Bearing wheel end design integral
The current design of railway wheel end bearings is increasingly trending around the world to use fast-mount bearing units with integral seals at both ends and factory pre-lubrication. This bearing unit significantly simplifies the installation process and increases reliability and safety.
This is because the maintenance of the bearing unit is transferred to the bearing supplier's remanufacturing department or to other independent specialists. These axlebox bearing units can be tapered roller bearing units or cylindrical roller bearing units. Both bearing units have their own characteristics and have been successfully used in a wide range of railway vehicles. Many rail operators and manufacturers tend to design with their proven operational and maintenance knowledge and experience.
Early tapered roller bearing units used a snap seal against a special sealed wear ring that required an extension of the journal. As mentioned earlier, the subsequent stage of development is the integration of the seal with the bearing, which rests directly on the inner ring. These compact designs have smaller widths and shorter journals. This not only reduces the amount of bending under the bearing axle load, but also offers many other advantages.
