Radial Air Bearings

New Way Radial Air Bearings are ideal for precision rotary applications, giving you all the advantages of air bearings built on our proven Porous Media Technology™.

Radial air bearings provide non-contact support for rotating, round artifacts using a thin (5µm) layer of air. This thin air layer is amazingly stiff (upwards of 160,000 lb/in), creating a stable support for a ring, or bearing surface, while allowing for surface speeds of up to 50 meters-per-second.

New Way radial air bearings can be configured to ride on the outer diameter or inner diameter of a rotating artifact for a given application, using concave and convex shapes using a radius cut along the length (L) or width (W) of the bearing, depending on your structural requirements. The bearings are specifically machined to the tight tolerances necessary to create non-contact motion.

Faster Rotation

Unlike complex magnetic suspension or oil-based lubrication systems, the Radial Air Bearing’s Frictionless Motion^®️ means zero dynamic, contacting components, eliminating mechanical wear, and increasing the lifespan of your assemblies. With friction eliminated, our radial bearings open the door to far faster rotational speeds, providing faster motion while retaining a degree of accuracy only limited by the servo and controller system you choose.

Safer Operation

New Way Radial Bearings are an exceptionally low flow technology, taking almost six hours to push one cubic meter of air through a 50mm x 100mm bearing, and thus, are extremely efficient in operation when compared to orifice-based systems. If airflow is somehow disrupted to the air bearing, the porous nature of the bearing surface means depressurization will occur slowly, allowing for a soft landing, ensuring the radial bearing and the guide surface remain undamaged. Contrast this with orifice and magnetic bearings which can often fail in catastrophic ways, and we see how radial air bearings provide all the benefits with none of the drawbacks.

Cleanroom Compliance

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The unique characteristics of Porous Media in radial air bearings makes them ideal for clean room use. Not only is less air used in radial air bearings when compared to orifice-based air bearings, but the air is evenly distributed by the Porous Media. Both of these features minimize the potential of eddy currents in the clean room and its damaging impacts on production.

Another benefit of the use of Porous Media is its ability to perform as a sub-micron filter for the air emitted. Testing indicates the bearing satisfies the requirements of Class 1 (ISO class 3) cleanliness, with airborne particulate concentrate limits of less than 1,000 x 0.1μm particles / m3.

While several standard sizes of radial air bearings are offered, New Way also has more than 30 years experience developing custom solutions. Contact us to tell us more about your application!

Standard and Custom Engineering

All radial air bearings come in a variety of sizes configurations to accommodate an array of rotary applications. New Way also has a proud history of providing bespoke engineering solutions, so if you need something made to your exact specifications, we have the in-house design and manufacturing expertise to make that happen.

Large-scale rotary motion
No contact
No wear
No noise
No lubrication needed
Averaging of guide surface errors
Sub-nanometer repeatability
Infinite resolution
Excellent velocity control
No vibration
High speed
High stiffness

Applications

New Way radial air bearings support a wide range of high-performance applications. The ability to use them in groups makes their solution space virtually limitless. Their non-contact nature makes them superior for high-precision applications while virtually eliminating downtime for maintenance, all the while improving the overall manufacturing process.Not to worry if you don’t see your application listed! Tell us more about your rotary application so we can help find the right air bearing solution for you.

Web Handling

Non-contact handling of flexible substrates during roll-to-roll production reduces defects.
Removal of friction and wear translates to less downtime required for frequent lubrication and replacement of worn components.

Optics

Porous Media Technology offers sub-nanometer precision positioning and smooth motion ideal for optical applications.
Facilitates high-speed, non-contact rotation of x-ray assemblies for patient imaging.

Inspection

Inspection systems require reliable ultra-high precision to avoid defective products making it to market.
Use of air instead of traditional lubricants ideal for clean-room environments