Automation line for assembling ball bearings

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School of Engineering

Taylor’s University

Automation Line for Assembling Ball

Bearings

Manufacturing Engineering

MEC2713

Lam Jiang Kai

1006A79606



Malaysia

30 June 2014





Table of Contents

Abstract 1

1.0 Introduction 2

2.0 Discussion 4

3.0 Conclusion 10

References 10



School of Engineering 1


Abstract

Bearings have become one of the most important parts not only in our common daily lives, but as well as

in the technology and manufacturing departments. They can be applied into many industries. In order to

meet the demand of the market requirement on bearings, bearings must be mass produced with high

efficiency and high production quantity. To do this, almost every process in manufacturing bearings

involves the use of automation system. For this investigation, the focus is on the automated assembly line

of ball bearing type. The type of automated assembly system for ball bearings is determined and each of

the workstations in the assembly line is discussed briefly. In conclusion, the investigation enables student

to understand more on the production of bearings and its importance, and have a clear understanding on

automation systems.





1.0 Introduction

The Bearing Industry

Bearings become a critical part of our everyday lives as it is the major component for almost all moving

part. The use of bearings can reduce friction to produce smooth acceleration in automotives, quiet ceiling

fans and efficient drills. Improvements in anti-friction bearing for the industry became essential in the last

century.

The bearing industry grew rapidly around 20th century due to the mass production of automobiles.

Today’s bearing industry is global with production in over 70 countries.

The bearing industry supplies significant components to industries such as:

Automotive

Aerospace

Construction

Off-Highway

Railroad

Medical Instruments Machine Tools

Energy

The current technology in bearings continues to exceed the expectations of the early pioneers and newer

types of bearings will be more essential to the advancements in the manufacturing sector.

Types of Bearings

Bearings are precision-engineered components that enable machinery to move at extremely high speeds

and carry huge loads with ease. Bearings must be precise, reliable and durable, and able to turn at high

speeds with minimum noise and vibration.

There are many different bearing types, each with different designs which are suited to specificapplications. Below are the four most common bearings:

Ball Bearings Cylindrical & NeedleRoller Bearings

Tapered Roller Bearings Spherical Roller Bearings

http://www.americanbearings.org/?page=what_are_bearings#Ball%20Bearings

http://www.americanbearings.org/?page=what_are_bearings#Roller%20Bearings


http://www.americanbearings.org/?page=what_are_bearings#Tapered%20Roller%20Bearings

http://www.americanbearings.org/?page=what_are_bearings#Spherical%20Roller%20Bearings

http://www.americanbearings.org/?page=what_are_bearings
















http://www.americanbearings.org/?page=what_are_bearings#Spherical%20Roller%20Bearings

http://www.americanbearings.org/?page=what_are_bearings#Tapered%20Roller%20Bearings



http://www.americanbearings.org/?page=what_are_bearings#Ball%20Bearings





For this investigation, only ball bearings are considered.

Ball Bearings

Below are the characteristics of ball bearings:

– Rolling motion is produced by balls

– Low friction, high speed and enables light to medium loading

– Light and general machine applications

Ball bearings are commonly found in fans, roller blades, wheel bearings, and under hood applications on

cars.

Assembly of Ball Bearings

After some manufacturing process, a ball bearing consists of mainly the following parts before assembly:

Figure 1: Ball bearing parts.

Some other parts also include rubber seals to contain the grease.

To assemble all the parts together, an automated assembly system is used to enable high efficiency and

mass production. This is further discussed in the following section.





Workstations and their Responsibilities

1. Hopper – The processed balls are placed into the hopper that selects and delivers the balls to the

automated assembly machine workstation.

2. Feeder – Transfers the balls to the races through tubes.

3. Pusher – Loads the correct quantity of balls into the outer and inner races that were placed on the rotaryindex table.





4. Balls divider – Divides the position of the balls evenly between the races.

5. First half cage insertion – Installs half of the ball cage (the half with rivet holes).

6. Second half cage insertion – Installs the other half of the cage (the half with rivets).

7. Spinning tester – Tests the spinning of the bearing.





8. Rivets installer – Rivets the two halves of the cage.

9. Noise vibration tester – Ensures the ball bearings operate quietly.

10. Lubricating – Squirts lubricator/grease evenly into the ball bearings.





11. Seal installer – Installs seal onto the bearings that contains the grease.

12. Weight tester – Tests the weight of the ball bearings to ensure that they are of required weight.

Bearings that do not meet the requirements are tossed by a mechanical arm.

13. Lasering – The verified bearings are marked with information by lasering.

14. Packaging and delivery – Bearings that are done assembling are packed and delivered to customers

according to their requirements.





Quality Control

Bearing production has to be very precise. Tests are carried out on samples of the steel coming to the

production plant to make sure that it has the correct compositions of metal. Hardness and toughness tests

are also carried out during the heat treating process. Besides, many inspections are done to confirm the

sizes and shapes. The outer surface of the balls and the races must be smooth.

Flowchart of the Assembly Line

Figure 5: Flowchart of the ball bearing assembly line.





3.0 Conclusion

In conclusion, the production of bearings has to be precise, as bearings are applied in many industries. In

the production, automation systems are largely involved. For this investigation, the automated assembling

system consists of 14 stations to assemble the ball bearings. This ensures that bearings can be produced in

high efficiency and quantity to meet the industrial needs. By using the automated assembly system,

thousand of pieces of bearings can be produced in an hour. This surely brings benefits to the industrycompared to manual assembly as it takes more time and cost.

References

1. Americanbearings.org, (2014). Bearing Industry - American Bearings Manufacturers Association.

[online] Available at: http://www.americanbearings.org/?page=bearing_industry [Accessed 29 Jun.

2014].

2. Americanbearings.org, (2014). What Are Bearings? - American Bearings Manufacturers

Association. [online] Available at: http://www.americanbearings.org/?page=what_are_bearings

[Accessed 29 Jun. 2014].

3. Engineeringmotion.com, (2011). Manufacturing A Ball Bearing Assembly Engineering &

Technology Videos. [online] Available at:

http://www.engineeringmotion.com/videos/931/manufacturing-a-ball-bearing-assembly [Accessed

29 Jun. 2014].

4. Ingersollprodsys.com, (2009). Ingersoll Production Systems - Bearing Assembly Machines.

[online] Available at:

http://www.ingersollprodsys.com/Products/Automation/BearingAssemblyMachines.htm [Accessed

29 Jun. 2014].

5. Madehow.com, (2014). How ball bearing is made - manufacture, making, used, parts, dimensions,

industry, machine, Raw Materials, The Manufacturing Process of ball bearing, Quality Control.

[online] Available at: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Ball-Bearing.html [Accessed 29 Jun.

2014].

6. Slideshare.net, (2014). 8 automated assembly-systems. [online] Available at:

http://www.slideshare.net/lizard_mn/8-automated-assemblysystems [Accessed 29 Jun. 2014].

Automation line for assembling ball bearings

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