Thrust Ball Bearings

Thrust ball bearing is a kind of rolling bearing specially used for bearing axial load, its main function is to transfer the axial force through the ball rolling between the raceway of shaft circle and seat circle, reduce the friction, and ensure the smooth operation of rotating parts in the axial direction, which is widely used in the mechanical system with low speed, light to medium load. According to the different bearing direction, thrust ball bearings are divided into two types: single direction and double direction single direction thrust ball bearings can only bear axial load in one direction, while double direction thrust ball bearings can bear axial load in two directions at the same time.

LNB Bearings offers a full range of high-quality, competitively priced thrust ball bearings and can be able to provide custom options to meet specific customer demands.

Single Direction Thrust Ball Bearings

Double Direction Thrust Ball Bearings

1. What is thrust ball bearing

Thrust ball bearings are rolling bearings designed to withstand unidirectional or bidirectional axial loads, and the basic structure consists of a shaft ring, a seat ring and a rolling body (balls). Among them, the shaft circle is mounted on the rotating shaft, the seat circle is fixed on the machine base or other supporting structure, the ball rolls in the raceway under the guidance of the cage to transmit the axial force. Thrust ball bearings have a compact structure, low friction, smooth operation, easy installation and disassembly, and can adapt to higher speeds. However, because thrust ball bearings cannot withstand large radial loads, they need to be selected in conjunction with actual working conditions to ensure a reasonable distribution of axial loads.

2. Types of Thrust Ball Bearings

(1)Single Direction Thrust Ball Bearings
Unidirectional thrust ball bearings (single direction thrust ball bearings) can only withstand a single direction of the axial load, can not withstand radial load. Usually consists of a shaft circle, a seat circle and a group of ball composition, shaft circle installed in the rotating shaft, seat circle fixed in the seat, suitable for need one-way axial positioning scene.

(2)Double Direction Thrust Ball Bearings
Bidirectional thrust ball bearings (double direction thrust ball bearings) can simultaneously withstand two directions of the axial load, but still can not withstand radial load. Usually consists of a shaft ring, two seat ring and two steel ball composition, the center of the shaft ring and shaft with rotation, seat ring fixed in the seat, commonly used in the need to limit the shaft bidirectional movement of the equipment.

3. Thrust Ball Bearings Characteristics

(1)Specialized in carrying axial load: Thrust ball bearings are mainly used to support axial force and cannot bear large radial load.

(2)Simple structure, easy to install and maintain: It is composed of a shaft ring, seat ring, steel ball, and cage, and some models adopt separate design, which is easy to disassemble and replace.

(3)Low friction coefficient, smooth operation: Smaller rolling friction can reduce energy consumption to a certain extent and improve the operating efficiency of the equipment.

(4)Low limiting speed: Because the steel ball of thrust ball bearing will be subject to large centrifugal force when rotating at high speed, it is easy to produce sliding friction with the raceway, which leads to increased wear and serious heat generation, so its limiting speed is relatively low.

(5)Some of them have centering ability: Some thrust ball bearings have a certain centering performance, for example, thrust ball bearings with spherical seat ring, can allow the shaft to have a small amount of tilting and yawing in a certain range, to compensate for the mounting error and flexural deformation of the shaft.

4. Thrust Ball Bearings Application

Thrust ball bearings are widely used in scenarios that require axial positioning and unidirectional/bidirectional axial force due to their axial load specificity, structural separation, and low-speed stability. Typical applications are as follows:

(1)Lifting and transportation machinery: Such as crane hooks, belt conveyor tensioning devices, winches, overhead cranes and so on.

(2)Reducer and gearbox equipment: Such as heavy-duty reducers, wind power gearboxes, metallurgical rolling mills, etc.

(3)Automobile system: Such as manual transmission, automobile clutch and steering system, etc.

(4)Precision machinery: Such as machine tool spindles, grinding wheel spindles, milling machines, etc.

(5)Semiconductor equipment: Such as wafer cutter spindle, photolithography table, etc.

(6)Electric motors and power generation equipment: Such as generators, motors and wind power generation systems.