Flat Rectangular Air Bearings

 

Flat Rectangular Air Bearings

The flat rectangular air bearing stands alongside the flat round air bearing as one of our original New Way® products, and this product line is still going strong today. By employing our foundational Porous Media technology™, the flat rectangular air bearing moves across the guide surface on a 5 micrometer, thin layer of air and enables truly Frictionless Motion®®.

The natural permeability of carbon provides a more even distribution of air, offering superior performance unavailable to conventional- and orifice-based bearings.

Since the bearings don’t need to contend with friction, flat rectangular air bearings achieve high speeds and rapid acceleration. This allows precision systems to achieve ultra-high resolution, with no hysteresis error. This unique property makes them ideal for pick-and-place machines in such fields as the semiconductor manufacturing sector, as well as for XY-gantry configuration in checkmate coordinate measuring (CMM) machines, and 3D printers.

Furthermore, the designs are inherently more crash resistant than orifice bearings, since the air is slowly diffused by the Porous Media™. In case of an air supply loss, the bearing slowly comes to rest on its guide surface, minimizing damage. When we stop to consider that porous media air bearings don’t require lubrication which the regular maintenance lubricated bearings often require, operational efficiencies are greatly improved.

New Way Flat Rectangular Air Bearings are designed to carry high loads while maximizing the load-bearing surface for the guide through a gimballed mounting system. These bearings can be mounted on ball mounts, providing a self-leveling interface between the bearing and the guide surface.

See our Flat Rectangular Brochure

Click to view full testing and analysis report

Porous media’s unique structure also makes flat rectangular air bearings a perfect fit for industries that require clean room compliance. Because air bearings don’t use lubricant (thus no outgassing) and because porous media acts as a natural sub-micron filter, all New Way Air Bearings are ISO class 3 cleanroom compliant, and according to internal New Way testing, even meet the incredibly stringent requirements for ISO Class 1.

All flat rectangular air bearings are available in metric and US sizing off the shelf, and we’re happy to design and manufacture custom sizes per your specifications!

  • No Contact
  • No Noise
  • No Wear
  • No Lubrication
  • Crash resistant
  • High-speed
  • No vibration
  • Nano-precision positioning
  • Increased reliability
  • Clean Room Class 1 Compliant

Applications

New Way Flat Rectangular Air Bearings are ideal across a diverse set of applications. All of these industries and processes share a need for exacting precision and efficient operation.

Coordinate Measuring Machines
  • Flat rectangular air bearings had their start in the CMM industry due to their superb precision, without fear of damage in the case of an air loss scenario.
  • Without friction, results are repeatable, improving confidence in results.
3D Printing
  • Flat rectangular air bearings can be used for linear positioning and XY gantries, allowing for incredibly fine resolution in additive manufacturing.
Automotive
  • Ideal for acceleration performance, frame integrity, and crash testing, flat rectangular air bearings remove uncertainty due to their lack of internal friction, providing an accurate assessment of critical safety and performance characteristics.
  • Noncontact motion allows for isolation of noise and vibration, improving on conventional bearings which can mask such issues.
Semiconductor Manufacturing
  • Flat Rectangular air bearings improve quantity and quality, with their ability to place chip wafers at high speeds without fear of positioning error or cleanroom contamination.

Flat Rectangular Air Bearing Product Line

With the success of the flat, round porous media air bearing product line, we added the rectangular configuration offer an integration alternative. For some linear motion applications, the rectangular profile provides a more efficient bearing surface alignment.


S1215001S1215001 - 150mm x 300mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing
S1215001S1215001 - 150mm x 300mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing

S1212501S1212501 - 125mm x 250mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing
S1212501S1212501 - 125mm x 250mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing

S1210001S1210001 - 100mm x 200mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing
S1210001S1210001 - 100mm x 200mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing

S127501S127501 - 75mm x 150mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing
flat rectangular air bearings 75 x 150 new way air bearings
S127501S127501 - 75mm x 150mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing

S125001S125001 - 50mm x 100mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing
S125001S125001 - 50mm x 100mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing

S124002S124002 - 40mm x 80mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing
S124002S124002 - 40mm x 80mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing

S124001S124001 - 40mm x 50mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing
S124001S124001 - 40mm x 50mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing

S122501S122501 - 25mm x 50mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing
S122501S122501 - 25mm x 50mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing

