Roller Bearings & Their Applications

Roller bearings carry loads by placing rolling elements, such as rollers or balls, between two bearing rings also known as races. The relative motion of these races causes the rolling elements to roll with very little resistance and with little sliding. This style of bearings has the advantage of a good trade-off when it comes to cost, size, weight, carrying capacity, durability, accuracy, and friction. This makes them widely used in the areas of automotive, industrial, marine, and also aerospace applications.

Roller bearings are counterpart to ball bearings, and boast a similar design and structure; however, their applications and performances have some differences. The main purpose of roller bearings is to provide maximum performance by reducing rotational friction within an application while carrying relatively high axial and radial loads.

Roller Bearing Structure

Again, both ball bearings and roller bearings feature similar designs– both using two rings, and inner and an outer, yet, in ball bearings the separation medium that is used to disconnect the rings is balls, while in roller bearings cylindrical rollers are used. That said, many different types of ball bearings are also available in roller bearing form.

Types of Roller Bearings

Roller bearings come in thousands of different types and variations, and for this reason, one can explore a wide range of rolling bearings and accessories to find what best serves their specific purpose. Some popular types include cylindrical roller bearings, needle roller bearings, tapered roller bearings, spherical roller bearings, split roller bearings, cylindrical roller thrust bearings, needle roller thrust bearings, tapered roller thrust bearings, and spherical roller thrust bearings. Learn more about some of these roller bearing styles, and find the ones you need through ProSource.

Various Applications of Roller Bearings

Because different types of roller bearings offer different combinations of properties and strengths– such as performance, speed, reliability, load capacity, durability and precision– they are used in a wide range of devices and across an equally wide range of industries. Some of the widely used applications of roller bearings include engines, aviation cargo systems, the agricultural industry, heavy equipment and machinery applications, solar panels, medical equipment, the automobile industry, power houses, and many more on top of that.

Find Roller Bearings at ProSource

At ProSource, we stock thousands of industrial roller bearings and other parts so that you can find exactly what you need with ease. If we don’t have what you’re looking for, we can help you find it. Contact our team today with any questions!