Flexure Pivot^TM Tilt Pad Journal Bearings

Flexure Pivot™ tilt pad journal bearings eliminate any pivot wear, high contact stresses and pad flutter problems and achieve the same low cross-coupling and high stability through flexure and rotation of the support web which is achieved in a standard tilt pad bearings by the rocking or sliding motion. Our Flexure Pivot tilting pad journal bearings are offered in a standard line or they can be customized to meet specific application need. 

Key Benefits of Flexure Pivot^TM Bearings

• Minimizes the manufacturing tolerance stack-up. The integral pad-pivot-retainer design eliminates most of the manufacturing tolerance stack-up. This feature is a critical design parameter which has a direct impact on the rotor's stability, critical speed, and synchronous response characteristics. 

• Eliminates pivot wear and contact stresses. The Flexure Pivot tilt pad design eliminates the pivot wear and brinelling associated with the standard tilt pad bearings. This prevents the degradation in performance with time, maintains the desired bearing preload, and provides a narrower spread in the stiffness and damping coefficients.

• Simple one-piece design. Also available in split configuration, it offers the performance of a tilt pad bearing and the simplicity of a sleeve bearing. Installation is easy and the pads never need any adjustment.

• Available with very small wall thickness. In some cases, a conventional sleeve bearing can be replaced with a Flexure Pivot tilt pad radial bearing without any requirement for the housing modifications.

• Inherently stable bearing design. Like conventional tilt pad bearings, Flexure Pivot bearings are inherently stable, ensuring optimal rotordynamic characteristics. The rotational stiffness of the pivot is selected such that the destabilizing cross-coupled stiffness coefficients are negligible.

• Eliminates pad flutter and spragging. The rotational stiffness increases the pad natural frequency and eliminates pad flutter and spragging often encountered on the unloaded pads in conventional standard tilt pad bearings.

• Retro-fit small and miniature size bearings. The advanced techniques utilized in the manufacturing of Flexure Pivot tilt pad bearings make them a good choice for retro-fitting small and miniature size fluid film and rolling element bearings.

Download Brochure: Flexure Pivot Tilt Pad Bearings
Download Inquiry Sheet: Radial Bearing Inquiry Sheet

Please complete our Bearing Application Inquiry Sheet if you would like us to evaluate your application. The completed inquiries can be sent to sales@kmcbearings.com