What Are the Different Types of Bearings?

Before learning about tapered roller bearings along with the other types, you must gain information about these small elements in the first place. Bearings are considered to be an important tribological component. They come in different shapes and forms and are typically used in various types of machinery. These bearings are responsible for supporting a specific type of motion in a particular system that can be under dynamic or static loading. 

Do you know what the main purpose of these bearings is? Well, their primary role revolves around preventing metal-to-metal contact between 2 different elements in motion. As a result, this prevents heat generation, friction, and wear and tear of the machine parts. Apart from that, these bearings are capable of reducing energy consumption. Thanks to the various types of bearings, transmitting load to the housing is as easy as a cakewalk now. This load can be axial, radial, or a combination of both. 

Now, let’s pave the way toward learning about the different types of bearings. Delve deeper without any further delay. 

●Rolling Element Bearings 

These bearings are well-equipped with rolling elements that come in the shape of cylinders or balls. They help in the free movement of different parts in rotational motion. Some of the examples where these rolling bears are used include conveyors, escalators, or reciprocating pumps. They can be further subdivided into roller bearings and ball bearings. Let’s learn about roller bearings and ball bearings in the next point. 

●Roller Bearings 

Instead of balls, these kinds of bearings contain cylindrical rolling elements. Some of the advantages include the following: 

●Low friction 

●Easy maintenance 

●Tapered ball bearings are capable of withstanding high axial loads 

●Can deal with high radial loads

●They are used to adjust the axial displacement 

●Great accuracy

●Low vibrations

Though they can be a little bit expensive and noisy, these rolling bearings are extremely useful in different areas. The wide range of roller bearings includes- cylindrical roller bearings, spherical roller bearings, tapered roller bearings, and needle roller bearings.

●Ball Bearings

Ball bearings are extremely common. They are typically trapped between annulus-shaped pieces. The other name for these metal pieces is race. While the inner race is capable of rotating, the outer one needs to stay stationary. Ball bearings come with good wear resistance. They are easy to replace, comparatively cheap, and capable of handling thrust loads. Some of the types of ball bearings are- thrust ball bearings, self-aligning ball bearings, angular contact ball bearings, and deep groove ball bearings. 

●Fluid Bearings

These bearings rely on liquid or pressurized gas, thus carrying the load and eliminating friction. They are used in machines that tend to work at high speeds. You can classify fluid bearings into hydrodynamic bearings and hydrostatic bearings. 

●Plain Bearings

It is the simplest type of bearing that comes with a bearing surface and no rolling elements. They are mainly used for sliding, rotational, oscillatory, or reciprocating motion. It is used in various industries such as marine, agriculture, automotive, and construction. 

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This is all about the several types of bearings. Hopefully, this blog will be quite helpful to you.