Bearing basics

Special Notes for iPad Users

For iPad users, this course plays in the “Articulate mobile player app”,
available free from the App store.
The app offers a download option for offline learning, but please note that:
1. An on-line connection is required to use the links on the “resources” tab
2. If you wish to be able to print your course completion certificate then you
need to be on-line when you take the end-of-course test

To continue, you can click the Home icon on the screen to return to the
Welcome page of the course.

Welcome

Welcome to the Basic introduction to rolling bearings course. This course

will give you an introduction to SKF bearings and consists of three sections:
Functions and parts,
Applications and bearing types,
and Designations.

Module 1: Functions and parts

Why bearings?
Bearings are an essential component of almost all machinery. They
transmit loads between, support, guide and locate, machine elements that
are required to move relative to each other with a minimum of friction, e.g.
a rotating or oscillating shaft, pivot or wheel.

Friction: Page 1
Friction counteracts the movement between two surfaces. It is essential for
the success of many operations, such as a car tyre gripping a road. In most
machines however, friction is undesirable since it causes power loss, heat
generation, wear and noise. SKF bearings help reduce friction.

1
 Friction: Page 2
The earliest bearings were mostly made of wood and consisted of a shaft
rotating in a hole in a housing, or a wheel rotating on a stationary shaft.
Because the components were sliding over each other, friction was
relatively high and wear rather rapid.
This type of bearing is called a plain bearing and, made of modern
materials, is still used in some applications today where speeds and loads
are relatively low.

Friction: Page 3
The introduction of rolling elements between the shaft and the housing
greatly reduces friction.

Friction: Page 4
Today, typical SKF rolling bearings combine maximum load capacity with
minimum friction, using hardened steel or ceramic rolling elements,
hardened steel inner and outer rings and a cage to guide and separate the
rolling elements.

Loads: Page 1
A bearing can be under radial load, perpendicular to the shaft, or under
axial load, acting in the direction along the shaft, or a combination of both
radial and axial load, a combined load.

Loads: Page 2
Large bearings support heavier loads than small bearings can support, and
roller bearings support heavier loads than ball bearings can support.

Raceway contact
The basic difference between ball bearings and roller bearings is in the
contacts between the rolling elements and the raceways. Balls have point
contact; rollers have linear contact with relatively larger area.

2
 Bearing parts
A typical rolling bearing consists of an inner ring, an outer ring and rolling
elements contained by a cage. The most common type of rolling bearing is
the deep groove ball bearing. These bearings can, as shown here, be
supplied with integral seals to retain the lubricant and resist the ingress of
contamination.

Selection factors
There are many factors, which will affect the choice of a bearing. These
are: Available space, load, required service life, misalignment, speed,
stiffness, axial displacement and clearance.

Selection factors: Space

Space can be an important factor in bearing selection. Where radial space
is limited a bearing with small diameter rolling elements, such as a needle
roller bearing, may be needed.

Selection factors: Load

When selecting a bearing, it is important to consider the direction of the
load, and the amount of load the bearing will have to carry. A bearing can
be under radial load, axial load, or a combination of both.

Selection factors: Required service life

The life of a bearing can be expressed in terms of: the number of
revolutions before failure, the number of operating hours before failure, or
the distance covered (for cars and trucks). A bearing is considered to have
failed when it shows the first sign of fatigue in a rolling element or raceway,
or damage to other parts such as the cage or the seals. Service life is the
real life that an individual bearing achieves in a particular application before
it has to be replaced. It depends on a variety of influencing factors,
including lubrication, the degree of contamination, misalignment, proper
installation, and environmental conditions.

3
 Because service life cannot be calculated or predicted, bearings are
selected using calculated rating life. SKF rating life L10m, a reference value
calculated according to statistical methods, using modification factors for
lubrication conditions and degree of contamination, and applying the same
concept of a fatigue load limit as used in ISO 281, to estimate the life, with
90% reliability, that a sufficiently large population of apparently identical
bearings might achieve when all are operating in an identical application.

Selection factors: Misalignment

Where a bearing is likely to be subject to angular misalignment, for
example the shaft might bend due to operating loads, appropriate bearings
need to be selected. Self-aligning bearings can accept a degree of
operational misalignment and can also compensate for limited initial
alignment errors in mounting.

Selection factors: Speed

The maximum speed that a bearing can be run in an application is limited
by the maximum operating temperature for the materials used in its
manufacture, or the lubricant. For high-speed applications minimum
possible friction is important, so ball bearings are generally used.

