Types of Fluid Thrust Ball Bearings

When axial forces occur along a shaft's centerline, fluid thrust ball bearings can handle the pressure and direct it against the turbine blades. They are a common component of clean energy turbines. These bearings are highly reliable and can be used in high-speed applications. They are also commonly used in hydraulic systems.

Single-sided angular contact thrust ball bearings

Single-sided angular contact fluid thrust balls are a versatile type of bearing. They can withstand high radial and axial loads and are non-latching. The angular contact allows the balls to move in a variety of directions and are also used to absorb axial forces.

Angular contact ball bearings have offset raceways in the inner and outer rings that are offset in the direction of the bearing axis. They can withstand combined axial and radial loads, and the angular contact angle is proportional to the axial load.

The temperature rise characteristics of angular contact ball bearings were investigated in a range of lubrication conditions, including oil-air lubrication. The results show that convective heat transfer from the bearing surface to the surrounding air is minimal. This resulted in a substantial reduction of the computation time for engineers, and improved computational efficiency.

A fluid thrust ball bearing is a type of bearing that supports axial thrust on a thin film of pressurized oil or magnetic fluid. The bearing can rotate at high speeds with low drag and is commonly used in automotive, marine, and aerospace applications. In addition, thrust bearings are used in RC helicopters in the main and tail rotor blade grips. They are also used in modern car gearboxes.

Single-sided angular contact fluid thrust balls comprise a housing washer and a ball and cage assembly. The housing washers have flat or sphered seating surfaces, and can compensate for initial misalignment. This type of bearing is often separable and can be assembled and disassembled easily.

Single-sided angular contact thrust roller bearings

Single-sided angular contact fluid thrust ball bearings are single-row, angular-contact bearings that are designed to support a high-thrust load in one direction and a moderate radial load. They have a high shoulder on the inner ring to maximize the contact angle, and they are usually used as matched pairs of single-row bearings for an even distribution of load. They are available with liners on both sides and can be used in many types of applications.

The CFD method is widely used to study the temperature and internal flow field of oil-lubricated bearings, but the approach generally ignores the effects of heat conduction within the bearing ring. This leads to difficulties in convergence, especially when considering multiple phases in transient analyses. Also, the amount of computation required to obtain the steady-state temperature rise is enormous. To overcome these issues, this paper presents a new steady-state analysis model for oil-air-lubricated angular-contact ball bearings based on the principles of fluid-solid conjugate heat transfer.

The test bench's parameters include a velocity inlet and a pressure outlet. During the simulation, the maximum velocity of the flow field is at the end of the inner ring and the lowest velocity occurs at the end of the outer ring. In contrast, the air velocity in the outer raceway is higher than that in the inner ring. Therefore, the temperature field in the inner ring of the bearing is relatively uniform.