1. What is the thrust bearing?

Thrust bearing is a special type of rotary bearing. Like other bearings, they rotate permanently between parts, but they are designed to mainly bear axial loads.

Thrust bearings are used in cars because the forward gears in modern car gearboxes use helical gears which, while aiding in smoothness and noise reduction, cause axial forces that need to be dealt with.

Thrust bearings are also used with radio antenna masts to reduce the load on an antenna rotator.

2. Main Types of Thrust bearings.

(1) Thrust ball bearings

Are designed to withstand thrust loads during high-speed operation, and are composed of washer-shaped ferrules with ball rolling raceway grooves. Because the ferrule is in the shape of a cushion, thrust ball bearings are divided into two types: flat base cushion type and self-aligning spherical cushion type.

Thrust ball bearings can be used for low-thrust applications with small axial loads. In addition, this kind of bearing can bear axial load, but cannot bear radial load. It is only suitable for parts that bear one side of axial load and low speed, such as crane hooks, vertical water pumps, vertical centrifuges, jacks, low-speed reducers, etc. The shaft ring, seat ring and rolling element of the bearing are separated and can be assembled and disassembled separately.

(2) Cylindrical thrust roller bearings

Consist of small cylindrical rollers arranged flat with their axes pointing to the axis of the bearing. They give very good carrying capacity and are cheap, but tend to wear due to the differences in radial speed and friction which is higher than with ball bearings.

Cylindrical roller thrust bearings are generally used in material handling, machine tools, automobiles and industrial transmissions.

(3) Tapered roller thrust bearings

Consist of small tapered rollers arranged so that their axes all converge at a point on the axis of the bearing. The length of the roller and the diameter of the wide and the narrow ends and the angle of rollers need to be carefully calculated to provide the correct taper so that each end of the roller rolls smoothly on the bearing face without skidding.

These are the type most commonly used in automotive applications (to support the wheels of a motor car for example), where they are used in pairs to accommodate axial thrust in either direction, as well as radial loads. They can support greater thrust loads than the ball type due to the larger contact area, but are more expensive to manufacture.

(4) Spherical roller thrust bearings

Are rolling-element bearings of thrust type that permit rotation with low friction, and permit angular misalignment. The bearing is designed to take radial loads, and heavy axial loads in one direction. Typically these bearings support a rotating shaft in the bore of the shaft washer that may be misaligned in respect to the housing washer. The misalignment is possible due to the spherical internal shape of the house washer.

Spherical roller thrust bearings use asymmetrical rollers of spherical shape, rolling inside a house washer with a raceway with spherical inner shape. They can accommodate combined radial and axial loads and also accommodate misalignment of the shafts. They are often used together with radial spherical roller bearings. Spherical roller thrust bearings offer the highest load rating density of all thrust bearings.

Spherical roller thrust bearings are used in industrial applications, where there are heavy axial loads, moderate speeds and possibly misalignment. Such as  gearboxes, pulp and paper processing equipment (notably refiners), marine propulsion and offshore drilling, cranes and swing bridges, water turbines, extruders for injection molding.

In ITS Bearing, we have the complete range of Thrust Ball Bearings, Cylindrical Thrust Roller Bearings, Tapered Roller Thrust Bearings, Spherical Roller Thrust Bearings.

If you are interested, please click the links below to learn more and inquiry.

Thrust Ball Bearing: https://www.its-bearing.com/products/Thrust-Ball-Bearing/101.html

Cylindrical Thrust Roller Bearings: https://www.its-bearing.com/products/Cylindrical-Thrust-Roller-Bearing/249.html

Tapered Roller Thrust Bearings: https://www.its-bearing.com/products/Tapered-Roller-Thrust-Bearing/250.html

Spherical Roller Thrust Bearing: https://www.its-bearing.com/products/Spherical-Roller-Thrust-Bearings/109.html

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to click here to let us know. We will get back to you within 12 hours.

We ITS team has been engaged in bearing manufacturing and international trade for more than 20 years. We always focus on the high-quality bearing market around the world. Guaranteed production and highly active management have brought us competitive advantages in terms of price and service. At present, our bearings and related products are mainly exported to Europe, North America and Australia, but we are still eager to cooperate with customers from all over the world!

Referrence:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_roller_thrust_bearing Spherical roller thrust bearing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust_bearing Thrust Bearing