Romax Technology was founded by bearing expert Dr. Peter Poon, MBE, over thirty years ago. To this day, they continue to provide bearing specialists with the independent tools they require to perform cutting-edge rolling element bearing analysis. With a proven track record within the bearing industry, Romax Technology are the obvious choice for bearing suppliers and experts, with the world’s top six bearing manufacturers using its software and service solutions.

Romax have recently launched Romax Spin, a software tool specifically aimed at bearing specialists, which offers accurate simulation of rolling element bearings as part of a full electro-mechanical system. It provides access to more than 60,000 bearings from major supplier catalogs, and its advanced analysis capabilities include prediction of element and raceway stresses, rib contact, edge stress and contact truncation. Utilising Romax’s ‘full system’ approach, Romax Spin ensures holistic understanding of all system interactions, from gear contact to shaft stiffness and housing deflection, and thus gives unrivalled insight into bearing performance. Its optimised contact algorithms offer an ideal balance of speed and accuracy, and Romax Spin thus empowers bearing specialists with the insight required to design and select bearings for optimum performance and durability.

Romax Spin is one of the six products recently launched on the new product platform, Romax Nexus: an integrated ecosystem of focused products which align with the driveline development cycle from concept exploration to virtual product sign-off. Romax Spin is fully interoperable with the rest of the products on the platform, enabling greater collaboration within organisations and with suppliers.

Alongside developing software, Romax are active in research. The projects they engage with, combined with their in-house expertise, drive the creation of innovative new software capabilities and products. For example, Romax have recently conducted research in the experimental measurements of heat generation and thermal losses in bearings operating at high speeds, common in electric vehicle applications. These conditions can lead to a phenomenon known as bearing skidding, which can result in generation of excessive frictional heat, high surface shear stress, and subsequently cause efficiency issues or premature bearing failures.

As a result of this research, Romax have developed new, innovative bearing simulation methods that predict dynamic bearing behaviour and help avoid these non-conventional failure modes. This capability has been packaged into the first commercially available tool of its kind: Romax Bearing Dynamics.

Cloud-accessed Romax Bearing Dynamics enables time-domain, multibody dynamic roller bearing simulation, which predicts the occurrence of skidding in electric vehicles in a matter of minutes. This novel approach considers structural, thermal and fluid domains, providing understanding of the mechanisms of skidding and helping users to pinpoint potential design improvements. The new product brings an innovative capability to designers and engineers striving to meet the industry’s ever-growing challenges.

Romax Bearing Dynamics is currently a finalist in the ‘Most Innovative Use of Software or Cloud Technology’ Category in the Go: Tech 2019 Awards.

For more information on Romax Spin or to request your free trial, visit: https://romaxtech.com/software/bearings