JP2006226308A - Cage for conical roller bearing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cage for a conical roller bearing capable of reducing rotational torque. <P>SOLUTION: This cage 5 for the conical roller bearing has a plurality of column parts 5c arranged at a predetermined interval in the peripheral direction on a side wall of a hollow cone, and rollably stores a conical roller between the adjacent respective column parts. The column parts 5c are formed in the shape of substantially following after a roller outer peripheral surface on the roller small end side, and have a microscopic interval with this outer peripheral surface, and are thinned by the length L<SB>2</SB>of the column parts 5c<SB>2</SB>on the large end side so as to expand an interval with the roller outer peripheral surface on the roller large end side. Or the several column parts 5c for securing strength of the cage are joined to both large and small end side annular ring parts, and the other column part is joined to only a small end side annular ring part, and is constituted so as to have the length L<SB>1</SB>in the minimum shaft direction for holding the conical roller. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a cage used in a tapered roller bearing, and more particularly to a tapered roller bearing cage that can reduce rotational torque in a tapered roller bearing that is lubricated by inflow of oil.

  The tapered roller bearing is a bearing mainly used for automobiles and industrial machines. As shown in FIG. 7A, the tapered roller bearing can freely roll into an inner ring 11, an outer ring 12, and an annular space 14 between the inner and outer rings. And the retainer 15 that holds the tapered rollers 13 at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction. Such a tapered roller bearing is particularly suitable for supporting loads from both directions of a large radial load and a thrust load. A tapered raceway surface 11 c is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the inner ring 11, and radially outward flanges 11 a and 11 b are provided at the large end portion and the small end portion of the inner ring 11 to keep the tapered roller 13 constant. Hold in position. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, the retainer 15 has an end portion of the wall surface of the hollow cone between an annular portion 15a ′ (small flange portion 15a) on the small end side and an annular portion 15b on the large end side. .. Pockets 15p, 15p,... Are formed at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction, and a plurality of column portions 15c, 15c,... Are formed, and adjacent column portions 15c and column portions 15c are formed. The tapered rollers 13 are stored at 15p,.

  The tapered roller bearing has a problem that the rotational torque is large while the advantages of high rigidity and high load capacity are great. The main factor of the rotational torque of the tapered roller bearing is sliding friction between the small end flange portion 11a and the large end flange portion 11b formed at the end of the inner ring 11 and the end surfaces 13a and 13b of the tapered roller 13. Examples include resistance, rolling resistance, and agitation resistance of lubricating oil.

  By the way, as shown in FIG. 7A, when a large amount of oil is flown and lubricated as in the tapered roller bearing having the above-described configuration used in an automobile differential device or industrial machine, the inside of the bearing is lubricated. When the oil is allowed to pass in the axial direction, the lubricating oil flows from between the raceway surface 12c of the outer ring 12 and the small flange portion 15a of the retainer 15 as shown by the solid arrow, and the raceway surface 12c of the outer ring 12 It passes along the B between the cage 13 and flows in between the small flange portion 15a of the cage 15 and the flange portion 11a of the small end portion of the inner ring 11, and the raceway surface 11c of the inner ring 11 and the cage 13. And pass along C. Further, in addition to the above, there is lubricating oil that flows in from A between the inner ring gavel 11 a and the cage 15 and flows out from D between the outer ring 12 and the cage 15.

  As described above, in the tapered roller bearing under a condition where a large amount of lubricating oil is used, the influence of the stirring resistance of the lubricating oil on the torque among the torque load is increased. As a method of reducing the stirring resistance, there is a method of reducing lubricating oil flowing into the bearing. The applicant, as one of them, narrows the lubricating oil flow path between the inner diameter surface and the outer diameter surface of the inner ring by thickening the pillar portion of the cage in the radial direction over substantially the entire circumferential direction. A tapered roller bearing in which at least an inner diameter surface near one end in the axial direction is positioned on an inner diameter side with respect to an outer diameter surface of the large collar portion of the inner ring, and a lubricating oil flow path is opposed to the inner surface of the inner ring. (Patent Document 1).

JP 2004-084799 A

  In order to meet recent environmental load improvement needs, further improvements in machine efficiency are desired in tapered roller bearings for automobiles and industrial machines that use a large amount of lubricating oil as described above. In view of this situation, it has become effective to reduce the rotational torque due to the stirring resistance of the lubricating oil. Therefore, even in the tapered roller bearing in which lubricating oil is circulated in the axial direction, an increase in the stirring resistance inside the bearing is suppressed and the rotational torque is reduced by devising a retainer for retaining the tapered roller.

