At a critical time when the industrial vehicle field is accelerating its transformation to new energy and intelligence, China's forklift industry has ushered in a historic breakthrough - Anhui Heli's latest 55-ton lithium-ion counterbalanced forklift has successfully entered the market. As the core strategic supplier of Heli Forklift, Wanda Bearing has provided key support for the birth of this "heavy weapon of a great country" with its independently developed "maintenance-free all-weather" gantry bearing system, once again demonstrating the hard-core strength of China's high-end special bearings.
1. From 48 tons to 55 tons: the ultimate breakthrough of China's special bearings
As an industry champion with a market share of more than 50% in the field of forklift gantry bearings in China, Wanda Bearing has been deeply involved in the field of industrial vehicles for more than 30 years, and its product matrix covers a full range of forklifts from 0.5 tons to 48 tons. Faced with the three major technical challenges of 55 tons of overload, long-term continuous operation, and complex and harsh working conditions proposed by Heli Forklift, Wanda's technical team is well aware that this is not only a leap in tonnage, but also a systematic reconstruction of bearing material science, sealing technology, and structural design. To this end, the company quickly established an "ultra-heavy-load bearing research group" to tackle the problems of high-frequency impact loads, high and low temperature alternation, salt spray corrosion, etc. under extreme working conditions such as ports and mines.
The research team consulted a large amount of cutting-edge information at home and abroad, and cooperated with scientific research institutions to carry out special research. In terms of material selection, traditional solutions were abandoned, and high-performance alloy materials suitable for 55-ton lithium-ion forklift working conditions were carefully selected from a variety of new materials; in terms of sealing technology, conventional ideas were broken and new sealing structures were explored; in terms of structural design, repeated simulations and experiments were carried out to achieve the best results. After countless failures and attempts, the team finally successfully overcame the difficulties and achieved a breakthrough from 48 tons to 55 tons.
2. Three core technology breakthroughs define new industry benchmarks
(I) Innovation in new material applications
Based on extensive research and in-depth analysis, the Wanda Bearing technical team selected a high-performance alloy material from a number of cutting-edge materials. This alloy material has excellent comprehensive performance: its high strength can effectively withstand the huge pressure under ultra-heavy load conditions, ensuring that the bearing does not deform when running under high load; its excellent anti-fatigue properties greatly extend the service life of the bearing, reduce the replacement frequency, and provide a solid guarantee for the continuous and stable operation of the forklift. In harsh environments such as ports and mines, the material exhibits excellent corrosion resistance, greatly reducing the risk of failure caused by corrosion and significantly improving the reliability of the bearing.
(II) Upgrade of sealing structure
Wanda Bearing adopts a newly developed sealing structure, which effectively solves the problem that traditional seals are prone to failure under complex working conditions. The sealing structure significantly improves the sealing performance through ingenious design, and can strictly prevent external dust, moisture and corrosive substances from invading the interior of the bearing. Even if the forklift operates for a long time in the harsh environment of dusty mines and humid and salty ports, this new sealing structure can still function stably, greatly reducing the loss of internal grease and maintenance costs, while ensuring a good lubrication environment inside the bearing and ensuring the smooth operation of the bearing.
(III) Optimizing structural design to improve stability
Wanda Bearing has made innovative optimization designs for the bearing structure. Through precise mechanical analysis and simulation calculations, the internal structure of the bearing has been adjusted in all directions. When the optimized bearing is subjected to an overload of 55 tons, the stress distribution is more uniform and reasonable, which effectively reduces the stress concentration phenomenon and greatly improves the overall stability. At the same time, when dealing with high-frequency impact loads, the optimized structure can better buffer and disperse the impact force, greatly reducing the risk of structural damage caused by impact, ensuring the reliable operation of the bearing under extreme working conditions, and laying a solid foundation for the safe and efficient operation of the forklift.
3. Double-leading resonance: a heavyweight dialogue of China's smart manufacturing
Anhui Heli has been leading the Chinese forklift industry for 32 consecutive years and has ranked among the top seven in the world's industrial vehicle industry. The launch of this 55-ton lithium-ion forklift marks that my country has broken the monopoly of European and American companies in the field of super-heavy loads. Wanda Bearing, with its deep technical accumulation in the Industrial Vehicle Bearing Engineering Technology Research Center, provides customized bearing solutions for Heli Forklift.
The cooperation between the two parties confirms the multiplier effect of the collaborative innovation of the "double leaders" in the industrial chain-from material gene decoding to service performance prediction, China's manufacturing is reconstructing the global competitive landscape with a new paradigm of "precision components defining the height of the whole machine". Heli Forklift provides application scenario requirements and vehicle technology frameworks, and Wanda Bearing develops and adapts bearings based on the requirements. The two parties continue to optimize in technical exchanges and product testing to enhance product competitiveness.
4. Climbing is endless: from tonnage breakthrough to comprehensive innovation
55 tons is only a phased milestone. The current team is focusing on the research and development of lightweight bearing materials and exploring new bearing structures and processing technologies. In the pursuit of high performance, reducing the weight of bearings while meeting heavy load requirements has become the core goal.
In the research and development of lightweight materials, technicians screened a variety of new materials, deeply studied the characteristics of materials, and were committed to finding the best balance between weight and strength. At the same time, they actively developed a new bearing structure, and by optimizing the internal layout and geometry, they effectively reduced the weight of the bearing itself while ensuring the load-bearing capacity.
In terms of processing technology, the team abandoned traditional ideas and introduced cutting-edge manufacturing technology. From precision machining to surface treatment, every link was carefully designed, striving to further reduce weight while improving product quality. This series of innovations not only helps to improve the energy efficiency of forklifts, but also reduces the overall load of equipment and extends service life.
In the future, Wanda Bearing and Anhui Heli will continue to deepen cooperation and apply this research and development results to more products, helping China's industrial vehicle industry to stride forward in the direction of greening and intelligence, setting a new benchmark in the field of global high-end equipment manufacturing, and leading the new trend of industry development.
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More about VAFEM:
VAFEM is devoted to providing high quality ball & roller bearings and related transmission parts for domestic and foreign customers in the Vehicle industry and Industries. Our products used in automotive and truck industry mainly include : wheel bearings, wheel bearing kits, wheel hub bearings, alternator bearings, tensioner bearings, clutch bearings, and gear box bearings etc. Our industrial bearings are mainly used in these fields such as Industrial Automation, Home Appliances, Reducers, Agricultural Machines, Precision Machine Spindles, and Transmission Systems etc. As a high-tech company specializing in bearings, we can not only provide stable and trustworthy quality products for OEM customers, but also provide non-standard bearings based on customers’ special requirements. At the same time, we can provide a series of complete product lines and have our own brand VAFEM, it stands for the abbreviation of value added for every movement, which has been recognized by more and more customers and end users.
2025 New Week VAFEM product Recommendation:
Agricultural machinery requires better seals for contaminated conditions, provisions for misalignment, and economical mountings for shafts and housings. VAFEM offers bearings for disc harrows, planters, mowers, rakes, all types of balers, tillage, seeding and forage harvester equipment, combines, cotton pickers/stripers, and other agricultural equipment like silo unloaders and grain elevators.
We also offer a complete line of insert ball bearings, shaft mounted with either tapered adapters or locking collar or set screws. Our proven seal designs include low torque shields to heavy-duty triple lip seals. Disc harrow bearings are also available with either round, square, or hexagonal bores. All bearings are available with or without re-lubrication holes.
https://www.vafem.com/products/Agricultural-Bearings/775.html
2025-04-10