The Austrian bearing manufacturer NKE has introduced a series of single row cylindrical roller bearings that can be made to order in any of 3,000 variants at the company's modular production facility in Steyr. The new bearings are available in 164 sizes, in design variants NU, NJ and NUP, with bearing cages of roller-guided and outer ring-guided designs, made from brass and polyamide, with pressed steel versions available soon. In addition to radial clearance groups CN (C0) as standard, C3 and C4 groups are also available. Special versions - for example, traction motor bearings (SQ1), wheel set bearings (SQ2) and electrically insulated bearings (SQ77) are available on short lead times from the factory.
To maximise life span, clean bearing steel is used throughout, while attention to the surface finish of the raceways helps reduce friction and reduce operating temperature. Otimised raceway and rolling element geometry provides greater loading capacity, while a modified cage design improves the formation of lubricant film.
Moreover, thanks to improvements in the design of the bearing guiding flanges on the NJ and NUP variants, these bearings are also capable of taking higher axial loads. Compensation for misalignment is achieved by modifications to the contact geometry and crowned inner raceways.