Greaseless Bearings... Something to look forward to?

[marcoalza]

[h=1][FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]New Japanese bearing design spins with 10x less friction and doesn?t require grease?[/FONT][/h]

 

[gm280]

Interesting, however any place that a ball touches is still a friction point and with dimples machined in the bearing to keep the balls in place are still friction points. A better idea...maybe. But there still will be places to wear out yet... It looks like they swapped the ball retainers for machined dimples. Maybe a little less friction, but there is still friction points the balls have to touch yet...

 

[marcoalza]

Interesting.......

Maybe a little less friction, but there is still friction points the balls have to touch yet...

Hmmm, my thoughts too but they do say 10x less friction... Maybe OK for a washing machine but not sure about my boat trailer!!

 

[bigdee]

Makes sense that to get rid of retainer ring will decrease friction. Although I don't think he was implying that this bearing design would be used without lube in all applications.

 

[gm280]

Until they can suspend the balls in total space without touching any other balls or inter and outer races, they will always be friction... And presently we don't have the knowledge or technology to accomplish that ability. However, who knows what the future will and can bring... :noidea:

 

[robert graham]

Let them develop this technology and prove it's best applications, but considering the dust, dirt and water in a trailer bearing it's my guess this would not be an ideal application....the trailer bearing grease is for friction, heat and water/corrosion protection. Maybe their bearing would be best for hot, dry, clean applications like engine turbochargers or certain aircraft components?....

 

[Grub54891]

That bearing looked kinda cobbled. Prototype or not,it still has friction points,it'll get hot rather quickly in real world applications. Friction is friction,ya need lube.
Clean up a bearing,with brake cleaner,yeah it'll spin better,totally dry. But would I use it that way? No.

 

[bigdee]

I watched the video twice and I never heard the man say "greaseless" My take was friction was reduced by the need of a retainer ring which makes sense. There would still be friction at the point of contact with the dimples but the surface area is reduced by 10 fold.

 

[foodfisher]

Until they can suspend the balls in total space without touching any other balls or inter and outer races, they will always be friction... And presently we don't have the knowledge or technology to accomplish that ability. However, who knows what the future will and can bring... :noidea:

Magnetic levitation comes to mind. Think bullet trains.

 

[dingbat]

grease or not, the magnitude of this discovery is huge.

Friction is a large contributor of the parasitic drain on a drive. If you reduce the friction by 1000%, the efficiency of a drive will increase substantially. Better drive efficiency allows the use of smaller, less costly components, less energy required. In the case of a 10,000 HP drive, the savings over a conventional bearing would be substantial.

 

[bruceb58]

If you reduce the friction by 1000%, the efficiency of a drive will increase substantially.

So if you reduce it by 1000%, does that mean the bearing actually rotates on its own?

 

[dingbat]

So if you reduce it by 1000%, does that mean the bearing actually rotates on its own?

Only on the Internet...lol

 

[gm280]

Magnetic levitation comes to mind. Think bullet trains.

foodfisher, if magnetic levitation is used, there would be zero needs for a bearing then...

 

[hungupthespikes]

Until they can suspend the balls in total space without touching any other balls or inter and outer races, they will always be friction... And presently we don't have the knowledge or technology to accomplish that ability. However, who knows what the future will and can bring... :noidea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws6AAhTw7RA

 

[foodfisher]

foodfisher, if magnetic levitation is used, there would be zero needs for a bearing then...

Aluminum stuff.