Noise Awareness Day - Whisper Bearing

Today is Noise Awareness Day, which draws worldwide attention to the often underestimated consequences of noise pollution: Franke whisper bearings show how modern medical technology can effectively eliminate sources of noise - and improve performance, precision and patient experience at the same time.

Machines and devices with moving parts generate noise - whether through friction, vibration or structure-borne noise. Frictional noises are effectively reduced by optimally matching the friction surfaces to each other and by adequate lubrication of these surfaces. 

The generation of vibration noise and structure-borne noise can be effectively prevented by insulating intermediate layers of damping materials. This design principle is also applied to Franke wire race bearings as whisper bearings.

Franke wire race bearings are based on a simple principle: Wire race rings are fitted with a raceway that is precisely matched to the diameter of the rolling elements. This means that the rolling process does not take place directly between the rolling element and the surrounding structure, but on the four open raceways. This design principle allows the enclosing structure to be freely designed in terms of geometry and choice of material. 

Franke whisper bearings are the consistent further development of wire race bearing technology in terms of noise minimization.

Whisper bearings are also used successfully in the field of highly dynamic slewing bearings. Franke special bearings for computer tomographs are customized high-performance bearings. They impress with their particularly quiet running and actively contribute to minimizing the noise exposure of patients during treatment. More than 50,000 Franke CT bearings are already in use in medical technology. 

In modern CT scanners, rotating loads weighing up to 1 ton are moved at speeds of up to 400 rpm. The high speeds are necessary to generate high-resolution diagnostic images. The higher the resolution, the more precisely the X-ray detector must rotate in order to obtain sharp images. In addition to quiet running, high precision is therefore also required of a CT bearing. This means that exact axial and radial run-out must be guaranteed. 

Franke wire race bearings are the first choice of renowned manufacturers of CT scanners worldwide. Quiet, lightweight and highly dynamic, they meet all the requirements of modern components for high-performance medicine. Here, customers receive the complete assembly of lightweight bearing, motor and control unit from a single source. 

Numerous design variants of the whisper bearing have been implemented to date: 2-row angular contact ball bearings for very high speeds or a particularly space-saving slewing ring that runs at high circumferential speeds in luggage scanners, for example.

The advantages of Franke whisper bearings 

• Compact design 
• Noise reduction of 5dB (A) thanks to elastomer coating 
• Inner and outer ring electrically insulated thanks to elastomer coating 
• Available as a bearing element in diameters from 60 - 2,000 mm 
• Available as a ready-to-install slewing ring with integrated direct drive