NTN bearings with multilane magnetic encoder

NTN Corporation (hereinafter, NTN) has developed “Multi-track Magnetic Encoder Integrated Rolling Bearing” with excellent environmental resistance and high-resolution angle detection. The bearing unit integrates the bearing with the magnetic type encoder and contributes to improving performance, downsizing/downsizing robots and saving hours of labor in assembly and configuration.

In recent years, the use of robots has accelerated to achieve automation and labor savings at production sites in various industries, reflecting the decline in the working-age population ratio, in line with declining birth rates. and the aging population and the types of jobs that robots perform in are becoming different. Each robot is needed not only to improve movement accuracy, but also to reduce the number of components in joints, the size/weight of each component, and labor hours in the assembly process.

The new “Multilane Magnetic Encoder Integrated Bearing” is a bearing unit that integrates a deep groove ball bearing that supports the magnetic ring and joints of the sensing robot. It can detect rotation speed, direction and absolute angle. By attaching the proprietary NTN “multi-track magnetic ring* ¹ ” to the inner ring of the bearing and reading the changes in the magnetic poles of the “multi-track magnetic ring” with IC magnetic sensor equipped with outer ring, the product can detect the rotation speed and absolute angle with the industry's highest level of angle detection resolution (20-bit maximum, approximately 0.00034° resolution). Using cultured bearing integration technology with bearings with integrated rotation sensors* ² , which are adopted in transportation equipment such as forklifts, NTN optimizes the distance and directions of the “multi-track magnetic ring” and IC magnetic sensor to create compact units and light. The product eliminates the need for transmission devices, such as joints that connect the joint axis and the rotary encoder, achieving sizing/clearing of the robot joint. Because magnetic encoders have excellent environmental resistance to dust and oil, they can demonstrate their high-resolution detection under such usage conditions.

As the product integrates magnetic bearings and encoders, it eliminates the need for assembling and adjusting encoders and rotating joints, facilitating the assembly of the robot. The bearing size and load capacity in the product are the same as conventional bearings and can be applied to a wide range of robots.

NTN will propose this product to robot manufacturers as a product that supports the expansion and diversification of the robot market, while also expanding the area of ​​robot-related modules outlined in the “DRIVE NTN100” Phase 2 Medium-Term Management Plan. NTN will exhibit this product at “JIMTOF2022, the 31st international machine tool exhibition in Japan”, held from November 8th to 13th this year.