OAV

OAV PRODUCT RANGE

Air Bushings

OAV Air Bushings are designed to make air bearings available for use with pre-existing designs based on shafts. These components run on standard or custom precision shafts and are available in metric and imperial sizes.

• Available in various sizes and configurations to fit your specific application requirements.
• Designed for seamless integration into existing systems.
• Built to handle extreme speeds while maintaining stability.
• High-performance design for industries including aerospace, semiconductor, medical devices, metrology, and precision automation.
• Load Capacity: Engineered for high stiffness and stability under heavy loads.
• Precision: Sub-micron motion accuracy.
• Speeds: Capable of extreme rotational and linear speeds without performance loss.
• Materials: Built with lightweight, high-durability Aircraft Quality materials to ensure longevity and efficiency.

OAV® Tapered Roller Air Bearings

The tapered bearing is one of the most commonly used forms of roller bearings in many industries. OAV is proud to be the first to introduce the Tapered Roller Air Bearing. Consisting of two main components – the inner assembly and the outer-cage, they are typically mounted in opposing pairs on a shaft. Air supply is sent through the shaft with a cross-hole or inlet from the outer-cage. The OAV Tapered Roller Air Bearing has standard sizes available up to a 75 mm ID outer-cage spin or inner-race spin with options.

OAV Roller air bearings

The OAV Roller Air Bearing is here to replace conventional bearings with advanced and optimal efficiency.

A breakthrough innovation from OAV Air Bearings. An ultra precise, hard-installable replacement for conventional bearings. The result: no friction, no contact, no maintenance, no heat generation at high speeds, and an infinite operating life.

OAV Air bearings have higher stiffness and excellent geometric performance. OAV Roller Air Bearings preload both the horizontal and vertical surface with opposing thin film pressure, maintaining the perfect gap for ultimate precision. OAV Air Bearings surface design equally distributes the air and pre-load over a entire surface area; the result is outstanding stiffness and maximized performance.

Thrust Air Bearings & bushings

The OAV Thrust Air Bearing is a breakthrough innovation in air-bearing technology. For the first time, an air bearing is available that fully integrates and works on a three-way frictionless surface. OAV’s Air Bearing configurations run on standard-sized shafting for fixed, linear motion while maximizing rotational motion with ultra precision and zero friction using aerospace-quality aluminum.

OAV Air Bearings have higher stiffness and excellent geometric performance. The OAV Thrust Air Bearing preloads both the horizontal and vertical surfaces with opposing thin films of pressure. This maintains the perfect gap for ultimate tolerance, and the surface design of the bearing equally distributes the air and pre- loads it over the entire surface area. The result is outstanding stiffness with maximized performance.

Temperature Controlled Thrust Air Bushing

High-Temperature Thrust Air Bearings are made for applications under exposure to extremely high speeds, ambient temperatures, and very hot processes. The material type and fluid/airflow allow for operation under these extreme environmental conditions without the need to sacrifice precision or quality. OAV Thrust Air Bearings preload both the horizontal and vertical surfaces with opposing thin films of pressure, maintaining the perfect gap for ultimate tolerance. The surface design equally distributes and pre-loads air over the entire surface area, resulting in outstanding levels of stiffness and maximized performance.

Vacuum Pre-loaded Air Bearings

OAV Vacuum Preloaded Air Bearings work on flat, nonporous surfaces such as granite, aluminum, glass, and ceramics. The round design allows for smooth, frictionless (no contact) motion. We offer a variety of sizes easily adapted for custom preloaded air bearings. OAV Vacuum Preloaded Air Bearings combine the use of vacuum and air pressure, creating superior damping. It allows the air bearing to press down while simultaneously being lifted from the surface.

By combining vacuum and air pressure, these bearings offer advantages for many applications across various industries. The vacuum preloaded air bearings can be optimized by adjusting the vacuum and pressure separately, allowing precise control over the fly height and stiffness.

The vacuum preloaded line replaces part of the bearing’s surface area with a dedicated vacuum pressure zone. Fine-tuning of this vacuum/pressure setup achieves superior damping, resulting in the need for only one flat guide surface rather than two.

