roller bearing in 1919, spherical roller bearings have purposefully been refined through the decades to improve carrying capacity and to reduce operational friction. This has been possible by playing with a palette of parameters such as materials, internal geometry, tolerance and lubricant. Nowadays, spherical roller bearing manufacturers are striving to refine the bearing knowledge towards more environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient solutions.

Applications

Spherical bearings are used in countless industrial applications where there are heavy loads, moderate speeds and possibly misalignment. Some common application areas are: * Gearboxes *

Wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s *

Continuous casting Continuous casting, also called strand casting, is the process whereby molten metal is solidified into a "semifinished" billet, bloom, or slab for subsequent rolling in the finishing mills. Prior to the introduction of continuous casting in the ...

machines *

Material handling Material handling involves short-distance movement within the confines of a building or between a building and a transportation vehicle. It uses a wide range of manual, semi-automated, and automated equipment and includes consideration of the pro ...

* Pumps * Mechanical fans and blowers *

Mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

and

construction equipment Heavy equipment or heavy machinery refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large construction tasks. ''Heavy equipment'' usually comprises five e ...

* Pulp and paper processing equipment *

Marine propulsion Marine propulsion is the mechanism or system used to generate thrust to move a watercraft through water. While paddles and sails are still used on some smaller boats, most modern ships are propelled by mechanical systems consisting of an electr ...

and

offshore drilling Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently extract petroleum that lies in rock formations beneath the seabed. Most commonly, the te ...

Off-road vehicles An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of off-roading, driving on and off Pavement (material), paved or gravel surface. It is generally characteri ...

References

{{Commons category, Spherical roller bearings Bearings (mechanical) Rolling-element bearings Mechanical engineering Swedish inventions