Save material, increase precision

Whether in satellites in space or in X-ray machines in hospitals and medical practices, Rodriguez's in-house precision bearings are used in many specialized applications. Tailored to the specific application, they can often integrate additional functions, helping to reduce material usage and tighten tolerances.

When a satellite deploys its solar panels or an X-ray machine automatically adjusts its focus, the demands on implementing the movement are much more specific than standard bearings can meet. For this purpose, Rodriguez develops and manufactures precision bearings specifically tailored to customer requirements.

Customize all product parameters

The company's development specialists can customize virtually all product parameters. The spectrum ranges from bearing dimensions to the materials of the cages and rolling elements, as well as special greases for lubrication. If clean room conditions are required, for example, the developers use stainless steel for the cage and ceramic for the rollers. If the bearing must operate under extreme environmental conditions, special greases are used, with viscosity optimized for very high or low temperatures.

But the customization approach taken by Rodriguez's engineers goes even further. They analyze the entire application situation. This includes not only the stress on the bearings, but also the environment of the process chain in question. "We can often integrate additional functionalities into the rolling bearings, for example, for fastening or adjustment," explains Rodriguez's Head of Development, Dr.-Ing. Thomas Dorfmüller.

Surrounding components become superfluous

This functional integration often eliminates one or even several surrounding components. This offers customers a wealth of advantages. Development steps as well as procurement, administration, and assembly costs are eliminated. Customers save material and thus also some of the installation space that is often very limited in modern systems. Another decisive advantage for highly complex applications: It increases precision. After all, every additional part increases tolerances; every part that can be omitted reduces them.

The specialists on the team led by Head of Development, Dorfmüller, have extensive experience and are very familiar with the requirements of automated motion tasks. Numerous of their custom-developed rolling bearings successfully perform their tasks not only in applications such as satellites, X-ray systems, visual and laser measurement equipment, and the semiconductor industry, but also in traditional mechanical and plant engineering. Thomas Dorfmüller and his specialists are always available to design customized, robust, and high-precision rolling bearing solutions for interested customers from all industries.