OAV Spherical Air Bearings

The spherical air bearing is engineered for multi-axis motion applications where precision angular alignment and frictionless rotation are critical. Utilizing a concave carbon graphite surface and a precision-machined half-sphere ball, this bearing enables smooth, contact-free movement across multiple degrees of freedom. Manufactured with aerospace-grade materials, the design ensures thermal stability, durability, and long service life. Like all OAV air bearings, it operates without lubrication, eliminating particulate contamination and minimizing maintenance. Ideal for high-precision metrology, optics, and inertial navigation systems where accurate pivoting and zero-wear performance are essential.

X-Spin Rotary Air Bearing

NEW patent pending OAV X-Spin Roller Air Bearing is here to replace conventional bearings with improvements and efficiency that is unmatched.

The Outer Spin Rotary Air Bearing provides the ability to spin outer rings with an incredible accuracy of TIR± 1 millionths inches (.025 μm) while maintaining zero friction and contact, zero maintenance, no generation of thermal energy at high speeds, and an infinite operating life. This ultra-precise, hard-installable innovation is here to replace conventional bearings with unmatched improvements and efficiency. OAV Air Bearings offers products that have significantly higher levels of stiffness with superb geometric performance. The OAV External Spin Rotary Air Bearing preloads both the horizontal and vertical surface with an opposing thin film of pressure, maintaining the perfect gap and optimal levels of tolerance. The OAV Air Bearings surface design equally distributes the air and preloads it over an entire surface area, resulting in outstanding stiffness as well as maximized performance levels.

Linear Air Bearing Guides

Linear Guides – Nano Precision Motion with or without Direct Drive Motors
OAV Linear Slide Assemblies redefine precision motion technology by eliminating friction through non-contact air bearing systems. These slides integrate a porous carbon media air bearing, lightweight aluminum components, and a precision-ground guide rail to deliver unmatched performance in smooth linear motion.

At the core of OAV’s design is Porous material Technology, which generates an ultra-thin, uniform layer of pressurized air between the bearing face and guide surface. This innovative approach not only minimizes resistance but also ensures exceptional stiffness, precision, and repeatability—down to nanometer-level accuracy.

The unique porous carbon substrate promotes consistent airflow, optimizing efficiency while enhancing durability. With its robust, crash-resistant construction, the OAV Linear Slide Assembly stands out as the ideal solution for applications demanding high precision, low maintenance, and superior reliability.

OAV Air Bearings offers high-performance linear guides designed for maximum precision and durability. Whether your application requires motorized solutions with Direct Drive Motors or non-motorized systems, our linear guides deliver frictionless, smooth motion with exceptional reliability.

OAV Profile Rail Guides consist of next generation OAV technology and is manufactured using aerospace quality material. OAV Air Bearing Guides include the Box Series, T-Series, U-Series, and the Dovetail Series. OAV Air Bearings offers a wide range of styles, sizes and unique features produced for easy retrofitting into both new and existing applications.

Direct Drive Motor Option:

• Achieve precise, backlash-free motion with direct drive technology.
• Ideal for high-speed, high-torque applications that demand extreme accuracy.

Non-Motorized Option:

• Provides the same high precision without the need for an integrated motor, perfect for manual or external drive systems.

Standard OAV Air Bearing Guide Tolerances:

• Local Straightness: .25 μ per 25 mm travel with a maximum error of 2 μ per 1000 mm travel
• Flatness: .0005 mm or .00002 in

Linear Air Slide Assemblies

OAV Air Bearing Linear Slides are high precision and accurate air slide assemblies. Our bearings provide you with the confidence of integrated bearing motion systems and dynamic response that is much better than conventional roller bearings.OAV Air Bearing Linear Slide assemblies combine an accurate guide surface with an air slide ready-fit for installation. This provides the user with the convenience of integrated guide and bearing systems.

Open Pillow Block Air Bearings

The Open Pillow Block Air Bearing, offered in 1 inch and 1⁄2 inch sizes, fulfills motion control needs requiring precision over longer distances compared to other rail guide solutions. The shaft with rail support offers increased rigidity compared to a bare shaft, minimizing deflections and maintaining straightness for longer length applications to a tolerance of .001 inch per 12 inches. As with all OAV air bearings, no lubrication is ever needed over the life of the bearing, increasing reliability and reducing bearing maintenance needs.

Motorised rotary Air Bearings

OAV Motorized Rotary Air Bearings combine OAVs industry-leading air bearing technology with integrated brushless servo motors for a complete, compact, and ultra-precise rotary motion solution.

Designed for applications requiring frictionless rotation, high load capacity, and sub-micron precision, these platforms deliver zero-contact operation with no wear, backlash, or maintenance—ideal for semiconductor, optics, metrology, and cleanroom environments.

