How to choose the right slewing drive for you?

What is Slewing Drive?

The slewing drive is integrated rotary reduction drive with a built-in drive system. Its core structure adopts a slewing ring bearing as a transmission follower and mechanical interface, through the connection between the drive system and one in the inner and outer rings of the bearing, and the other ring serves as the transmission follower and the load connection base. This design cleverly makes use of the full-cycle rotation characteristics of the slewing ring bearing itself, and organically integrates the power source, transmission components and bearing structure to form a modular transmission device with the functions of rotary motion, deceleration and torque increase, and power drive. Its typical structure has the technical advantages of compact layout, high transmission efficiency, convenient installation and maintenance, etc., and can be widely used in the field of industrial equipment that requires large torque rotary transmission.

Features of Slewing Drive:

Compact structure: The integrated drive system and bearing structure eliminate the need for independent support components in the traditional drive chain, greatly reducing the installation space.

High transmission efficiency: The power is directly transmitted through the inner and outer rings of the bearing, reducing the energy loss of the intermediate links, and the efficiency can reach more than 85%.

High torque output: Worm gear or planetary gear reduction structure enables torque output from 500 N·m to tens of thousands of N·m.

High-precision positioning: Bearing preload design and transmission clearance control technology ensure repeatable positioning accuracy of ±0.05°.

Modular design: drive units, bearings, seals, etc. can be replaced independently, and the maintenance cost is low.

High reliability: The fully sealed structure has an IP65 protection level, which is suitable for dust, humidity and other harsh working conditions.

Working Principle of Slewing Drives

The slewing drive takes the slewing plate bearing as the core, and the rotary transmission is realized through the following steps:

Power input: The motor drives a worm or gear to transmit rotational motion to the inner or outer ring of the bearing.

Reduction and torque increase: The worm is meshed with the worm gear (or planetary gear) to convert the high-speed low torque into low-speed high torque through the reduction ratio.

Rotation transmission: the bearing fixing ring is connected with the frame, and the driven ring is rigidly connected with the load through the flange to directly output the rotary motion.

Cyclic support: The rolling elements (balls/rollers) inside the bearing circulate between the inner and outer ring tracks, while subjecting to axial, radial, and overturning moments.

The Price of The Slewing Drive

The price of slewing drive varies greatly depending on the model, load capacity, accuracy and application scenarios, and the price of basic products (such as photovoltaic tracking brackets and small equipment steering) is usually between 500-4000 yuan, industrial-grade high-precision products (such as robot joints, port machinery) are about 5000-300000 yuan, and special customized products (such as heavy machinery, medical equipment) can reach 20,000-200,000 yuan. The price is mainly affected by the cost of materials, the complexity of the transmission structure and the market supply and demand, it is recommended to contact the manufacturer to obtain an accurate quotation according to the specific needs, and pay attention to the fact that the online platform estimate may be different from the actual transaction price.

How to Choose The Right Slewing Drive for You?

The selection of a slewing drive should be based on the requirements of the operating conditions, environmental conditions and equipment characteristics, focusing on the following core elements:

Load capacity matching

Axial / Radial Force: Based on the weight of the rotating part of the machine and the external pressure, the axial force (e.g. WE25 can withstand 2360kN axial static load) and radial force are calculated.

Overturning torque: The bending moment generated by the rotating arm or load needs to be considered to ensure the overturning resistance of the selected model.

Environmental adaptability

Degree of protection: IP65/IP67 for outdoor or dusty environments (e.g. WE series enclosed design) is required.

Material and surface treatment: Stainless steel or nickel-plated worm should be selected for corrosive scenarios (such as marine engineering), and 42CrMo quenched material can be used for common working conditions to improve wear resistance.

Installation & Space Constraints

Interface form: according to the main machine structure, choose flange type, through-hole type or customized installation method.

Compact size: The modular design, e.g. integrated motor and gear unit, saves space and is suitable for small machines.

Accuracy and stability

Backlash control: For precision positioning scenarios, you need to select a model with a backlash ≤ 0.35mm (such as WEA9).

Transmission efficiency: The number of worm heads affects the efficiency (the efficiency of multi-head worms is higher), and it is necessary to balance self-locking and energy consumption.

Adaptation of drive mode

Power source: servo motor is suitable for high-precision control, hydraulic drive is suitable for high torque demand (such as construction machinery).

Ratio selection: match the reduction ratio according to the speed requirements (for example, the speed ratio range of WE series is usually 1:50~1:100).

Economical and reliable

Life cycle: Alloy steel worm is preferred in high load scenarios (the service life can reach more than 100,000 hours).

Maintenance costs: Lubrication-free design (e.g., some models) reduces the frequency of maintenance.

Supplier of Slewing Drives

LTZC is a professional slewing drive manufacturer, providing high-quality slewing drives with accuracy covering four levels: Po, P6, P5 and P4. Executive standard: universal bearing GB/T307, slewing drive JB/2300, shipbuilding industry CB/T3669, machinery industry JB/T10471, wind turbine bearing B/T10705. In 2003, it passed the SO9001 quality system certification.