Characteristics and Applications of Wire Race Bearings

Characteristics

• Strong load-bearing capacity: It can withstand forces from any direction. Compared with traditional bearings that can only bear radial or axial forces, such as deep groove ball bearings and cylindrical roller bearings (mainly bear radial forces), angular contact bearings, tapered roller bearings, and thrust bearings (mainly bear axial forces), wire race bearings demonstrate higher work efficiency under multi-directional forces.
• High fitting accuracy: New processing technologies are adopted to achieve a tight fit between the steel balls and the raceway, resulting in a higher degree of component coordination than ordinary bearings. This effectively improves work efficiency and operational precision.
• Small clearance: The clearance is relatively smaller than that of general bearings, making it suitable for occasions requiring high rotational accuracy, strict control of axial displacement of the housing bore, and reduction of vibration and noise. This can extend the service life of the bearing to a certain extent.
• Compact structure: Wire race bearings use a unique design without rings, only requiring a wire track. They can be made into thin-walled bearings, turntable bearings, or linear motion products, with a small cross-section that saves space.
• Light weight: Wire race bearings, for instance, significantly reduce weight through the wire track design. Under the condition of ensuring precision, they help reduce the design weight of equipment.
• Economic and efficient: With a simple structure, certain types (such as wire raceway bearings) can replace ordinary light-duty slewing rings in some scenarios, and they are convenient for maintenance and replacement with low costs.

Applications

• Aerospace field: Used in aerospace photography equipment, turret bases of combat vehicles, etc. Its light weight and compact structure meet the strict requirements of aerospace equipment for lightweight design and space utilization, while withstanding complex force conditions.
• Military field: Domestic research on wire raceway bearings initially focused on military applications. For example, it can be applied to radar bases. Its high precision, small clearance, and ability to bear multi-directional forces help military equipment achieve precise positioning and stable operation.
• Medical equipment: Applied in large medical devices such as CT machines, which require bearings with high precision, low noise, and high reliability to ensure the accurate detection and stable operation of medical equipment.
• Textile machinery: Wire raceway bearings occupy a small cross-sectional area, making them suitable for large-diameter rotating textile machines with low energy consumption requirements, such as circular knitting machines. They can meet the high-speed operation and high-precision requirements of textile machinery.
• Other fields: Widely used in mechanical manufacturing, scientific research, food, and packaging industries. In these fields, wire raceway bearings can leverage their characteristics to play a role in equipment with high space requirements, complex force conditions, or high-precision operation needs.