MEDICAL DEVICES AND X-RAY
GMN has been an innovative and reliable technology partner for medical devices with bearings in more than 100,000 X-ray tube systems, including one of the first tubes in the world that could capture heart images

EXTRAORDINARILY RESILIENT
The extreme operating conditions for bearings in rotary anode X-ray tubes are a complex challenge, requiring experience in the fields of materials, surface technology and the design of the entire system.

OPTIMIZED ENGINEERING
GMN coats relevant components such as bearing rings, disc seats and balls using its own PVD sputtering system.

Coating the balls with nanometer (10-9 m) levels of lead or silver is the result of various research projects, and forms the basis for low-noise and -vibration, particle-free GMN bearing systems which deliver impressive performance.

The challenge for X-ray tube system bearings:

• Bearing temperatures up to 550 °C
• Ultrahigh vacuum (10-7 bis 10-9 mbar)
• Electrical conductivity, high voltage
• Dry lubrication
• Surface pressures in the bearing up to 3,200 N/mm2
• Low running noise
• Low vibration
• No bearing-related particles or flakes

COST AND PERFORMANCE IN HARMONY
Particle-free tribology also allows a simplified design without expensive and cost-intensive bearing covers. Calculation tools, test stand trials and design-to-cost studies reflect in the systems’ designs. The use of temperature-compensated bearing units has shown it to be the better technical and cost-optimized solution when compared to spring pre-tensioned systems.

The ingenious installation design provides optimized design and also reduces the number of critical components as well as costs. A reliable supply chain for precision vacuum components, GMN measurement equipment, manufacturing systems for plasma cleaning and vacuum packing, as well as close contact to leading technology partners in industry and research give our customers the necessary security in this highly-sensitive applications area.