Wire race bearing design 1

[azharElekta]

Hi,
Can anybody help me with the design calculations of wire race bearings. It is a four point contact bearing. I have the loading conditions and the overall dimensions for the bearing.

Thanks

 

[MikeHalloran]

Wire race bearings are a fairly specialized product, so the good stuff doesn't get into textbooks or handbooks. How about getting help from the people who make the bearings?



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[azharElekta]

Actually the bearing has already been installed long time ago say 25 yrs or may be more. I wanted to know how it was designed and it is more of a validating exercise.

 

[dinjin]

That long ago was probably for a thread spinning machine.
What is your application? The same technology should apply
as other bearings. You have to find out the conformity
radii of the races and also the pocket dimensions. Often they
are the same width and height making the contact angles 45 degrees. Many of them are stainless steel and you have to know the hardness etc of the wires and balls or rollers. I assume you
are talking about ball bearings. I had seen some early papers from Russia but not certain if that is where the technology developed or not. Rotek and Kaydon make them for military applications as well as for some space designs.

 

[azharElekta]

@dinjin:
It is for a medical equipment weighs around 680 kgs and yes the wires are at 45 degrees . I have the dimensions for wires and balls used. while investigating I came to know that the wires and balls were bought from different suppliers and then assembled on site in the company. So if we want to continue the same supplier for new project I need to design the bearing frm start and validate that it is safe to use.
So I was wondering if any one can help me with design calcualtions of such bearings?

 

[dinjin]

You can submit your information to Kaydon or Rotek and give them the envelope size and see what quotes they will give you for the wires and balls as a package and also ask them to submit the bearing capacity. Not many bearing manufacturers make the balls but would produce the wires in house. I think you would have to go thru a long learning curve to calculate the bearing capacity
by yourself. If the wires and balls were installed as you say in house, were they installed by the suppliers? Often a series of shims are used to control the clearance or preload within the system. Because of manufacturing tolerances, the shims are often
varied to achieve the proper clearance or preload.

 

[Hippo41]

I'm sorry to enter this information late, but there is a German company called FRANKE that specialise in wire race bearings for this application. You can buy wire/ball sets and machine the races locally to yourself, or simply buy complete bearings from them.

Lester Milton
Telford, Shropshire, UK