APO-GEE, a deep-tech start-up based in Liège, Belgium, specializing in ball bearing engineering, announces that it has solved the cage instability problem, to which no fully satisfactory response has been possible for more than 50 years.

If the ball bearing is one of the most widespread mechanical components, its real behavior remains largely misunderstood when subjected to high speeds, heavy loads or a harsh cryogenic environment, like in space applications. The cage instability problem results in an erratic movement or cage whirl, particularly encountered in poorly lubricated or heavily stressed bearings. Under those conditions, bearings may indeed become unstable or deteriorates. Many space missions have been disrupted or even aborted because of this.

The common feature of a lot of bearing damages is the kinematics of the balls, which had never been properly described to date, because difficult to understand and model accurately. APO-GEE did it. Among other things, this allowed the innovative company to solve the cage instability problem to which no satisfactory response has been possible for decades. A patent for the innovation is pending. More information is available on www.apo-gee.tech. This opens new perspectives, notably for turbo-pumps of launchers, gyroscopes and reaction wheels of satellites, and other mechanisms used in harsh environments.

APO-GEE is an R&D and intense IP-minded Belgian start-up. On the basis of original and power-oriented analysis, the company provides tailor-made ball bearings solutions notably for aerospace and defense applications, and thus ensures success of related projects and missions.

APO-GEE
www.apo-gee.tech