Selection factors: Stiffness

Elastic deformation occurs under load. Usually this deformation is very
small and can be ignored. However, in some applications, stiffness is an
important factor. Roller bearings have higher stiffness than ball bearings
due to the larger area of the line contact.

Selection factors: Axial displacement

Some applications require bearings that allow the shaft to move axially
relative to the bearing. This is called axial displacement. Most often, a shaft
is supported by a locating bearing and a non-locating bearing. The locating
bearing does not allow axial displacement and keeps the shaft in position.
The non-locating bearing supports the shaft and allows displacement to
prevent the bearings from being stressed. Cylindrical and CARB toroidal

4
 roller bearings can accommodate a limited degree of axial internal
displacement.

Selection factors: Clearance

The amount of initial internal radial clearance required in a bearing
depends mainly on the fits and temperature gradient between the inner and
outer rings of the bearing in the particular application. Operational internal
radial clearance is almost always less than initial internal clearance. SKF
manufactures bearings with the following ranges of radial internal
clearances:

• C1 radial internal clearance less than C2

• C2 radial internal clearance less than Normal
• -- Normal radial internal clearance
• C3 radial internal clearance greater than Normal
• C4 radial internal clearance greater than C3

Summary
In this lesson, you have learnt about the functions of a bearing. These are:
reducing friction, transmitting loads, locating and guiding moving parts. You
have also been introduced to the different parts of a bearing: outer and
inner rings, rolling elements, cage, and seals and their respective
functionalities.

Finally, you have also explored the different selection factors, which will
affect your choice of bearing: available space, load, required service life,
misalignment, speed, stiffness, axial displacement and clearance.

Module 2: Applications
Introduction
In this section you will be introduced to the most common bearing types
offered by SKF.

5
 Motor: Page 1
Electrical motors can be found almost anywhere there is mechanical
movement.

Motor: Page 2
In this drawing you can see that the shaft is supported by two different
bearings.

Motor: Page 3
Cylindrical roller bearings are simply bearings with cylindrical rollers. They
can usually accommodate heavy radial loads and can operate at relatively
high speeds.

Motor: Page 4
It is now time to choose the right side bearing.

Motor: Page 5
Deep groove ball bearings have deep uninterrupted raceways and close
osculation between balls and raceways. This enables them to take axial
loads in both directions.

Pump: Page 1
A pump is a device for lifting, transferring or moving fluids by suction or
pressure from one position to another. This picture shows a medium-duty
process pump, which is often used in refineries.

Pump: Page 2
In this drawing you can see that the shaft, which is running the impeller, is
supported by one deep groove ball bearing to the right, and another
bearing or bearings to the left.

6
 Pump: Page 3
Single row angular contact ball bearings are widely used in medium and
heavy-duty centrifugal pumps. They have raceways arranged at an angle to
the bearing axis.

Pump: Page 4
Single row angular contact ball bearings can only take axial load in one
direction. Therefore they are nearly always mounted as pairs in back to
back or face to face arrangement at either end of a shaft, or as shown here,
universally matchable bearings mounted immediately adjacent to each
other.

Fan: Page 1
This is an industrial fan, in which SKF bearings are commonly used.
Industrial fans can either be designed for light loads and high speeds, or for
heavy loads and moderate speeds.

Fan: Page2
A fan is designed with two bearings along its shaft, placed between the fan
and the motor. Both bearings carry radial loads and the bearing closest to
the fan (on the left hand side here) also needs to be a locating bearing,
keeping the shaft and the fan in a fixed position.

Fan: Page 3
Spherical roller bearings have two rows of rollers with a common raceway
in the outer ring. The two inner ring raceways are inclined at an angle to the
bearing axis.

Fan: Page 4
Returning to the fan application again, you now know which bearing is
suitable as the locating bearing and here you have to make a guess
concerning the non-locating bearing.

7
 Fan: Page 5
CARB [ka:b] is a single row toroidal roller bearing with long, slightly
crowned, rollers and concave raceways in both the inner and outer rings.

Fan: Page 6
The complete application looks like this with one spherical roller bearing
and one CARB toroidal roller bearing.

Separator: Page 1
Alfa Laval, a Swedish company, has developed a range of machines
specifically designed for rigorous oil processing duties. An example of this
would be separators.

