NSK Develops 6th-Generation “Low-Friction Tapered Roller Bearings for Automotive Applications”

13 Mar.,2023

 

The company has a group of cooperation teams engaged in the Tapered Roller Bearing Manufacturer, Tapered Roller Bearing industry for many years, with dedication, innovation spirit and service awareness, and has established a sound quality control and management system to ensure product quality.

NSK Ltd. (NSK; Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO: Toshihiro Uchiyama) today announced that it has developed 6th-generation low-friction tapered roller bearings for automotive transmissions. The new tapered roller bearings have even lower friction and will contribute to higher automotive fuel economy. NSK is targeting 2 billion yen in annual global sales of this new product in 2022.

Development Background

There is a need to reduce friction in rolling bearings used in transmissions in order to improve transmission efficiency, which in turn helps to improve automotive fuel economy. Generally, ball bearings or tapered roller bearings are used for the rolling bearings that support the transmission shaft. Thus, the important issue is to find a way to reduce the friction of tapered roller bearings, which tend to have a lot of friction compared to ball bearings.

In tapered roller bearings, rolling friction is produced between the roller surface and the raceway of the inner and outer rings; sliding friction is produced between roller heads and the large rib of the inner race; and further friction is produced by agitation resistance in the lubricating oil. Since 1980, NSK has been developing tapered roller bearings that reduce these kinds of friction. Over the first five generations, NSK reduced friction loss by 60 percent.

However, to meet the social need for improved fuel economy, which has been growing more and more in recent years, there was a need to develop even better low-friction technology for tapered roller bearings.

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