A provider of engineering services in the hydraulic and pneumatic industry anticipates new orders in 2025 for movie prop platforms that use low-coefficient-of-friction Vesconite bushings. It hopes to produce several platforms in 2025, which will add to the number of platforms that it has produced since its first foray into the movie industry in May 2005. 

Igus has developed a new polymer bearing material called iglide JPF that is free of both per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). This innovation marks an important step in the company's efforts to create sustainable alternatives to conventional plain bearings.

The Spain-US Chamber of Commerce in Florida is proud to announce that the recipients of the 2024 Ponce de León Awards for "Company of the Year" are Iberdrola and its U.S. subsidiary, Avangrid and the "Executive of the Year" is Alejandro Pardiñas, CEO of ABS, recognizing their exceptional contributions to energy innovation and industrial leadership. 

NSK Ltd. has been collaborating with Chitose Group, a group of leading biotechnology companies in the global bioeconomy to undertake business creation activities focused on biomass recycling. This spring, the two companies have achieved a certain level of success, including the sale of a compost production plant developed by both companies, and having paved the way for commercialization, they have decided to strengthen their cooperation for future expansion of this business and co-creation of new businesses.

NTN Corporation is pleased to announce the expansion of our “Low Friction Hub Bearing” Series, with the development of two new products with low friction characteristics, “Low Friction Hub Bearing IV” and “Low Friction Hub Bearing V”. These hub bearings were developed to meet the needs of our global automotive OE customer-base, as they strive to make their mobility products more efficient.

I would like to briefly discuss some thoughts on ball bearing efficiency specifically in terms of applied load and resulting stress. I don’t want to trivialize this subject; there are textbooks written on the subjects of electrohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL), octahedral subsurface shear stress and friction losses due to elastic hysteresis. This is a just a high-level discussion on the importance of individual bearing stress on efficiency. 

At InnoTrans, SKF showcased tapered roller bearings for enhanced reliability of gearbox applications and cylindrical roller bearing units for increased longevity of freight train wheelsets.    

Nine months into building the most powerful test bench for main bearings to date, R&D Test Systems, Denmark’s wind turbine test specialist, has completed the 3,700 metric ton foundation and is now designing and welding the test bench parts that will perform extreme test loads on main bearings for 25 MW wind turbines. With delivery in 2025, the test bench is bound for LORC’s new main bearing test facility.

AD is proud to announce that Mark Balcom, president and owner of Pooley Inc., has been elected to its Bearings & Power Transmission Divisional Board, effective August 2024.  

CCTY (Lake Zurich, IL) is a manufacturer of high-performance motion control and assemblies including spherical plain bearings, rod ends, mast guide bearings, self-lubricating bearings, tie rods, ball joints and more. CCTY is a full-service global engineering and consulting partner that helps customers quickly turn new product ideas into reality. PTE recently discussed the company’s evolution with Yaman Obaid, a mechanical engineer specializing in robotics for CCTY.