Lightweight, low maintenance, High wear, and fatigue resistant with high load-carrying capacity. These are some of the basic yet the most crucial unique points of plain self-lubricating bearing that make them idealistic for various industries such as Air Space, Motor Engines, Automobile Industries, and several other places. The intensive use of these bearings is because they have a self-lubricating property that differentiates them from other bearings that do not require external lubricant.
These bearings are impregnated with self and solid lubricant within the sliding layers of the bearing.
There are various types of plain bearings, which are mentioned below:
Plain or Frictional bearing:
Generally known as bushes, solid bearings, and friction bearings, they comprise a cylindrical shape and contain no moving parts.
The fixed and moving surfaces have sliding friction and are separated by an oil film.
Rolling bearings:
Rolling elements separate the journal of the shaft and the rolling surface of the support. When the bearing is in the motion of rotation, they rotate instead of sliding.
The rolling element located between two rolling rings separates them as their shape varies as per usage.
Even the kind of lubrication the bearings have makes them distinct from each other; here’s how:
Self Lubricating Bearings:
As discussed above, they don’t require extra lubrication. They are manufactured with porous materials so that when they are impregnated with oil, they absorb it and swiftly and steadily distribute it throughout the machinery parts.
Regulatory Lubricating :
Regulatory lubricating bearings require periodic lubrication. It is often done before the greasing dries up to regulate the greasing pump for continuous and easy-flow usage.
Continuously lubricated bearings:
Hydrostatic bearings:
With the help of an external pump, the lubricant is pressure-fed with oil. The following disadvantage makes it unfit for wide usage.
If the lubricant is failed to be pumped, it might cause external failure and endangers the installation, which is the reason for its high maintenance cost.
Hydrodynamic bearings:
No external lubrication is required by these bearings because the moving parts generate a hydrodynamic effect, making the already present oil lubricate the parts already in contact; since they work on their own, they do not require pressurized fed oil, unlike hydrostatic bearing.
In this context, we have jotted some of the most advantageous uses of Self Lubricating Plain bearing:
Self Lubricating plain bearings provide comparable thermal and mechanical performance to externally lubricate the needle and roller bearings across many points of measurements and are widely used in industrial applications.
- Good wear and low friction performance in harsh conditions are among the most powerful features of the bearings that make them ideal for all conditions and heavy usage equipment.
- Plain bearings reduce maintenance and labor costs while increasing the equipment’s service life.
- They help you in assisting the maintenance downtime. They are slim; one-piece design saves substantial space and weight by decreasing the housing size.
- Employing self-lubricating plain bearing is environmentally friendly since no treatment is required for the waste oil generated and saves a lot of time and money.
- They have a higher load capacity with shock load resistance and a greater contact zone, with an improved bearing life under to and fro movements.
- They simplify the design and mechanical construction of the equipment that requires embedding these bearings.
Bearings are essential parts of any installed machinery, and as per the requirements, all the essential factors should be kept in mind to reduce the cost of the machinery in the long run.