Several knowledge points about industrial robot bearings

Aug 22, 2022

As one of the key accessories of industrial robots, industrial robot bearings mainly include two major types of bearings for industrial robots, one is an equal-section thin-walled bearing, and the other is a cross-cylindrical roller bearing. In addition, there are harmonic reducer bearings, linear bearings, spherical bearings, etc., but mainly equal section thin-walled bearings and cross roller bearings are more used.

It is most suitable for the joint parts or rotating parts of industrial robots, the rotating table of the machining center, the rotating part of the manipulator, the precision rotating table, the medical instrument, the measuring instrument, the IC manufacturing device, etc.

Industrial Robot Bearing Features

1. It can bear the comprehensive load in the direction of axial, radial and overturning;

2. Thin-walled bearings;

3. High rotary positioning accuracy.

Any bearing that meets the needs of this design can be used in industrial robot arms, slewing joints, chassis, and more.

Classification of bearings for industrial robots

Classification	Type	Application Site	Technical Indicators
Thin section bearing	Thin Section Radial Contact Ball Bearings、 Thin Section Angular Contact Ball Bearings、 Thin Section Four Point Contact Ball Bearings	Industrial Robot Waist, Elbow, Wrist	Accuracy P5, life span more than 6000h
Crossed Cylindrical Roller Bearings	Various thin section crossed cylindrical roller bearings	Industrial robot robotic arm, shoulder, waist, hip	Accuracy P4, life span more than 6000h
RV reducer bearings	A wide range of thin-walled bearings, cylindrical roller cage assemblies	Widely used in industrial robots	Accuracy P4, temperature rise does not exceed 30 °C, life span more than 6000h
Harmonic reducer bearings	Flexible bearings	Small and medium torque robot joints	Accuracy P5 (part of P4), life span more than 6000h

Key Technologies of Industrial Robot Bearings

The development of modern industrial robots tends to be lightweight. Bearings must be installed in a limited space and must be small in size and light in weight, that is, lightweight. However, at the same time, the robot must ensure the performance of high load, high rotation accuracy, high running stability, high positioning speed, high repeated positioning accuracy, long life and high reliability, which requires the supporting robot bearing must have high bearing capacity, High precision, high stiffness, low friction torque, long life, high reliability performance. This means that industrial robot bearings need to be both lightweight and high-performance at the same time.

Design technology

Thin section bearings for industrial robots must not only ensure sufficient bearing capacity, but also require precise positioning and flexible operation. Therefore, the design analysis of the bearing and the determination of the main parameters cannot only take the rated dynamic load as the objective function, but to the rated dynamic load, stiffness and frictional moment and other indicators as the objective function for multi-objective optimization design, while using a thin-walled bearing finite element analysis method based on the deformation of the ring and frame.

Manufacturing Technology

(1) High-precision detection technology for dynamic quality of robot bearings;

(2) Micro-deformation heat treatment process for thin section bearing rings;

(3) The precision grinding process of bearing rings based on the control of grinding metamorphic layer;

(4) Precise control technology for negative clearance of thin section bearings;

(5) Precise control technology for the protrusion of thin-walled angular contact ball bearings;

(6) Precision assembly technology for thin section bearings;

(7) Non-contact measurement technology of thin section bearing rings.

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