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!
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.
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.
| 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 SCFH4.96 - 5.43 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 SCFH4.72 - 5.19 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 | 3.54 - 4.48 SCFH3.54 - 4.48 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 SCFH1.98 - 3.21 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 SCFH2.27 - 3.68 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 SCFH1.89 - 3.21 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 SCFH1.13 - 1.89 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 SCFH0.94 - 1.18 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 SCFH0.71 - 1.18 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 SCFH0.47 - 0.94 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 SCFH0.19 - 0.28 NLPM | 0.2 in6 mm | 0.39 in10 mm | 0.01 lb6 g |
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.
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!
