Подтысқарлы подшипниктердің ABEC шкаласы

Industrial scale for bearing tolerance
The ABEC scale is an industry accepted standard for the tolerances of a ball bearing. The ABEC scale is designed to provide bearing manufacturers dimensional specifications that meet the standards of precision bearings in a specified class. The scale is also used by manufacturers who produce equipment that require bearings must also know the dimensional tolerances to design parts that will accommodate a bearing.

It was developed by the Annular Bearing Engineering Committee (ABEC) of the American Bearing Manufacturers Association (ABMA).

Outside the industrial uses mentioned, the scale may also works as a guide for consumers to make informed decisions about the type of bearing they desire. However, the ABEC scale itself does not inform anything about other critical factors related to materials, manufacturing, and performance. High ABEC rated bearings are intended for precision applications such as aircraft instruments or surgical equipment. Lower graded bearings are intended for the vast majority of applications such as vehicles, mechanical hobbies, roller skates, skateboards, fishing reels and industrial machinery. High ABEC rated bearings allow optimal performance of critical applications requiring very high revolutions per minute and smooth operation.

For illustration, the figure shows the differences in tolerance per ABEC class in micrometers (μm) for a 20 mm inner diameter bearing. A 20 mm ABEC 7 bearing only has a 5 μm tolerance window, whereas an ABEC 1 has twice as wide a tolerance. Often significant is also the maximum runout of the race on the inner ring, as this determines how far the axle may shift dynamically from its center position when rotating. For axle diameters between 1 and 18 mm, for the various ABEC classes, they are : ABEC1 : 10 um, ABEC3 : 7 um, ABEC5 : 4 um, ABEC7 : 2.5 um, ABEC9 : 1.5 um .

The ABEC rating does not specify many critical factors, such as load handling capabilities, ball precision, materials, material Rockwell hardness, degree of ball and raceway (cone) polishing, noise, vibration, and lubricant. Due to these factors, a high quality ABEC 3 classified bearing could actually perform better than a lower quality bearing which satisfies (the stricter) ABEC 7 requirement.