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Federal and Defense

 

Air Bearings for Defense Applications

 A missile in flight in the upper atmosphere. At New Way Air Bearings®, we’re no strangers to the potential that porous media air bearings hold for cutting-edge, national-security-related applications. Among the first uses for the progenitors of modern New Way bearings was in the development of spindles for machining laser fusion mirrors, nuclear warheads, and aspheric spacecraft components at the Y-12 National Security Complex. As technological bounds are pushed to a greater degree every year, we see immense potential for air bearings to once again support the federal and defense marketplace, lending their unique skill set of precision motion, durability, and cleanroom compatibility to the national defense infrastructure.

Industries

Whether the specification calls for a precision rotary motion for missile tracking, durability in machining exotic materials, or longevity in degraded or irradiated environs, air bearings are highly capable in ways contact bearings simply can’t compete with.

Missile Defense and Object Tracking

Missile defense is hardly a new field, with origins stretching back to the Nike-Zeus system in the 1960s, but as technology has advanced, laser-based missile systems have become increasingly of interest. Boeing’s YAL-1 famously featured the world’s largest ball turret for its megawatt-class laser, and the AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System has already been deployed by the United States Navy as of 2014. These systems all require rotational motion about all 3 axes to track a target along its trajectory, but if laser-based systems like these are to evolve and engage targets at further range, they may eventually run up against the limitations of their motion system.

Contact bearings are fundamentally hamstrung by the internal momentum of the ball-and-roller element bearings that provide their motion, and thus set a ceiling for the precision that a system using them can achieve. Air bearings are only limited by the precision of their encoder, and our bearings have achieved precision on the order of 1.1 arcseconds, or 1/3600 of a degree, accurate enough to underpin the Keck Observatory’s target acquisition system.

Machining Exotic Materials

The development of new technologies like hypersonic vehicles has similarly spurred advances in metallurgy, materials science, and produced materials that, while remarkable in their properties, can be difficult to machine and shape. The production of highly heated chips and constant lubrication can wear down even the most well-sealed bearings. On the other hand, New Way bearings are well-suited to supporting spindles and turning tables, even under adverse conditions. Even within our own shop, we use an air-bearing-supported rotary table for dry diamond machining, capable of handling work pieces up to 3 meters in diameter. Furthermore, our bearings can use their positive pressure to seal against fluid and particle infiltration that could otherwise damage or degrade the bearings inside a multiaxis mill.

Applications

Rotary Motion

For object tracking, machining, and other rotary applications, air bearings come in numerous configurations to meet your needs. The New-Seal® is our revolutionary new product, combining a seal and bearing in one, resisting fluid or particle infiltration up to 35 PSI. Radial air bearings and flat round air bearings can be used in concert to create rotary tables, while thrust bushings axially constrain a shaft while providing linear motion. For an all-in-one solution, our Servo-Driven Rotary Stages combine our Air Spindles with a high-precision encoder.

Fast Tool Servos

The same principle that enables high-precision rotary motion also enables incredibly fast tool servos with 1,000 Hz frequencies. Our all-in-one linear motion guide systems can be used to form the foundation for high-speed diamond machining of structures like micro prisms, torics, and off-axis aspherics for lens formations. The lack of internal inertia ensures low levels of noise, and with zero friction, following errors decay exponentially.

Benefits

Durability

Because all of our air bearings operate on a 5-micron thin layer of air, there is no contact between the air bearing and its guide surface, and thus, no wear and tear. Whether the need is for a precision tracking system with zero downtime or motion under degraded conditions, air bearings are the reliable, self-cleaning alternative to contact bearings

Linear and Rotary Precision

Air bearings have become a darling of the metrology and inspection industry for their incredible precision. Because air bearings are a noncontact technology and don’t need to contend with the internal energy of ball bearings, they’re neither susceptible to overshoot nor hysteresis error and can be positioned to nanometer levels of accuracy, only limited by the motors that drive them. Our servo-driven rotary stages are capable of 1.1-arcsecond precision and can do this at speeds on an order of magnitude above contact bearings.

Cleanroom Compatibility

For the production of semiconductors, flight-ready components, and other materials that must be manufactured in a cleanroom setting, air bearings provide a twofold benefit over their contact-based brethren. Since the air-bearing surface acts as a sub-micron filter, the very nature of our air bearings filter air into the environment, and internal New Way testing has demonstrated our products as ISO class 3—and arguably—ISO Class 1 cleanroom compatible. Not only does the air bearing not require maintenance or the need to contend with potential outgassing lubricant and particles, it also contributes to the safety of the manufacturing environment.

Contact Us

If you’d like to learn more about air bearings in the textile industry or already have an application in mind, please contact us!


Applications
Rotary Motion
Spindle on an industrial lathe.
Rotary Motion

For constraining and supporting the outer or inner diameter of a rotating assembly.

Fast Tool Servo
Fast Tool Servo End Supported Slides
Fast Tool Servo

For single axis, nanometer precise tooling application.


Products
Air Bars
air bars
Air Bars

Air Turns™
Air turns
Air Turns™

Flat Rectangular Air Bearings
rectangle bearings
Flat Rectangular Air Bearings

Flat Round Air Bearings
round bearings
Flat Round Air Bearings

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