Vacuum Preloaded Bearings

New Way^® Air Bearings offers bearings that come preloaded with vacuum to give you more control over the fly height and air gap stiffness.

As with all our products, the vacuum preloaded air bearings use Porous Media Technology™ to provide no contact motion. The naturally porous carbon substrate uniformly distributes air over the surface of the bearing, creating a stiff cushion that eliminates friction.

Our vacuum preloaded line replaces a portion of the surface area of our flat round bearings with a region dedicated to vacuum pressure. This combination of vacuum and air pressure can be finely tuned to adjust the fly height and stiffness for superior damping. This means that only one flat guide surface is necessary instead of two parallel, flat guide surfaces as in opposed bearing preloading.

Many of our other products incorporate vacuum to increase positioning precision and enable high-speed linear motion. Stiffer air gaps combined with no contact motion means you have higher load bearing capabilities while eliminating the possibility of production stopping crashes.

Clean Room Compliant

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The unique use of porous media in vacuum preloaded air bearings makes them ideal for clean room use. Not only is less air used in vacuum preloaded 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.

If you’re thinking about using our vacuum preloaded air bearings in your application, reach out to our technicians today to discuss your options.