Radial Air Bearings
New Way Radial Air Bearings are ideal for precision rotary applications, giving you all the differential advantages of air bearings built on our proven Porous Media TechnologyTM.
Radial air bearings provide non-contact support for rotating, round artifacts using a thin (5µm) layer of air. This thin air layer is amazingly stiff, creating a stable support for a ring, or bearing surface, while allowing for surface speeds of up to 100 meters-per-second.
New Way radial air bearings can be configured to ride on the outer diameter or inner diameter of a rotating artifact for a given application, using concave and convex shapes using a radius cut along the length (L) or width (W) of the bearing, depending on your structural requirements. The bearings are specifically machined to the tight tolerances necessary to create non-contact motion.
Clean Room Compliant
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The unique use of porous media in radial air bearings makes them ideal for clean room use. Not only is less air used in radial air bearings when compared to orifice-based air bearings, but the air is evenly distributed by the porous media. Both of these features minimize the potential of currents or eddies in the clean room and its damaging impacts on production.
Another benefit of the use of porous media is its ability to perform as a sub-micron filter for the air emitted. Testing indicates the bearing satisfies the requirements of Class 1 (ISO class 3) cleanliness, with airborne particulate concentrate limits of less than 1,000 x 0.1μm particles / m3.
While several standard sizes of radial air bearings are offered, New Way has more than 30 years experience developing custom solutions. Contact us to tell us more about your application!
- Large-scale rotary motion
- No contact
- No wear
- No noise
- No lubrication needed
- Averaging of guide surface errors
- Sub-nanometer repeatability
- Infinite resolution
- Excellent velocity control
- No vibration
- High speed
- High stiffness
Applications
New Way radial air bearings support a wide range of high-performance applications. The ability to use them in groups makes their solution space virtually limitless. Their non-contact nature makes them superior for high-precision applications while virtually eliminating downtime for maintenance, all the while improving the overall manufacturing process.Not to worry if you don’t see your application listed! Tell us more about your rotary application so we can help find the right air bearing solution for you.
- Non-contact handling of flexible substrates during roll-to-roll production reduces defects.
- Removal of friction and wear translates to less downtime required for frequent lubrication and replacement of worn components.
- Porous Media Technology offers sub-nanometer precision positioning and smooth motion ideal for optical applications
- Facilitates high-speed, non-contact rotation of x-ray assemblies for patient imaging.
- Inspection systems require reliable ultra-high precision to avoid defective products making it to market.
- Use of air instead of traditional lubricants ideal for clean-room environments
- Astronomy observatories
- Wind Power
- Turbo Machinery
- Powder Processing
- Centrifuge
Not to worry if you don’t see your application listed! Tell us more about your rotary application so we can help find the right air bearing solution for you.
Radial Air Bearing Product Line
Available in both Concave and Convex Profiles, these bearings are offered in 10 standard sizes, as well as any custom size.
Questions
Contact us for a complimentary consultation and learn more about our radial air bearings!
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