Modern machine design is increasingly defined by a difficult combination of requirements:
more performance, greater reliability, smaller packaging and tighter cost control.
Design engineers are being asked to reduce machine size and weight while increasing output. Purchasing teams are under continuous pressure to control component and total system cost. Manufacturing teams want fewer parts, simpler assembly and repeatable production.
Bearing selection sits directly at the intersection of all three.
For many applications, this is precisely where double row ball bearings become particularly interesting.
At Neuweg Fertigung GmbH, double row bearing technology has been at the heart of our manufacturing expertise for decades. We manufacture both
Double Row Angular Contact Ball Bearings and Double Row Deep Groove Ball Bearings in Germany, including application-specific variants where a standard catalogue bearing does not provide the optimum solution.
The attraction of the double row concept is relatively simple:
two rows of rolling elements allow significant bearing capability to be packaged into one integrated component.
But the benefits extend considerably further than load capacity alone.
The Engineering Challenge: More Performance in Less Space
The space available for a bearing is rarely unlimited.
Electric motors, pumps, compressors, gearboxes, fans, conveying equipment, agricultural machinery and industrial automation systems are all subject to pressure to become more compact.
At the same time, the loads do not necessarily become smaller.
Designers may have to accommodate radial loading, axial forces, shaft deflection and tilting moments within an increasingly restricted design envelope.
A conventional response can be to use two individual bearings. In many applications that remains entirely appropriate.
But it also requires axial space.
A Double Row Angular Contact Ball Bearing essentially integrates the function of an opposed pair of angular contact bearings into a single inner and outer ring arrangement. This allows radial loads, axial loads in both directions and moment loads to be accommodated within a comparatively compact package.
That can fundamentally change the way the surrounding machine is designed.
One Bearing Instead of Two?
This is one of the most compelling advantages from a machine-design perspective.
Consider two single row angular contact bearings arranged back-to-back.
The designer must accommodate two separate components and the axial space associated with them. The bearing seats, shoulders, tolerances and assembly strategy must all reflect the arrangement.
A double row angular contact bearing integrates the two-row function into one bearing.
Importantly, this does not mean that one double row bearing is universally interchangeable with any pair of single row bearings. Load ratings, speed capability, contact angle, preload or clearance, stiffness and application requirements still have to be calculated correctly.
But where the application permits it, the space saving can be substantial.
For example, published NSK data compares a 5206 double row bearing with a 7206ADB paired arrangement having the same 30 mm bore and 62 mm outside diameter. The double row bearing is 23.8 mm wide compared with 32 mm for the paired arrangement. The paired bearings have higher quoted load ratings in that particular comparison, illustrating an important point: compactness is an engineering trade-off, not a claim of universally greater capacity.
That is exactly why bearing selection should be application-led.
Managing Combined Loads
Real machines rarely generate perfectly isolated forces.
A pulley may generate predominantly radial loading but still experience axial forces from alignment and operating conditions. A pump shaft can experience radial loading together with hydraulic thrust. Gearboxes generate forces in several directions. Agricultural machinery introduces shock, contamination and significant moment loading.
For a design engineer, the question therefore becomes:
How will the bearing arrangement react when these loads occur simultaneously?
Double row angular contact ball bearings are particularly effective in these conditions because their geometry enables them to accommodate radial loads together with axial loads acting in both directions. They can also support moment loads and provide relatively high rigidity.
This makes the technology particularly relevant where the bearing has to provide both rotational support and accurate shaft location.
Rigidity Matters
Load capacity is only one part of bearing performance.
A machine can contain a bearing capable of surviving the calculated load while still experiencing problems because the overall arrangement does not provide sufficient rigidity.
Deflection can affect gears, seals, impellers, pulleys and other components connected to the shaft.
Double row angular contact bearings provide an inherently useful geometry in this respect. The opposed rows create a bearing arrangement capable of resisting tilting moments while providing radial and axial rigidity. This is one reason double row designs are widely used in applications including pumps, compressors, electric motors and other industrial machinery.
For the design engineer, therefore, the bearing can become part of the structural design of the shaft system, rather than simply a component that allows it to rotate.
The Purchasing Perspective: Look Beyond Bearing Price
The engineering case is relatively easy to understand.
The commercial case deserves equal attention.
A double row bearing may initially be compared against the price of a single row bearing, but that can be the wrong comparison.
The more meaningful question is: What is the cost of the complete bearing arrangement?
If a double row solution can perform a function that would otherwise require two bearings, Purchasing should consider the complete system:
Two bearings versus one. Two components to source versus one. Associated spacers, shoulders or retaining components. Inventory requirements. Assembly operations. Inspection and handling. Potential maintenance requirements.
