Hello gents/ladies. I'm new to the heavy equipment scene and am performing a school research related to where tapered bearings are used throughout the Quarrying and Mining industry. A few questions for anyone who is kind and willing to answer: 1. Are tapered bearings highly utilized in this industry, or is the preference/need primarily for ball, spherical, and cylindrical types? 2. My basic research so far indicates that tapered bearings can/are used on applications involving draglines, cone crushers, hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, crawlers/dozers, and off-highway trucks. Further, I find that where tapered bearing units (TBUs) are installed on these machines varies. Is this true, and is there a good resource for understanding the common sizes (or a short-list) used for major mining operations? Thinking along the lines of major coal and iron ore operators. Not sure if most of these operators are right-sized and use the same capacity machinery or not... Sources used so far: http://www.feyc.eu/download/catalog...Cuscinetti per industria estrattiva e1265.pdf Any help and feedback is much appreciated! Thanks, John
My experience says dodge bearings (roller pillow) are most prevalent. I dont see tapered in use much at all. Gear reductions are supported typically by rollers and needles. Conveyors and crushers again, large roller bearings. Cone crushers, have proprietary roller and/or spherical bearings. To be quite honest, i don't see tapered cone anywhere
Wheel bearings on rubber tired loaders
My experience is somewhat limited to Volvo excavators, haulers and loaders. Almost all straight rollers with face seal vs tapered and lip seals
IIRC JD/Hitachi final drives use tapered bearings in the main hub and in the swing bearing pinions.
Tapered bearings are usually used in very high torque applications that also involve end thrust. They not only provide radial movement of a shaft but also locate the shaft in one place to maintain alignment of any mounted gears on that shaft. You see them a lot in older dozer final drives, on swing pinion gear shafts on excavators and shovels, and older drum sets on mechanical drive cranes, derricks and hoists. As mentioned above, wheel bearings are another common use. Most are lubricated by being located in an oil bath but some today are lubed with grease.
Thank you all for your replies. This helps tremendously as this info has been difficult to narrow in-on. Hope you all have a safe and happy New Year!
During the design process, bearings are selected for the anticipated loads and conditions. Rotation speed, cost and life are part of the process too. roller bearings have a higher load rating for a given size because of the area in contact... That is a roller contact is along a line of the roller axis. A ball has contact at a point in comparison. Each bearing type has different pros and cons. JohnC has summed the pros of tapered roller elements well.