Types of Rolling Contact Bearings

Rolling contact bearings are also known as anti-friction bearings due to their low friction characteristics between balls and inner and outer rings. Rolling contact bearings are used for radial load, thrust load and combination of these both loads. Rolling contact bearings are often used due to their lower price, less maintenance cost and ease of operation.

Rolling Contact bearings are of two types they are:

  1. Ball-bearing
  2. Roller bearing

The rolling contact bearings illustrated below represent a small set of a huge variety of ball and roller bearings.

Thrust Ball Bearing:

Thrust ball bearing
A thrust ball bearing can support an axial load in one direction. These bearings are designed not to accommodate radial loads. The components of these bearings can be easily separated.

 

 

Deep Groove Bearing:

Deep groove bearing

 

In deep groove bearings, balls are fitted well into the deep grooves, enabling the bearing to support axial loads in both directions. The bearing illustrated left side has a single row of balls.

 

 

 

Tapered Roller Bearing:

Tapered roller bearing

 

In tapered roller bearings, the inner & outer rings and the rollers are tapered in order to simultaneously support axial and radial loads. In these bearings, the ratio of the axial and radial loads supported depends on the angle between the roller and bearing axes. Higher the angle helps to support a larger axial load.

 

 

Angular Contact Ball Bearing:

Angular contact ball bearing

Angular contact ball bearings are able to withstand a large thrust load in a single direction, in addition to radial loads.

 

 

 

Self-aligning Ball Bearing:

Self-aligning Ball Bearing

 

In Self-aligning ball bearings, there are two sets of balls which one runs on a pair of grooves on the inner ring, with a single outer ring concave surface.

 

 

 

Needle Roller Bearing:

Needle Roller Bearing

 

Needle roller bearings have long and thin rollers, these bearings are used for applications where radial space is limited.

 

 

 

Spherical Roller Bearing:

Spherical Roller Bearing

 

In spherical roller bearings, there is angular contact between the rollers and raceways, the bearings are able to withstand both axial and radial loads. the double set of rollers in spherical roller bearings permits the bearing to accommodate shaft misalignment. Notice that the rollers of the bearing illustrated left side are not cylindrical and hence the adjective `spherical’.

 

 

Cylindrical Roller Bearing:

Cylindrical Roller Bearing

 

The cylindrical roller bearings are able to withstand large radial loads. The bearing illustrated left side is a single-row bearing. These bearings played a seminal role in the development of the continuous rolling mill.

 

 

 

Wheel Hub Bearing:

Wheel Hub Bearing

 

Wheel Hub bearings are manufactured in large quantities annually for the needs of the automotive industry. These bearings support the radial load due to the weight of the automobiles, These bearings also support thrust loads developed when the motion of the automobile is not linear.
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Vinodh Reddy is a Mechanical Engineer and Editor-in-chief of ME Mechanical. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) degree in Mechanical Engineering. He also blogs at EduGeneral. He is interested in the farming field.

All Comments

  • So simpler with image,thanks sir ji

    Sumanjeet Oct 25, 2015 6:56 am Reply
  • Amazing explanation about the ball bearing types and choosing guide is useful for new user to identify what they want. Note that, each of these bearing applications might be different.

    Annie Jan 1, 2016 2:51 pm Reply
  • Definitely, what a splendid site and revealing posts, I definitely will bookmark your site.Have an awsome day!

    Armida Odermott Jul 6, 2016 9:24 am Reply
  • Excellent article. What type of bearings would you recommend for a radial force through rotation.

    Doug Wolfe Aug 23, 2016 12:39 am Reply
  • Some genuinely nice and useful information on this internet site, besides I believe the design holds good features.

    borvestinkral Jul 24, 2017 1:35 am Reply
  • Good article! Bearings or rolling bearings help us improve the speed reducer’s efficiency, improving their performance in order to limit the loss of energy associated to gears, and to prevent overheating of the gear box.

    If you want to know more about this I recommend you this post: https://clr.es/blog/en/types-of-rolling-bearings/

    Nuria Mar 5, 2018 8:16 pm Reply
  • Hello
    Thank you for your useful information that was very well explained.
    Thank you for sharing with us.

    فروش بلبرینگ

    فروش بلبرینگ Mar 11, 2023 4:09 pm Reply

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