The correction factor for the bearing type is an adjustment factor used when calculating the service life or load capacity of a ball screw or other linear systems. It takes into account that different bearing types (e.g., fixed bearings, floating bearings, support bearings, angular contact ball bearings, cylindrical roller bearings) provide varying levels of stiffness to the system, exhibit different friction coefficients, and transmit forces to the spindle in different ways.
Depending on the bearing type, the forces acting on the spindle may be transmitted more or less strongly, thereby also altering the equivalent load on the threaded drive.
- to more accurately reflect the actual axial load on the threaded drive
- to make the service life calculation more realistic
- Take into account the friction, stiffness, and guidance characteristics of the bearings used
- to make different bearing arrangements comparable
Why do different types of bearings need to be considered differently?
The type of bearing affects:
- Axial stiffness
- Radial stiffness
- Friction torque
- Spindle guidance quality
- Additional forces acting on the spindle (e.g., due to misalignment or radial loads)
A fixed bearing assembly consisting of angular contact ball bearings guides the spindle with significantly greater precision and rigidity than a simple deep-groove ball bearing, for example. This reduces the additional load on the spindle, which is taken into account in the calculation via the correction factor.