Separator: Page 2
The separation process creates imbalance due to the mud, which is
distributed unevenly inside the separator and this makes the spindle bend.

Separator: Page 3
Self-aligning ball bearings have two rows of balls and a common concave
sphered raceway in the outer ring. This makes the bearing insensitive to
angular misalignments of the shaft relative to the housing. Self-aligning ball
bearings accommodate high speeds due to the point contact between balls
and raceways.

Refiner: Page 1
SKF bearings can be used in refiners in the production of mechanical pulp
and other high-yield pulps.

Refiner: Page 2
In the process wood chips are ground at high mechanical pressure
between a stationary disc and a rotating disc, which is powered by an
electrical motor. The shaft between the motor and the grinding discs is
supported by three bearings.

8
 Refiner: Page 3
The high production capacity of the refiners is directly related to the
demands on the bearing arrangement. The bearings have to provide high
stability, operate at high speed, carry high thrust loads and handle
deflections of the shaft.

Refiner: Page 4
The spherical roller thrust bearing incorporates a large number of
asymmetrical, spherical rollers and has specially designed raceways. The
load is transmitted from one raceway to the other at an angle to the bearing
axis and the bearing can carry heavy axial load in one direction and some
simultaneously applied radial load as well.

Refiner: Page 5
This is how the spherical roller thrust bearings are situated in the refiner
application.

Screw conveyor: Page 1

Machines used in the agricultural industry often require bearings that can
easily be changed and that can handle misalignments.

Screw conveyor: Page 2

This is a drawing of a screw conveyor attached to an agricultural machine.
The bearings are the only contact between the screw conveyor and the
machine.

Screw conveyor: Page 3

A Y-bearing unit consists of two parts: a housing and a bearing. The
bearing is based on the deep groove ball bearing and can carry light radial
and axial loads. It has a convex-sphered outside diameter, which allows the
bearing to take up misalignment between the shaft and housing at the
assembly stage. They are available with a wide range of highly effective,

9
 integral seals and a range of different methods for easy mounting to the
shaft.

Screw conveyor: Page 4

This is what the Y-bearing unit looks like in the screw conveyor.

Front wheel: Page 1

SKF bearings are used in front wheels of commercial vehicles. These
applications require bearings that can handle very heavy loads.

Front wheel: Page 2

This drawing shows how a truck front wheel arrangement is designed and
where its bearings are situated. The bearings must carry a large part of the
weight of the vehicle and the induced forces when driving, which means
that they have to handle heavy loads in both radial and axial directions.

Front wheel: Page 3

Tapered roller bearings have tapered rollers running in tapered inner and
outer ring raceways. This design makes them suitable for handling heavy
combined loads.

A tapered roller bearing can only carry axial loads in one direction and, for
this reason, they are generally fitted in pairs.

Front wheel: Page 4

See how the tapered roller bearings are mounted in the front wheel of a
commercial vehicle.

Summary
In this lesson, you have studied the most common SKF bearing types. Now
click on each bearing picture to repeat the most important characteristics of
each type. If you want to read more about SKF bearings, enter the SKF
Interactive Engineering Catalogue on line at www.skf.com.

10
 Module 3: Designations
Introduction
SKF bearing designations describe a bearing’s or component’s type,
design, and variants. The designation can be found both on the box and on
the bearing itself.

Basic designations: Page 1

A bearing designation for metric size bearings can either consist of a basic
designation alone or a basic designation plus one or more supplementary
designations, called prefixes and suffixes.

The basic designation identifies the product type and size, while the
supplementary designations identify design, special variants and bearing
components.

Basic designations: Page 2

Each SKF bearing of standard metric design is given a basic designation,
which normally consists of three, four or five figures.

Basic designations: Page 3

For example, the basic designation 22206 denotes a spherical roller
bearing with the width series 2, diameter series 2 and a bore diameter of 30
mm.

Supplementary designations: Page 1

The supplementary designations consist of both prefixes and suffixes.

Supplementary designations: Page 2

Prefixes are used to identify component parts of a bearing and are usually
followed by the designation of the complete bearing.

11
 Supplementary designations: Page 3
Suffixes are used to identify designs, which differ in some way from the
original design. The suffixes are divided into four main groups: Internal
design, external design, cage design and variants, all of which are added to
the basic designation in this order.

End of course test

Now it’s time to see what you learned.
If you pass the test on-line then you’ll be able to print your course
completion certificate.

12