- Plymbridge Road, Estover, Plymouth, Devon PL6 7LH, United Kingdom
email: bardenbearings@schaeffler.com, Tel. +44 1752 735555
Barden is a member of the multinational Schaeffler Group, which specialises in bearing technologies and precision products for aerospace, industrial plant and automotive industries. Schaeffler is headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, and oversees three main brands: FAG, INA and LUK. The group has approximately 61,000 employees at more than 180 locations worldwide, recording consolidated sales of €7.3bn for 2009.
Barden specialises in the design and manufacture of super precision ball bearings for safety-critical and harsh environment applications in a broad range of market sectors, from aerospace bearings to high performance machine tools. The company's activities are supported by sister sites, The Barden Corporation (US) based in Danbury, USA, and the Winsted Precision Ball Company in Connecticut, USA.
- Under vacuum conditions, the most important requirements for bearings are long, reliable life, reliability and high speed performance. They are expected to exceed 30,000 hours of life with just a single shot of lubricant and operate with very low vibration and noise.
- To this end, special surface finish and harmonic limits are applied, while the geometry of the bearing is optimised to combat vibration and noise. Highly reliable, Barden bearings are designed to have infinite fatigue life where possible.
- Whilst the speed requirements on the bearings for this application are often lower than for other pump types - at up to 800,000 ndm - factors including temperature, contamination and reliability mean that a special bearing is required to meet the application requirements. The bearing is designed to allow the rotor of the pump to drop over the front part, reducing the shaft length and improving the rotor dynamics. Laser drilled holes are added to allow direct oil lubrication and ceramic balls are used to improve the life and performance of the bearing.
- Without the special design, a standard bearing used in this application would be difficult to lubricate, would cause the shaft to be too long for good rotor dynamics and could suffer from fretting corrosion.