The bearing with the lowest unit price does not necessarily produce the machine with the lowest manufactured cost.
This is where Purchasing and Engineering need to evaluate the total installed cost, rather than comparing individual bearing prices in isolation.
Fewer Components Can Mean Less Complexity
Reducing component count has commercial value beyond the cost of the components themselves.
Every additional part has to be specified, purchased, received, stocked, handled and assembled.
It also creates another potential point of variation within the production process.
An integrated double row solution can therefore contribute to design simplification and supply-chain simplification at the same time.
That does not automatically make it the least expensive solution in every application.
But it means Purchasing should evaluate the economics at the assembly level, rather than the bearing level.
The Manufacturing Perspective: Simpler Is Valuable
Now consider the same design from the production floor.
Two separate bearings have to be handled and installed correctly. Depending upon the design, their relationship to each other may also be important.
An integrated double row bearing arrives as one component.
Where it can replace a multi-bearing arrangement, this has the potential to simplify installation, reduce handling and make assembly more repeatable.
There may be fewer components to pick.
Fewer components to position.
Fewer opportunities to install the wrong component.
And potentially less axial space required within the assembly.
This is why component integration can have a value that is difficult to see when Purchasing looks only at a bearing price or Engineering looks only at a dynamic load rating.
Good machine design considers how the machine will actually be manufactured.
Double Row Does Not Mean One Bearing for Every Application
There is an important distinction to make.
Not all double row bearings solve the same problem.
At Neuweg, two particularly important families are Double Row Deep Groove Ball Bearings and Double Row Angular Contact Ball Bearings.
Double Row Deep Groove Ball Bearings
These are particularly attractive where radial loading dominates, but greater capacity and axial capability are required within a compact arrangement.
Depending upon the application, they can provide an effective way of increasing capability without substantially increasing the bearing envelope.
Double Row Angular Contact Ball Bearings
These become particularly interesting when the application involves significant combined radial and axial loading, axial location in both directions, rigidity or tilting moments.
The contact angle is fundamental to their behaviour. As contact angle increases, axial load-carrying capability generally increases, which is why bearing geometry has to be matched carefully to the application’s load conditions.
The decision should therefore never simply be: “We need a double row bearing.”
It should be: “What does the bearing arrangement need to achieve?”
Standard Bearing or Engineered Solution?
There is another important advantage to considering the bearing early in the design process.
The optimum solution may not be a catalogue bearing.
Machine designers sometimes create surrounding components to compensate for the limitations of an available standard bearing.
But there is another possibility:
Change the bearing.
At Neuweg, our ability to manufacture application-specific bearing solutions means we can discuss modifications around the requirements of the machine.
Depending upon the application, this can include areas such as: – Internal geometry
- Bearing dimensions
- Inner or outer ring features
- Extended inner rings
- Lubrication holes
- Internal clearance
- Sealing arrangements
- Grease specification
- Application-specific component features
This creates a very different engineering conversation.
Instead of asking:
“Which standard bearing comes closest to our design?”
we can ask:
“What bearing would best support the design we are trying to create?”
That distinction can be extremely important in high-volume OEM applications.
Three Departments. One Better Machine.
The real strength of the double row bearing becomes apparent when the three perspectives are considered together.
For the Design Engineer, it can provide a compact method of managing significant loads, combined radial and axial forces, rigidity and moment loading.
For Purchasing, an integrated solution can potentially reduce component count and shift the discussion from bearing price toward total installed cost.
For Manufacturing, fewer individual components can mean simpler handling, installation and assembly.
And for the machine manufacturer as a whole, those benefits can contribute to something more important:
A smaller, simpler and more commercially competitive machine without unnecessarily compromising performance.
That is why double row bearings should not simply be viewed as “two rows instead of one.”
They are an engineering architecture.
Compact Doesn’t Have to Mean Compromised
There will always be applications where two individual bearings, a single row bearing or another bearing technology represents the better engineering choice.
The objective should never be to specify a double row bearing simply because one is available.
But when the challenge is: High loads. Combined forces. Limited installation space. High rigidity. Reduced component count. Simplified assembly.
…the double row bearing deserves serious consideration.
At Neuweg Fertigung GmbH, this is where more than 70 years of ball bearing manufacturing experience becomes particularly relevant.
We manufacture Double Row Angular Contact Ball Bearings and Double Row Deep Groove Ball Bearings in Germany, and we can work with OEM engineering teams to adapt bearing solutions around specific machine requirements.
Because sometimes the opportunity to improve a machine doesn’t come from making the bearing bigger.
It comes from making the bearing arrangement smarter.