  The present invention has been made in order to address the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a tapered roller bearing retainer that can reduce rotational torque by suppressing the stirring resistance of the tapered roller bearing. Yes.

  That is, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention described in claim 1 includes a plurality of column portions provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction on the side wall of the hollow cone, and tapered rollers in pockets between adjacent column portions. In the tapered roller bearing retainer that is stored so as to be able to roll, the column portion has a shape that substantially follows the outer peripheral surface of the roller on the small end side of the roller, and has a minute gap with the outer peripheral surface. The gap with the outer peripheral surface is enlarged.

  The invention according to claim 2 is a plurality of column portions provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction on the side wall of the hollow cone, a small end-side annular portion coupled to the small end portions of these column portions, In a tapered roller bearing retainer having a large-end-side annular portion that is coupled to the large-end portion of each column portion, several column portions for securing the strength of the retainer are coupled to the large- and small-end-side annular portions. The other column part is connected to only the small-end-side annular part and has a minimum axial length for holding the tapered roller.

  The present invention smoothes the flow of the lubricating oil flowing into and out of the inner ring from the small end side opening of the inner ring into the tapered roller bearing by the above means, and rotation by the lubricating oil stirring resistance generated during rotation It is intended to reduce torque. In other words, according to the means according to the first and second aspects, the pillar portion of the cage is wide so that the pillar portion on the small end side of the tapered roller substantially follows the outer peripheral surface of the roller and has a minute gap with the side wall of the hollow cone. The tapered roller large end side column part is narrowed so that the gap between the roller outer peripheral surface and the side wall is increased, or the large end side column part between the pocket and the pocket is left in a certain length in the axial direction. If this is eliminated, resistance to the flow of the lubricating oil flowing into the tapered roller bearing from the small end side opening and flowing out from the large end side opening is suppressed. That is, when the cage as the above means is used, the lubricating oil flowing inside the bearing becomes a smooth flow, and the resistance by the cage is reduced. As a result, the rotational torque due to the stirring resistance can be reduced.

  The best mode of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 1 is a partial axial sectional view of a tapered roller bearing using a tapered roller bearing retainer showing a first embodiment of the present invention. The tapered roller bearing using the cage for tapered roller bearings of the present invention includes an inner ring 1 and an outer ring 2, a tapered roller 3 disposed at a constant circumferential interval in an annular space 4 between the inner and outer rings, and the tapered roller 3 And a cage 5 that holds The tapered roller bearing has a relatively larger amount than the opening E on the small end side of the inner ring 1 like a pinion shaft support device for a vehicle such as a differential gear or a transaxle device of a car or a main shaft support device of a machine tool. It is preferably used under conditions where oil flows in.

  2A is a partial perspective view of the cage 5, and FIG. 2B is a circumferential development view. The cage 5 of the present invention has a shape of a hollow cone (cone type), an annular portion 5a ′ (small flange portion 5a) on the small end side of the side wall, an annular portion 5b on the large end side, These pillar portions 5c, 5c,... Are provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction between the annular portion 5a ′ on the small end side and the annular portion 5b on the large end side. And between these pillar part 5c and the pillar part 5c, the pockets 5d, 5d, ... for storing the tapered roller 3 are provided.

Pillar portion 5c of the cage 5, by the pillar portions 5c ₁ of the tapered roller small end side, rollers substantially follow the shape to the outer peripheral surface, the pillar portion of the side wall and the wide to have a small distance, tapered roller large end side At 5c ₂ , recesses (cuts) 5e, 5e are provided on both sides of the column portion 5c ₂ of the large end column so as to increase the distance between the roller outer peripheral surface and the side wall. That is, the tapered roller 3 is held with a slight gap on the small end side and is held with a relatively wide gap on the large end side.

FIG. 3A is a view showing a modification of the first embodiment of the retainer 5, and FIG. 3B is a circumferential development view. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the pillar portion 5c ₂ on the large end side is not formed thin so that the concave portion 5e on the side surface of the pocket 5d and the concave portion 5e on the adjacent side surface are parallel to each other. , column portion 5c ₂ of the large end side is formed to gradually thinned as tapered toward the large end side. The length of the narrowing portion of the pillar portion 5c ₂ of the large end portion L ₂ is 1 / 3-2 pocket length A between the annular portion 5b of the annular portion 5a and the big end of the small end / 3 or so. In an ordinary tapered roller bearing, a large load is not originally applied to the cage 5, and a particularly required strength is not required. Therefore, even if a part of the column part 5c is thinned, the function as a cage is not hindered, and the column part is sufficient to hold the tapered roller 3.

