Slewing bearing vs slew drive

With the gradual rise of new energy fields, the accompanying equipment manufacturers have sprung up. The slewing drives are derivatives of slewing bearings, which are used in different fields.

List:

What is slewing bearing

What is slew drive

Different application of slewing bearing and slew drive

What is slewing bearing

A slewing bearing or slew ring is a rotational rolling-element bearing that typically supports a heavy but slow-turning or slow-oscillating load, often a horizontal platform such as a conventional crane, a swing yarder, or the wind-facing platform of a horizontal-axis windmill. (To "slew" means to turn without change of place.

Compared to other rolling-element bearings, they are thin in section and are often made in diameters of a metre or more; the slewing bearings on the Falkirk Wheel are 4 metres diameter and fit over a 3.5 metre axle.

They often use two rows of rolling elements. They often use three race elements, such as an inner ring and two outer ring "halves" that clamp together axially.They are often made with gear teeth integral with the inner or outer race, used to drive the platform relative to the base.

What is slew drive

It is a gearbox that can safely hold radial and axial loads, as well as transmit a torque for rotating. The rotation can be in a single axis, or in multiple axes together. They are made by manufacturing gearing, bearings, seals, housing, motor and other auxiliary components and assembling them into a finished gearbox.

Slewing drives function with standard worm technology, in which the worm on the horizontal shaft acts as the driver for the gear. The rotation of the horizontal screw turns a gear about an axis perpendicular to the screw axis. This combination reduces the speed of the driven member and also multiplies its torque; increasing it proportionally as the speed decreases.The speed ratio of shafts depends upon the relation of the number of threads on the worm to the number of teeth in the worm wheel or gear.

As technology has improved, more slewing drives are using hourglass worm technology, in which the worm is shaped to engage more teeth in the gear. This increased tooth engagement results in greater strength, efficiency and durability.

Different application of slewing bearing and slew drive

Slewing bearing application

Trailers: This type of bearing is used in a variety of applications, the most important of which are used in the transportation industry, agricultural trailers, irrigation systems and airport racks. In vehicles, the axial load, radial load and torque of the bearing are transmitted. In other applications, they mostly transmit axial loads. LZK specializes in the manufacture of turntable slewing bearings for trailers.

Wind power: Wind turbine bearings usually contain yaw bearings, pitch bearings, and drive train bearings. LZK offers customers yaw bearings and pitch bearings. The yaw bearing is installed at the connection between the tower and the cockpit, and the pitch bearing is installed at the joint of the root of each blade and the hub. Each wind turbine uses a set of yaw bearings and three sets of pitch bearings.

Solar Energy: Rotating solar panels are a good way to increase energy. Thanks to its very compact design, LZK bearings supply the largest solar electric field in Europe.

Medical equipment:It developed high-precision, low-noise, high-life, high-reliability series of medical equipment spindle rotary slewing bearings, has been widely used in gamma knives, CT machines, nuclear magnetic resonance machines and other large medical equipment.

Robot: Equipment such as industrial robots. It is mounted on the joints of the robot. This structure can achieve incredibly high tight rotation motion.

Slewing drive application

They can be used in any occasion where full-cycle rotation and shifting requirements are required. When it is required to realize high-torque power transmission, high-precision motion transmission, or a body with a compact structure and high requirements, it is the best solution.

The more common applications are generally the full-cycle rotary structure of engineering and construction machinery, as well as solar, wind energy and various long-running automatic tracking machinery. Due to the compact structure and short drive chain, the rotary drive is easier to achieve higher precision and more. It is easy to carry out digital control, so it is also widely used in the field of industrial robots.

These devices play a large role in these fields. Due to the high integration of these devices, the preparation process at the beginning of product production is also reduced to a certain extent, thereby greatly increasing labor productivity.