Flat Round Air Bearings

 

Flat Round Air Bearings

The Flat Round Air Bearing was the very first product line offered by New Way® to utilize our Porous Media Technology,™ and it’s still our most popular bearing. They’ve been used in various applications, from robotic spacecraft simulations to roundness checkers.

The popularity of Flat Round Air Bearings is due to their versatility. They can be used in both linear and rotary motion applications. The bearings are shaped like a hockey puck and have a porous carbon substrate on one side. Air is forced through the carbon and must pass through the naturally winding pathways to reach the bearing surface. This journey results in a stiff, uniform cushion of air on the bearing face, creating our reliable no-contact, Frictionless Motion®®. These bearings can also come vacuum preloaded which increases their positioning precision.

Because of their exceptional damping capabilities, Flat Round Air Bearings are an ideal candidate for machine tooling systems, as we discuss in Technical Report 3. Additionally, we’ve already utilized these same bearings, vacuum preloaded, in order to create an X/Y gantry configuration for accurate positioning along the Z-axis, which we discuss in Technical report 2.

Our Flat Round Bearings come in a large range of sizes right off the shelf and are easily integrated into your current manufacturing process. Since your components will no longer be in contact, your parts will never wear. The air flow through the porous substrate is also unaffected by scratches or blemishes so crashes are virtually eliminated. Even in a worst case scenario where power is lost, the soft, compressible carbon absorbs any impact, which combined with the gradual depressurization an air bearing undergoes, prevents damage to your guide surface.

Clean Room Compliant

Air Bearings for Cleanroom Applications Cover
Click to view full testing and analysis report (shown on right) The unique use of porous media in air bearings makes them ideal for clean room use. Not only is less air used in 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 currents or eddies 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.

Custom Applications

We can also create custom solutions for your application. Contact New Way today to find out how our most popular bearing can work for you.

  • Variety of sizes
  • Crash-resistant
  • No lubrication
  • No maintenance downtime
  • Vacuum pre-loaded options
  • High-precision
  • Frictionless motion
  • No noise

Applications

New Way’s Flat Round Air Bearings are ideal for precision and significant load-bearing capabilities. A few areas which have seen success include:

Roundness Checking
Rotary Tables
  • Combine Flat Round Bearings with Air Bushings
  • Produces a low-cost rotary table with off the shelf components
Float Unit
  • Precision positioning
  • Stiff air gap handles heavy loads

Flat Round Air Bearings Line

The flat round configuration was the first lat air bearing ever offered as a complete product line, and even today it remains the most popular standard component New Way produces. The Flat Round Air Bearing offers all the benefits of Frictionless Motion®️ in an effective and efficient package. Performance specifications are written against a supply pressure of 60 psi.


S1030002S1030002 - 300mm Flat Round Air Bearing
300mm flat round air bearing
S1030002S1030002 - 300mm Flat Round Air Bearing

S1025001S1025001 - 250mm Flat Round Air Bearing
200mm flat round air bearing
S1025001S1025001 - 250mm Flat Round Air Bearing

S1020001S1020001 - 200mm Flat Round Air Bearing
200mm flat round air bearing
S1020001S1020001 - 200mm Flat Round Air Bearing

S1015001S1015001 - 150mm Flat Round Air Bearing
150mm flat round air bearing
S1015001S1015001 - 150mm Flat Round Air Bearing

S1012501S1012501 - 125mm Flat Round Air Bearing
125mm flat round air bearing
S1012501S1012501 - 125mm Flat Round Air Bearing

S1010001S1010001 - 100mm Flat Round Air Bearing
100mm flat round air bearing
S1010001S1010001 - 100mm Flat Round Air Bearing

S108001S108001 - 80mm Flat Round Air Bearing
65mm flat round air bearing
S108001S108001 - 80mm Flat Round Air Bearing

S106501S106501 - 65mm Flat Round Air Bearing
65mm flat round air bearing
S106501S106501 - 65mm Flat Round Air Bearing

