Selecting the appropriate bearing system for the rotor requires a good knowledge of the available solutions and the operating conditions of the machine. For newly designed machinery operating in adverse conditions, selecting bearings that ensure correct and long-lasting operation can be extremely challenging. Difficulties in- crease when the machine’s operating parameters are beyond the technical capabilities of available technical solutions....

The advances in material engineering led to the development of hard carbon based coatings applied in numerous applications in order to prevent or minimize wear of the parts in contact. With Triondur® coatings, the bearing company Schaeffler has succeeded in halving the friction losses in the valve trains of passenger cars. The coatings are optimized for high abrasive wear protection and low sliding friction moments. Altogether...

Experimental results of the research on a tilting pad thrust bearing with symmetrical pad support in the conditions of high loads and low speeds are presented in the paper. As described in the literature review, experimental results of tilting pad bearings at low speed/high load regime and transient conditions are rare. Unusual material selection - steel pad against a DLC-type coating on the collar was utilized. Such material combination...

Polymer lined tilting-pad bearings demonstrate many advantages over traditional bearing systems. Bearings with a polymer layer in comparison with a babbitted layer show, for example: lower value of friction coefficient (important during start/stops), higher fatigue strength of the coating, better distribution of the load on individual pads due to lower elasticity of the polymers, wider range of operational temperatures or the ability...

Polymeric linings of sliding surfaces of the hydrodynamic bearings have been used successfully for over 50 years. Despite of their long history of operation and research, they have not become wide spread in industrial applications. This fact may be surprising, considering th e conclusions that have been published concerning bearing operation and design. This paper summarizes the current...