S122001S122001 - 20mm x 40mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing
S122001S122001 - 20mm x 40mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing

S121501S121501 - 15mm x 30mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing
S121501S121501 - 15mm x 30mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing

S121201S121201 - 12mm x 24mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing
S121201S121201 - 12mm x 24mm Flat Rectangular Air Bearing

Units: US METRIC

Comparision Table

Size (Width x Length)
Designed for Metric
Part # Ideal Load @ 0.41 MPa (60psi) Stiffness @ 60 N/micron @ 0.41 MPa No Load Flow Ball Socket Size Designed for Metric Bearing Height Bearing Weight
5.9 x 11.8 in150 x 300 mm
S1215001S1215001 2500 lb11121 N 9.39 lb/μin1645 N/μm 10.5 - 11.5 SCFH4.54 - 4.97 NLPM 1.6 in40 mm 3.94 in100 mm 14.76 lb6693 g
4.9 x 9.8 in125 x 250 mm
S1212501S1212501 1750 lb7784 N 5.76 lb/μin1009 N/μm 10.0 - 11.0 SCFH4.32 - 4.76 NLPM 1.6 in40 mm 3.35 in85 mm 10.13 lb4597 g
3.9 x 7.9 in100 x 200 mm
S1210001S1210001 1100 lb4893 N 3.80 lb/μin665 N/μm 8.5 - 9.5 SCFH3.68 - 4.11 NLPM 1.6 in40 mm 2.76 in70 mm 8.00 lb3628 g
3.0 x 5.9 in75 x 150 mm
S127501S127501 580 lb2580 N 1.85 lb/μin324 N/μm 4.2 - 6.8 SCFH1.82 - 2.94 NLPM 1.0 in25 mm 1.97 in50 mm 3.11 lb1411 g
2.0 x 3.9 in50 x 100 mm
S125001S125001 250 lb1112 N 0.63 lb/μin110 N/μm 4.8 - 7.8 SCFH2.08 - 3.37 NLPM 0.5 in13 mm 0.98 in25 mm 0.65 lb295 g
1.6 x 3.1 in40 x 80 mm
S124002S124002 140 lb623 N 0.33 lb/μin58 N/μm 4.00 - 6.80 SCFH1.73 - 2.94 NLPM 0.5 in13 mm 0.79 in20 mm 0.12 lb145 g
1.6 x 2.0 in40 x 50 mm
S124001S124001 80 lb356 N 0.20 lb/μin35 N/μm 2.4 - 4.0 SCFH1.04 - 1.73 NLPM 0.5 in13 mm 0.51 in13 mm 0.12 lb56 g
1.0 x 2.0 in25 x 50 mm
S122501S122501 42 lb187 N 0.13 lb/μin22 N/μm 2.0 - 2.5 SCFH0.86 - 1.08 NLPM 0.2 in6 mm 0.67 in17 mm 0.11 lb48 g
0.8 x 1.6 in20 x 40 mm
S122001S122001 25 lb111 N 0.08 lb/μin14 N/μm 1.5 - 2.5 SCFH0.65 - 1.08 NLPM 0.2 in6 mm 0.51 in13 mm 0.06 lb26 g
0.6 x 1.2 in15 x 30 mm
S121501S121501 14 lb62 N 0.04 lb/μin7 N/μm 1.0 - 2.0 SCFH0.43 - 0.86 NLPM 0.2 in6 mm 0.39 in10 mm 0.02 lb8 g
0.5 x 0.9 in12 x 24 mm
S121201S121201 8 lb36 N 0.03 lb/μin5 N/μm 0.4 - 0.6 SCFH0.17 - 0.26 NLPM 0.2 in6 mm 0.39 in10 mm 0.01 lb6 g


CUSTOMER PROVEN SOLUTIONS

Vertical Linear Accelerator for Navy Contract Utilizes Air Bearings

Vertical Linear Accelerator for Navy Contract Utilizes Air Bearings

Dynamic Structures and Materials selected New Way Air Bearings to provide rectangular air bearings, in support of a Navy Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project. Our air bearings formed the basis for a vertical accelerator, capable of arbitrary waveform capability and a 400-pound payload.

Tell Us About Your Application

Questions

If you have any questions about the application, design, or installation of flat rectangular air bearings, please contact us, so we can discuss what New Way Air Bearings can do for you!

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