Each unit integrates the roller-type rotary air bearing with a high-performance BLDC servo motor and a 14-bit absolute encoder for real-time closed-loop control. With support for CAN Bus and RS-485 communication, they interface easily with popular development platforms and control systems such as LabVIEW, ROS, Simulink, STM32, Arduino, and Raspberry Pi.

Modular Air Bearings

The OAV Modular Air Bearing design subdivides motion systems into smaller installable parts. They can be independently installed and then used in different systems and shapes. OAV Modular Air Bearings make use of industry standards for interfaces.

OAV Modular Air Bearings offer many benefits such as reduction in cost, shorter installation time, flexibility in design, augmentation, and exclusion. It is a complete offering of air bearings produced with the design for easy retrofitting into existing applications or designing into new applications for ultimate accuracy positioning.

OAV Air Bearings generate evenly distributed gas films between surface and the substrate. Because of low gas viscosity and friction losses by viscous shearing, mechanical contact is avoided. Our modular air bearings are manufactured with aerospace quality material. They are ultra-precise with exceptional linear straightness and flatness. Vibration and maintenance-free, ready to install.

Flat Rectangular Air Bearings

OAV Flat Rectangular Air Bearings are engineered to deliver the highest levels of precision, stiffness, and reliability for applications requiring smooth, frictionless motion over flat surfaces. Designed with cutting-edge air film technology, these bearings enable non-contact motion with zero friction, making them ideal for industries that demand exceptional performance, such as precision manufacturing, aerospace, semiconductor production, and metrology.

Flat Round Air Bearings

Flat air bearings represent a pivotal innovation in precision engineering. These non-contact bearings employ a thin film of pressurized air to create a frictionless, zero-wear surface, allowing for minimalistic design while maximizing performance. Particularly suited for high-speed and high-precision applications, flat air bearings offer enhanced stability, accuracy, and repeatability, making them an ideal choice for rotary and linear applications in fields ranging from semiconductor manufacturing to metrology. OAV’s Flat Round Air Bearing product line works on level, non-porous media such as granite, aluminium, glass, and ceramics. OAV offers a variety of sizes that can easily be customized for various applications.

OAV Advanced Aerodynamic Foil Bearings

The development of foil-air-bearings began in the early 1970s to provide rotational guidance for gas turbine shafts. Foil bearings, also known as a foil air bearings, is a type of air bearing where the surface is supported by a compliant, spring-loaded foil journal lining. Once the surface is spinning fast enough, the air pushes the foil away from the surface so that no contact and no wear occurs. The surface and foil are separated by the high pressure from the air, generated by the rotation that pulls gas into the bearing via the viscosity effects. OAV Foil Air Bearings can operate under the most demanding systems without the requirement for external supply. OAV’s advanced method makes the OAV foil-air bearings unmatchable. Contact OAV engineers for more details.

Air bearing bars

he OAV Air Bearing Bar is produced with profile design for easy retrofitting into existing applications or designing into new applications. It generates an evenly distributed film of gas between the surface and the substrate. Because of low gas viscosity, friction losses by viscous shearing lead to the avoidance of mechanical contact. The combination of air pressure and vacuum allow the bearing bar to hold the substrate down while simultaneously lifting it from surface for ultimate precision and fly height. The fly height range of 20 to 120 μm maintains a stability of ±5 μm.

Epoxy Bonded Air Bearings

Epoxy bonded air bearings utilize a thin layer of epoxy to bond the surface of the air bearing to the supporting structure, offering higher precision, less friction, and longer life. The thin layer of epoxy serves as a cushion, allowing for higher stiffness, greater accuracy and near frictionless movement while maintaining a low-profile. Additionally, epoxy bonded air bearings are able to withstand wide temperature ranges, vibrations, shock, and other harsh environmental conditions.

Frictionless R2R Contactless Static Web Roller

The Contactless roll-to-roll technique typically consists of several rollers, known as the web paths, which wind the substrate material over and through these rollers as it carries out a number of operations. OAV web rollers are offered off-the-shelf or custom-made.

Custom Air Bearing Designs

OAV provide designs that are integrated into your product and can quickly develop a design based on the application or specific requirements. OAV provide detailed drawings and 3-D CAD models, can analyse complex issues associated with applications from nanometer accuracy positioning to standard calculations.

ACCESSORIES

MARKETS AND APPLICATIONS