[Case Study] Delivery of ADB Bearings to the Railway Technical Research Institute

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Self-regulating decentralized rolling bearing

last updated：Oct 11, 2026

ADB bearings have been adopted as touchdown bearings used during the failure of magnetic bearings.

【Implementation Results: Railway Technical Research Institute, Wind Power Related Companies】 It was discovered that the initially planned product could not be used as a touchdown bearing for magnetic bearings in the event of a failure, so ADB was urgently adopted. Through evaluations on actual machines, the stable support performance of ADB was confirmed, and there have been voices suggesting that "for radial support, ADB may be more suitable than magnetic bearings." Currently, it is being proposed as "flywheel energy storage."

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basic information

<Mechanism and Structure of ADB> The mechanism of ADB ("Autonomous Distributed Rolling Bearings") is very simple. There are small "indentations" where the balls of the outer ring make contact. In a conventional bearing, the balls roll directly beneath the shaft, but in ADB, the indentations on the outer ring cause the balls to roll slightly off to the side from directly underneath. As a result, even when the balls make a complete rotation, the distance they travel is shorter. This causes the balls to decelerate slightly when passing through the indentations and to accelerate again after passing through. Consequently, behind the accelerated balls, the following balls are still decelerating, creating small gaps between the balls. ADB utilizes this principle to naturally separate the balls without the use of a retainer.

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- Tokyo 2020 Paralympics: Adopted for the wheelchair of the Japanese national wheelchair rugby team (Bronze medal won) - Paris 2024 Paralympics: Adopted for the wheelchair of the Japanese national wheelchair rugby team (Gold medal won) (Scheduled to be adopted for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics as well) - Recorded 1.68 million views and 1,380 comments on YouTube (as of October 2026) - Kawasaki Entrepreneur Audition: Won the Entrepreneur Award - Invention Grand Prize: Won the Invention Encouragement Award - Nikkei Monozukuri: Featured in an 8-page special article - Various patents obtained

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※We will customize and manufacture individually according to the purpose, so the delivery time will vary.

Applications/Examples of results

<Aerospace Field> ■Delivery Record: JAXA ADB has been adopted for equipment used in harsh environments, such as attitude control for satellites requiring long life, thrust vector control for rockets requiring vibration resistance, and rotors for Mars drones requiring high-speed rotation. <Marine Research Field> ■Delivery Record: JAMSTEC Leveraging the feature of being able to use seawater directly as a lubricant, ADB has been adopted for equipment used in seawater environments. <Machine Tools, Robotics, and Canning Field> ■Delivery Record: OSG, DMG Mori Seiki Thanks to ADB's ability to rotate with low torque, it has contributed to increasing speeds to 30,000 rpm, approximately 2.5 times faster than conventional methods. It is also utilized for improving the efficiency of robotic movements and reducing takt time. <Energy Field> ■Delivery Record: Railway Technical Research Institute, Wind Power Generation Related Companies ADB has been adopted as a touchdown bearing used during failures of magnetic bearings. <Automotive and Engine Field> ■Delivery Record: Toyota Motor Corporation, among others A design report for ADB capable of high-speed rotation conditions of 180,000 rpm with a shaft diameter of 33 mm has been delivered for turbochargers, which are particularly exposed to harsh environments among automotive parts.