S105001S105001 - 50mm Flat Round Air Bearing
50mm flat round air bearing
S105001S105001 - 50mm Flat Round Air Bearing

S104001S104001 - 40mm Flat Round Air Bearing
40mm flat round air bearing
S104001S104001 - 40mm Flat Round Air Bearing

S102501S102501 - 25mm Flat Round Air Bearing
25mm flat round air bearing
S102501S102501 - 25mm Flat Round Air Bearing

Units: US METRIC

Comparision Table

Size (Diameter)
Designed for Metric
Part # Ideal Load @ 0.41 MPa (60psi) Stiffness @ 0.41 MPa (60psi) Flow @ 0.41 MPa (60psi) Ball Socket Size Designed for Metric ball Bearing Height Bearing Weight
11.8 in300 mm
S1030002S1030002 4000 lb17793 N 12 - 18 SCFH5.19 - 7.78 NLPM 1.6 in40 mm 3.94 in100 mm 28.63 lb13 kg
9.8 in250 mm
S1025001S1025001 2750 lb12233 N 4.0 - 5.7 SCFH1.73 - 2.46 NLPM 1.6 in40 mm 3.35 in85 mm 18.4 lb8.35 kg
7.87 in200 mm
S1020001S1020001 1747 lb7770 N 4.0 lb/μin700 N/μm 6.7 - 7.5 SCFH2.90 - 3.24 NLPM 0.98 in25 mm 2.76 in70 mm 10.50 lb4.8 kg
5.91 in150 mm
S1015001S1015001 999 lb4444 N 2.0 lb/μin350 N/μm 6.7 - 8.1 SCFH2.90 - 3.50 NLPM 0.98 in25 mm 1.97 in50 mm 4.61 lb2.1 kg
4.92 in125 mm
S1012501S1012501 624 lb2775 N 1.5 lb/μin254 N/μm 8 - 12 SCFH3.46 - 5.19 NLPM 0.79 in20 mm 1.38 in35 mm 2.27 lb1.03 kg
3.96 in100 mm
S1010001S1010001 399 lb1776 N 1.0 lb/μin175 N/μm 4.0 - 6.8 SCFH1.73 - 2.94 NLPM 0.79 in 20 mm 0.98 in25 mm 0.97 lb0.44 kg
3.15 in80 mm
S108001S108001 250 lb1110 N 0.65 lb/μin114 N/μm 5.0 - 7.5 SCFH2.16 - 3.24 NLPM 0.51 in13 mm 0.79 in20 mm 0.52 lb0.24 kg
2.56 in65 mm
S106501S106501 150 lb666 N 0.50 lb/μin87 N/μm 2.2 - 3.5 SCFH0.95 - 1.51 NLPM 0.51 in13 mm 0.79 in20 mm 0.33 lb0.15 kg
1.97 in50 mm
S105001S105001 75 lb333 N 0.33 lb/μin58 N/μm 2.0 - 3.2 SCFH0.86 - 1.38 NLPM 0.51 in13 mm 0.51 in13 mm 0.14 lb0.06 kg
1.57 in40 mm
S104001S104001 50 lb222 N 0.16 lb/μin28 N/μm 2.2 - 2.8 SCFH0.95 - 1.21 NLPM 0.51 in13 mm 0.51 in13 mm 0.08 lb0.035 kg
0.98 in25 mm
S102501S102501 18 lb80 N 0.10 lb/μin18 N/μm 1.3 - 1.6 SCFH0.56 - 0.69 NLPM 0.51 in13 mm 0.51 in13 mm 0.03 lb0.014 kg


CUSTOMER PROVEN SOLUTIONS

Keck Observatory Improves Operations with New Way Air Bearings

Keck Observatory Improves Operations with New Way Air Bearings

Keck Observatory, often considered the world’s most scientifically productive observatory, turned to New Way when they needed help replacing their rolling-bearing-based rotary encoder. A system built on radial and flat round air bearings allowed for a new 1-meter diameter rotary table, cutting acquisition time by 75% and reducing maintenance to near zero.

