New Horizons for Vertical Shaft Bearings

Michell Bearings, a Vickers plc company, has achieved a breakthrough in providing an increase of up to 70% in load carrying capacity with their new ‘AV’ range of white metal bearings for vertical shaft machines. This article by Eur. Ing. R.T Knox shows how this challenge has been met providing the pump and motor manufacturer with a superior product with no increase in cost.

Introduction

The successful use of tilting pad fluid film bearings for the support of vertical shaft machines dates from the very invention of the tilting pad concept by A.G.M. Michell in 1905. The first tilting pad bearing in service, Figure 1, was built under Michell’s supervision in 1907 in Australia for a centrifugal pump at Cohuna on the Murry River. According to contemporary documents the vertical thrust load was 13.3 kN (3000 lbf), equivalent to a specific bearing pressure of 1.5 MPa (220 psi), and the running speed was 220 rpm. The success of the installation was such that by 1916 it was recorded that, ‘a large number of the bearings have since been fitted to pumps of this kind’.

Michell Bearings was established as a company in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1902, and has been part of Vickers pls since 1969. The company continued to develop its designs for vertical shaft bearings keeping abreast of continuously changing requirements of machine builders and their end users. Throughout this period the growth of the company’s reputation was such that today Michell Bearings is recognised as a world leader in the design and supply of numerous bearing types including tilting pad bearings for vertical shaft machines.