Slewing Ring Bearing Applications

Slewing ring bearings are heavy-duty components designed to support combined loads (axial, radial, and tilting moments) while enabling 360-degree rotation.

The primary applications of slewing ring bearings include:

• Aerospace & Defense: Used in radar antennas, tank turrets, and satellite ground stations.
• Construction Machinery: They serve as the rotating hub for excavators, cranes (mobile, tower, and port), and concrete pump trucks.
• Renewable Energy: Essential for wind turbine yaw and pitch systems, as well as solar tracking systems.
• Industrial Automation: Providing precision rotary motion for industrial robots, assembly lines, and welding tables.
• Medical Equipment: Ensuring stable rotation in high-precision devices like CT scanners.

Construction Machinery

Construction machinery is absolutely slewing bearing the most widely used, the most mature areas. These equipment have to do heavy work in the harsh environment of sand, dust and mud all the year round. If the bearings are not solid enough, the equipment will have to lie down.

Excavator

Slewing bearing is the core component connecting the chassis and the upper part. It not only allows the cab and the big arm to rotate 360 degrees, but more importantly, it has to resist the huge overturning moment generated by the digging action.

Cranes

Whether it is a towering tower crane, a mobile truck crane or a port crane, the bearing is directly related to safety. It supports all the weight of the boom and the load, and the stability of lifting and turning depends on it.

Concrete Pump Truck

The scary-looking telescopic boom of the pump truck depends on the precise positioning ability of the rotary mechanism to accurately pour concrete to the designated position on the construction site.

Renewable Energy

With the global energy transition to green, high-performance slewing bearings in the renewable energy sector. There is a pain point in this industry: equipment is usually installed in remote areas or at sea, and maintenance costs are extremely high, so bearings must have a long life, or even maintenance-free.

Wind Turbines

There are two key application points. The first is the yaw system at the top of the tower, which is responsible for turning the nacelle to always align with the wind direction; the second is the pitch system (Pitch System) at the root of the blade, which is used to adjust the blade angle, which is not only to optimize the aerodynamic efficiency, but also a “life-saving” means in high winds.

Solar Tracking System

Whether it is photovoltaic (PV) or solar thermal (CSP) power station, the use of rotary drive and bearings to make the panels track the sun like sunflowers, its power generation efficiency is much higher than that of fixed panels.

Industrial Automation

When it comes to industrial 4.0 and intelligent manufacturing, the role of slewing bearings has changed slightly-it is more about converting power into precise rotary motion.

Industrial Robots

The joints of multi-joint robotic arms make extensive use of such bearings. What I value is their high rigidity, which ensures that the robot can maintain extremely high accuracy when grasping heavy objects or performing complex assemblies.

Welding Positioner And Assembly Line

A rotary table equipped with a slewing bearing can make the workpiece rotate smoothly for automatic welding or processing. This is essential to ensure the consistency of product quality and shorten the production cycle.

Medical Equipment

Different from the “silly, big, black and thick” demand in the heavy industry, medical applications do not simply pursue load, but put silence, smoothness and extreme precision in the first place.

CT Scanner

This is an application scenario that cannot tolerate the slightest vibration. The slewing bearing is responsible for supporting the gantry (Gantry, containing the X-ray source and detector) for high-speed rotation around the patient. According to experience, the smooth running of the bearing directly determines whether the generated medical image is clear or not, so this piece of the manufacturing process is extremely demanding.

Aerospace And Defense

In the field of aerospace and defense, equipment is not allowed to go wrong (Failure is not an option). Slewing bearings here are usually certified to strict military and aviation standards.

Radar Antenna

Whether it is a ground base station or a shipborne radar, it needs continuous or scanning rotation to search for the target. The bearing must not only support the antenna structure against wind loads, but also rotate stably enough to ensure the accuracy of signal tracking.

Tank Turrets

Modern main battle tank turrets are very heavy and need to carry the weight of gun recoil and armor. The bearings must ensure that the turret can still rotate quickly and lock the target when the tank is driving on rough off-road roads.

Satellite Ground Station

Large communication dishes rely on these bearings to adjust the azimuth and elevation angle, so that the communication link with the orbiting satellite is never interrupted.

Author: Victor

“I am a senior mechanical engineer with over 16 years of experience in the heavy machinery and bearing industry. I specialize in the design and application of slewing ring bearings, helping engineers and procurement managers select the right components for construction, energy, and automation projects.”