New Stealth-Ship Radar to Rotate on Timken(R) Bearings

In its new Type 45 destroyers, the British Royal Navy will be using Timken(R) crossed roller bearings in the turning base of the ship's radar system. This new radar system is encased in large spherical housings atop the vessels' foremast. Within the housing is the next-generation, multi-function, radar developed by AMS (Alenia Marconi Systems Limited), one of the leading radar suppliers in the world. The unit rotates at 30 rpm on an equally innovative bearing setup which The Timken Company assisted in developing. The large diameter bearings in the turning base are designed with two sets of races and rollers brought together at right angles to each other. This crossed roller design increases the load-carrying capacity of the bearing while maintaining a light weight. These characteristics helped the designing engineers to meet the demanding performance requirements of this rotating radar mechanism. "With the radar unit located high above the waves, it was not only important to reduce total weight, but also to ensure durability," said Thomas L. Baker, chief engineer - process industries - Timken. "The bearings must also endure extreme temperature conditions, from polar winters to tropical summers. Our bearing experts were able to contribute to a solution that offers weight savings, simplified design integration, and dependability under difficult conditions." "By working closely with customers like AMS, we are able to assist in engineering custom solutions to challenging applications," Jochen Peiffer, general sales manager - Europe. "Our sales engineers work with Timken bearing and material experts around the world. And, that brings value to end users as well as to our own company." Known as "SAMPSON," this next-generation multi-function radar is used for surveillance, target identification and target tracking. The radar utilizes digital adaptive beam forming, which makes it virtually immune to electronic jamming, and is very powerful. Capable of performing many tasks simultaneously, SAMPSON uses an active-array antenna made up of many individually controlled transmitter and receiver units. These reduce the energy losses that limit the performance of conventional radar systems. "When evaluating the alternative bearing designs for SAMPSON, AMS was particularly interested in a bearing configuration that could substantially contribute to a simple, integral solution encompassing the radar unit, its turning base and protective composite housing," said Mr. Baker. Other design specifications of the bearing solution improve interaction with the radar's carbon fiber housing and additional machining allows the bearing to function as an integral turning base for SAMPSON. Special seals also were created to protect the bearing from the harsh environmental conditions. In helping AMS to determine the optimal bearing configuration, Timken engineers utilized SYSx, a proprietary engineering software tool for calculating and predicting the performance of bearings, gears and housings used in a wide range of complex applications. "The finite element modeling approach of SYSx can reduce development lead times by identifying potential problems before physical testing begins," said Mr. Baker. AMS is an equal shares joint venture between BAE SYSTEMS in the United Kingdom and FINMECCANICA in Italy. AMS is a multi-national electronic systems company specializing in the design, manufacture and supply of radar and mission critical command, control and management systems to defense forces and air traffic management authorities throughout the world.