The 2480mm four-point contact slewing bearing has been assembled and tested.

Recently, LTZC Bearing successfully completed the full assembly and rigorous testing of its self-developed and manufactured 2480mm four-point contact ball slewing bearing.  All performance indicators met international advanced standards, demonstrating the core strength of a Chinese domestic bearing company in the field of manufacturing extra-large precision bearings. As a professional bearing manufacturer with nearly thirty years of experience in the bearing industry, LTZC's new product, with its innovative designs such as external helical gear structure and segmented copper cage, and its stable performance under extreme testing conditions, provides a more reliable domestic bearing solution for the equipment manufacturing industry.

Bearings, as the "joints" of the equipment manufacturing industry, have their precision, load capacity, and stability directly determining the operating quality and service life of high-end equipment. Especially ultra-large four-point contact ball slewing bearings, due to their ability to bear radial, axial, and moment loads, are widely used in key areas such as construction machinery, port machinery, metallurgical equipment, and wind power equipment. Their manufacturing process involves multiple complex stages, including materials science, precision machining, heat treatment, and assembly and debugging, placing extremely high demands on a company's comprehensive technical capabilities. The 2480mm four-point contact ball slewing bearing that LTZC recently completed testing addresses the design difficulties and application challenges of ultra-large diameter bearings through comprehensive technological innovation and process optimization, representing a concentrated embodiment of the company's technological research and manufacturing capabilities.

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Assembly and Testing of a Four-Point Contact Ball Slewing Bearing

To comprehensively verify the performance of the 2480mm four-point contact ball slewing bearing, the LTZC R&D team designed a multi-stage testing plan, progressively testing the product's reliability and stability from basic performance to extreme operating conditions. This bearing features an external helical gear design with a slewing center diameter of 2480mm and is equipped with a segmented copper cage. This structural combination not only enhances the bearing's load-carrying capacity but also optimizes gear transmission efficiency and reduces operating noise, making it suitable for large-scale equipment requiring high transmission precision.

In the first test, the bearing testing carried an 11-ton load at a speed of 47 revolutions per minute, undergoing two 8-hour and one 12-hour continuous operation tests. Test data showed that the maximum temperature during operation was only 61.8℃, and the temperature fluctuation was kept within a very small range throughout the test, demonstrating excellent heat dissipation performance and operational stability. More importantly, even under extreme conditions where the raceway parameters were intentionally set to deviate significantly from theoretical values, the bearing maintained stable operation without abnormal vibration or noise, fully verifying the rationality of its structural design and the precision of its manufacturing process. "Normally, deviations in raceway parameters directly affect the stress distribution of the bearing, leading to increased local wear, sudden temperature increases, and even bearing failure.  Our bearing product, however, can still operate stably under these extreme conditions, thanks to the high-precision grinding technology and strict quality control system we employ in the raceway processing," said the LTZC technical director.

To further optimize product performance, the R&D team made targeted improvements to the bearing based on the first test data: polishing the sharp edges of the cage to reduce friction during operation, and replacing the steel balls with new high-precision ones to improve the fit between the rolling elements and the raceway. In the second test, the bearing ran continuously for 72 hours under the same load (11 tons) and speed (47 revolutions per minute), setting a test record for long-term continuous operation of an extra-large four-point contact ball bearing. Test results show that the optimized bearing exhibits superior temperature control performance, stabilizing at 56℃, a reduction of 5.8℃ compared to the highest temperature recorded in the initial test. Although slight temperature and torque fluctuations occurred during the initial break-in period, both temperature rise and torque remained stable during the steady-state operation phase. The maximum temperature throughout the entire process did not exceed 60℃, fully meeting the requirements for long-term continuous operation of large-scale equipment.

Compared to similar products in the industry, the LTZC 2480mm four-point contact ball slewing bearing demonstrates significant advantages in key performance indicators. It is understood that currently, domestic four-point contact ball bearings of the same specifications typically have a continuous operating time of no more than 48 hours under similar working conditions, and the maximum operating temperature is generally above 65℃. The LTZC product not only extends the continuous operating time to 72 hours but also achieves a significant reduction in temperature. This means that the bearing's service life will be significantly extended, and equipment maintenance costs will be correspondingly reduced. Furthermore, the bearing's end face runout accuracy is controlled within 0.05mm, far exceeding the standards of ordinary industrial-grade bearings, making it directly suitable for high-precision equipment applications.

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Committed to technology and innovation in the bearing industry.

LTZC's continuous breakthroughs in the field of extra-large precision bearings are inseparable from its technical research and development team. The company has assembled a group of experienced bearing industry experts, professors, senior engineers, and senior technicians, forming a complete technical team covering product design, process development, and assembly and debugging. The core R&D personnel all have more than ten years of experience in the development of extra-large bearings and have participated in several national major equipment bearing development projects, possessing a deep understanding of bearing design principles, manufacturing processes, and application scenarios.

During the development of the 2480mm four-point contact ball slewing bearing, the technical team conducted multiple technical breakthroughs focusing on key aspects such as structural design, processing technology, and assembly and debugging of ultra-large bearings. To address the challenges of processing copper cages, they optimized the forming process and machining procedures of the cage, improving its dimensional accuracy and structural stability. 

In addition, the team has established long-term cooperative relationships with several domestic universities and research institutes, carrying out collaborative innovation in industry, academia, and research, applying the latest material technologies, processing technologies, and testing technologies to bearing research and manufacturing, continuously improving the technological content and core competitiveness of its products.

As a national high-tech enterprise, LTZC has always placed technological innovation at the core of its development. To date, the company has obtained numerous invention patents and utility model patents, covering various fields such as bearing structural design, precision machining, and heat treatment. Its product accuracy grades cover P0, P6, P5, and P4, meeting the precision needs of different users. The successful development of the 2480mm four-point contact ball slewing bearing is a significant achievement of the company's innovation investment, further enriching its product portfolio and enhancing its competitiveness in the high-end bearing market.