  Usually, the amount of lubricating oil flowing from between the small collar portion 1a of the inner ring 1 and the cage is larger than that flowing from between the outer ring 2 and the cage 5, so that the lubricating oil is smaller than the central portion of the column portion 5c. If the diameter is reduced, the amount of oil flowing between the outer ring and the cage immediately after inflow increases, and the stirring resistance inside the bearing increases. As a countermeasure against this, as in the present invention, by narrowing the column portion 5c on the annular portion 5b on the large end side, oil from the outer ring and the cage can be easily discharged, so that the stirring resistance is reduced and the torque is reduced. The effect can be obtained effectively. In particular, in a pinion shaft support device for a vehicle, oil having a relatively high viscosity is used for gear lubrication, and therefore, torque reduction due to a decrease in the stirring resistance is remarkable.

FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view showing the second embodiment of the present invention. In the first and second embodiments, the pillar portion 5c of the cage 5 is a column portion 5c ₁ of the tapered roller small end side, has a side wall with a small gap of a hollow cone as substantially follow the shape on the outer peripheral surface roller It was made so wide or narrowed so that the interval between the roller outer peripheral surface and the side wall was enlarged at the column portion 5c ₂ on the large end side of the tapered roller. In the third embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of column portions 5c on the small-end-side annular portion 5a ′ side (small brim portion 5a side) between the pockets 5d and 5d are fixed in the axial direction. In addition, the other several are column portions 5c ′ that are partially removed by cutting or the like. In this case, part of the column portion 5c may be removed every three as shown in FIG. 4, or every two as shown in FIG. 5 (A). As shown in FIG. In this case, the cutting length L ₂ of the pillar portion of the big end is a 1/3 to 2/3 of about pocket length A between the annular portion 5a of the annular portion 5b and the small end of the big end .

  As described above, according to the tapered roller bearing cage of the present invention, the resistance of the flow of lubricating oil flowing into the tapered roller bearing from the small end side opening and out of the large end side opening is suppressed. Is done. That is, the flow of the lubricating oil flowing through the tapered roller bearing becomes a smooth flow because the resistance by the cage is reduced. As a result, in a differential device or the like that uses a large amount of lubricating oil, the rotational torque due to the stirring resistance in the tapered roller bearing can be reduced.

  Normally, in a tapered roller bearing using lubricating oil, the ratio of the stirring resistance in the rotational torque factor of the entire bearing is large. However, as in the tapered roller bearing retainer of the present invention, if the retainer column is narrowed or missing on the large end side (does not communicate with the large end), the agitation resistance of the lubricating oil The rotational torque of the entire bearing can be reduced.

1 is a partial axial cross-sectional view of a tapered roller bearing showing a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2A is a partial perspective view of a tapered roller bearing retainer used in the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2B is a circumferential development view. It is a partial perspective view of the retainer for the tapered roller bearing showing the first embodiment of the present invention, and is tapered so that both sides of the pillar portion on the large end side gradually become thinner toward the large end side. FIG. FIG. 3 (A) is a view showing a modification of the first embodiment of the cage of the present invention, and FIG. 3 (B) is a circumferential development view. It is a partial perspective view of the retainer for tapered roller bearings which shows the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 5 (A) is a partial perspective view of a cage showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 (A) is a diagram in which a portion of every two pillar portions of the cage is cut. FIG. 5B is a diagram in the case where a part of every other pillar portion of the cage is cut. It is a partial perspective view of the conventional cage for tapered roller bearings. It is a partial axial sectional view showing the flow direction of lubricating oil in a conventional tapered roller bearing.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inner ring 2 Outer ring 3 Tapered roller 4 Annular space 5 Cage 5a Large end side annular part 5b Small end side annular part 5c Column part 5c 'Partially cut pillar part 5d Cage pocket 5e Large end side of cage part Recess (cut)

Claims (2)

In the tapered roller bearing retainer that includes a plurality of column portions provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction on the side wall of the hollow cone, and stores the tapered rollers in a pocket between adjacent column portions so as to roll.
The column portion has a shape that substantially follows the outer peripheral surface of the roller at the small end side of the roller, has a minute interval with the outer peripheral surface, and has a conical shape in which the interval with the outer peripheral surface of the roller is increased at the large roller end side. Roller bearing cage. A plurality of column portions provided on the side wall of the hollow cone at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction, a small end-side annular portion coupled to the small end portions of these column portions, and a large portion coupled to the large end portions of these column portions In the tapered roller bearing retainer provided with the end-side annular portion,
Some pillars for securing the cage strength are connected to the large and small circular rings, and the other pillars are connected only to the small circular rings, and the minimum axial length for holding the tapered rollers Cage roller bearing retainer characterized by having a thickness

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