How a Bearing Works

Have you ever wondered how things like in line skate wheels and electric motors spin so smoothly and quietly? The answer can be found in a neat little machine called a bearing. It makes many of the machines we use every day possible. Without it, we would be constantly replacing parts that wore out from friction.

In this article, we will learn how bearings work, look at some different kinds and explain their common uses, explore some other interesting uses of bearings and the first or the leading web store that has served the industries in market from 1996 with wholesale prices and large bearing inventory in stock.

How Bearing Works:

Things roll better than they slide. The wheels on your car are like big bearings. If you had something like skis instead of wheels, your car would be a lot more difficult to push down the road.That is because when things slide, the friction between them causes a force that tends to slow them down. But if the two surfaces can roll over each other, the friction is greatly reduced.

It reduces friction by providing smooth metal balls or rollers, and a smooth inner and outer metal surface for the balls to roll against. These balls or rollers "bear" the load, allowing the device to spin smoothly.

Types & Uses Of Bearings:
There are many types of bearings, each used for different purposes. These include ball bearings, roller bearings, ball thrust bearings, roller thrust bearings and tapered roller thrust bearings.

Ball Bearings: Ball bearings, are probably the most common type. They are found in everything from in line skates to hard drives. These type can handle both radial and thrust loads, and are usually found in applications where the load is relatively small. In a ball bearing, the load is transmitted from the outer race to the ball, and from the ball to the inner race. Since the ball is a sphere, it only contacts the inner and outer race at a very small point, which helps it spin very smoothly. But it also means that there is not very much contact area holding that load, so if it is overloaded, the balls can deform or squish, ruining the bearing.

Roller Bearings: These are used in applications like conveyor belt rollers, where they must hold heavy radial loads. In these, the roller is a cylinder, so the contact between the inner and outer race is not a point but a line. This spreads the load out over a larger area, allowing the bearing to handle much greater loads than a ball bearing. However, this type is not designed to handle much thrust loading.A variation of this type, called a needle bearing, uses cylinders with a very small diameter. This allows the bearing to fit into tight places.

Ball Thrust Bearing: These are mostly used for low-speed applications and cannot handle much radial load. Barstools and Lazy Susan turntables use this type of bearing.

Roller Thrust Bearing: These type can support large thrust loads. They are often found in gearsets like car transmissions between gears, and between the housing and the rotating shafts. The helical gears used in most transmissions have angled teeth -- this causes a thrust load that must be supported by a bearing.

Tapered Roller Bearings: They can support large radial and large thrust loads. These are used in car hubs, where they are usually mounted in pairs facing opposite directions so that they can handle thrust in both directions.

Leading ESI Bearing Distributor:

BearingsDirect is the first and the leading web store has served the industries in market from 1996 with wholesale prices and large bearing inventory in stock.They supply any ball bearings and roller bearings along with all features and custom special made materials, sizes and precision ball and roller bearings on-line.

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