where L10 = bearing life in hours at 90 percent reliability, C = bearing dynamic rating, P = bearing load, and e = 3 for ball bearings and 10/3 for roller bearings.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Both gears and bearings are typically sized, and life is calculated based on the duty cycle from what is known as the weighted average torque and speed that represents a single torque and speed which would produce the same life as would be achieved if the system operated at the full duty cycle of torque speeds and percent times.

The main item to remember and consider is which type of bearing you are analyzing. Ball bearings use 3 and 1/3 as exponents in the equations and roller bearings (tapered, spherical, and cylindrical) use 10/3 and 3/10 for exponents.

It would seem that this value of S would be important to the resulting life and that a weighted average speed would be required for this equation, but that is not the case. There is no requirement to calculate or use a weighted average speed in this formula, and since the speeds cancel each other out, any speed used would produce the same result. The differing speeds for the different points on the duty cycle are taken into account and reconciled in the weighted average radial load(force) calculation for P.

For a duty cycle where there is variable torque (load), speed, and percent (fraction) of time, the weighted average bearing radial load or torque is:

Site Privacy | Accessibility | Privacy Program | Copyrights | Vulnerability Disclosure | No Fear Act Policy | FOIA | Environmental Policy | Scientific Integrity | Information Quality Standards | Commerce.gov | Science.gov | USA.gov

By selecting these links, you will be leaving NIST webspace. We have provided these links to other web sites because they may have information that would be of interest to you. No inferences should be drawn on account of other sites being referenced, or not, from this page. There may be other web sites that are more appropriate for your purpose. NIST does not necessarily endorse the views expressed, or concur with the facts presented on these sites. Further, NIST does not endorse any commercial products that may be mentioned on these sites. Please address comments about this page to nvd@nist.gov.

Normally, it would have been necessary to use a value of S (speed) in both the weighted average load calculation and the bearing life calculation, with the value of S being the same in both places.

Keep in mind that these are ABMA life formulas, or so-called catalog life values, and do not consider or use any adjustment factors, such as those used for lubrication, cleanliness, or other factors.

This vulnerability has been modified since it was last analyzed by the NVD. It is awaiting reanalysis which may result in further changes to the information provided.

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

In most gearbox applications, there is not one single torque and speed that the gearbox operates at but a series of torques and speeds and time intervals at each condition. These various conditions constitute data points on a duty cycle and together, they must be considered in their entirety.

So, either the L10 bearing life must be calculated only once as in the first example formula or calculated for each part of the duty cycle, as in the last formula.