Magtrol’s Use of Air Bearings in Test Suite Improves Product Quality

Magtrol’s Use of Air Bearings in Test Suite Improves Product Quality

Magtrol Inc., a leader in torque measurement for small motors, recognized the unique capability of air bearings to provide frictionless torque measurements. They upgraded their calibration suits through radial air bearings and air bushings, providing a frictionless solution backed by engineering support they could trust.

Multi-Plastics Turn Production Around with New Way Air Turns™

Multi-Plastics Turn Production Around with New Way Air Turns™

Multi-Plastics, Inc. provides almost 60% of the world’s polystyrene window film. So, when they saw the opportunity to improve production and cut downtime on their 24×7 production lines, they didn’t hesitate. Multi-Plastics integrated New Way Air Turns for their roll-to-roll processes, removing defects, creating uniform, tunable tension, and allowing for additional cooling.

New Way & Devitt Machinery Deliver Solution for Wind Turbine Company

New Way & Devitt Machinery Deliver Solution for Wind Turbine Company

To help provide Keystone Tower Systems, Inc. with the capability to manufacture straight and tapered wind turbine towers on-site, we partnered with our sister company, Devitt Machinery. This enabled the production of a solution to float flat round air bearings for a portable machine that can roll and weld a sheet of metal into a turbine tower.

New Way Solves Medical Manufacturing Precision Woes for Sytech

New Way Solves Medical Manufacturing Precision Woes for Sytech

Sytech Systems, Inc. provides hardware and software integration solutions, and when a medical client required precision beyond what an off-the-shelf manufacturing robot could provide, they called New Way. We worked to integrate flat round air bearings, developing a system with motion error below 1/1000 of an inch.

New Way Solves Straightness & Flatness Constraints for Axis

New Way Solves Straightness & Flatness Constraints for Axis

New Way partnered with Axis New England, a firm specializing in robotic and machine automation for the lithography, semiconductor, and precision optics industry. We provided them with a solution built on flat round air bearings to meet the needs of a customer who produces ultra-high format printers, allowing for high speeds and precise positioning.

Reaching the Stars with New Way Air Bearings

Reaching the Stars with New Way Air Bearings

During the construction of the Very Large Telescope (VLT), the European Southern Observatory (ESO) partnered with New Way to build the “OzPoz” multi-fiber positioner. Air bushings and flat round air bearings formed the basis for this precision instrument, which required 10 microns in order to build a robotic system capable of aligning the telescope.

Roundness Checker + Air Bearings = Quality Improvement

Roundness Checker + Air Bearings = Quality Improvement

B&B Manufacturing Company, Inc. is a global supplier of threaded fasteners and machine parts, serving numerous industries from power generation and aerospace to petrochemical and medical. When they found ball bearings added too much error to their in-house designed roundness checker, they used New Way Radial and Flat Round Air Bearings to build a turntable with maximum accuracy.

Air Bearings for Satellite Simulations

Air Bearings for Satellite Simulations

When Guidance Dynamics Corporation needed to develop a friction-free testbed solution to accurately simulate robotic spacecraft, they turned to New Way. We paired them up with our Flat Round Air Bearings, providing an ideal foundation for creating a frictionless float uit over top of an epoxy testbed.

Air Bushings Designed Into a Large Pendulum Wave

Air Bushings Designed Into a Large Pendulum Wave

New Way doesn’t just support the sciences, but also the arts as well, and we were proud to see our air bushings and flat round air bearings help bring the GLOW event in Eindhoven, Netherlands, to life. The Large Pendulum Wave used our air bearings to demonstrate the physicality of swinging frequency through the beauty of light in motion.

Tell Us About Your Application

Questions

If you have any questions about an off-the-shelf flat round air bearing, a custom solution, or just want to discuss what porous media can do for you, please contact us so we can see how New Way Air Bearings can meet your precision manufacturing needs!

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