JP2008002535A - Bearing cage and bearing assembly method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a bearing cage that is excellent in ease of assembly and can incorporate a plurality of tapered rollers together with the cage with a relatively small force.
SOLUTION: Annular portions 2, 4 that are circumferentially continuous along the inside of the bearing, and extend from the annular portion along the inside of the bearing, and are arranged at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction along the annular portion. A plurality of pillars 6, and a plurality of pockets 8 defined by the inner peripheral surfaces 2s, 4s of the annular part and the inner wall surfaces of the plurality of pillars, each holding a plurality of rolling elements 5 rotatably. The inner circumferential surface 2s of the small-diameter side annular portion 2 in each pocket is continuously formed on the outer side along the circumferential direction, and guides the end surface 5e of the rolling element in a predetermined direction while the bearing is rotating. An annular rotation guide surface 2a to be held, and continuously formed along the circumferential direction inside thereof, and when the rolling element is incorporated into the bearing together with the retainer, the end face of the rolling element is guided and held in a predetermined direction. An annular built-in guide surface 2b is provided.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for improving ease of assembly when a plurality of rolling elements are incorporated into a bearing together with a cage.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various types of bearings that rotatably support a rotating mechanism are applied to industrial machines such as railway vehicles, automobiles, steel facilities, and construction machines. As such a bearing, there are a ball bearing that is applied when supporting a relatively small load and a roller bearing that is applied when supporting a relatively large load, which corresponds to high-speed rotation under a high load in recent years. Therefore, roller bearings are often used (for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3).

  As an example of a roller bearing, a tapered roller bearing shown in FIG. 1 (a) includes an inner ring 1 and an outer ring 3 that are opposed to each other so as to be relatively rotatable, and a raceway surface 1s formed on the opposed surfaces of the inner and outer rings 1 and 3. , 3s, a plurality of rolling elements 5 incorporated so as to be freely rotatable, and a holder 11 having a plurality of pockets 8 for rotatably holding the plurality of rolling elements 5 one by one. . In this case, it is assumed that each rolling element 5 is a tapered roller 5 in which the rolling surface 5m (the surface that continues in the rotation direction and rolls between the raceway surfaces 1s and 3s) has a conical shape. A cage retainer 11 is used as the retainer 11 that holds the tapered rollers.

  In such a configuration, an annular flange protrudes along the raceway surfaces 1s, 3s on at least one side of either one of the inner and outer rings 1, 3 and both raceway surfaces 1s, 3s. In the drawing, a configuration in which annular flanges 7 and 9 protrude on both sides of the raceway surface 1s of the inner ring 1 is illustrated. Further, the raceway surfaces 1s, 3s of the inner and outer rings 1, 3 are inclined along the focusing direction of the rotation center (not shown) of each tapered roller 5, and correspondingly, the raceway surface 1s of the inner ring 1 is The annular flanges 7 and 9 projecting on both sides have different diameters at the projecting ends 7e and 9e. That is, one of the flanges 9 (hereinafter referred to as the large diameter flange 9) serves as a relatively large-diameter protruding end 9e, and the other flange 7 (hereinafter referred to as the small diameter flange 7) corresponds to the one flange 9. The protruding end 7e has a relatively small diameter.

  Thus, when the plurality of tapered rollers 5 roll between the raceway surfaces 1s and 3s of the inner and outer rings 1, 3, each tapered roller 5 has circular end surfaces 5e formed on both sides of the rolling surface 5m. While being held by the guide surfaces 7 s and 9 s of the flange portions 7 and 9, it is guided along the raceway surfaces 1 s and 3 s of the inner and outer rings 1 and 3. At this time, each tapered roller 5 rotates around the rotation center while being held one by one in the plurality of pockets 8 formed in the cage 11.

  Further, the cage retainer 11 includes two annular portions 2 and 4 that are continuous in the circumferential direction between the inner and outer rings 1 and 3 and are arranged opposite to each other at a predetermined interval at the same center. A plurality of column parts 6 extending between the ring parts 2 and 4 and arranged along the ring parts 2 and 4 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, and inner circumferences of the two ring parts 2 and 4 A plurality of pockets 8 defined by the surfaces 2 s and 4 s and inner wall surfaces 6 s on both sides of the plurality of column portions 6 are provided. In this case, the two annular portions 2, 4 are designed to have different diameters along the inclination direction of the raceway surfaces 1s, 3s of the inner and outer rings 1, 3. That is, one annular part (large-diameter side annular part) 4 is designed to have a relatively larger diameter than the other annular part (small-diameter side annular part) 2. The whole has a truncated cone shape as shown in FIG.

  In such a cage retainer 11, a plurality of tapered rollers 5 are rotatably held one by one in each pocket 8 of the retainer 11. That is, in each tapered roller 5, its rolling surface 5m is held by the inner wall surface 6s of two adjacent column parts 6, and circular end surfaces 5e formed on both sides of the rolling surface 5m are two annular rings. The inner peripheral surfaces 2s and 4s of the portions 2 and 4 are held. During the rotation of the bearing, the cage retainer 11 revolves along the space between the inner and outer rings 1 and 3 together with the tapered rollers 5 while holding the tapered rollers 5 one by one in the plurality of pockets 8. To do.

  Further, for example, FIGS. 3A to 3D show a bearing assembling method for assembling the tapered roller bearing described above. In the bearing assembling method, first, the tapered rollers 5 are held in the pockets 8 of the cage 11, and then the inner ring 1 is moved in the arrow Y direction so that the annular small-diameter flange portion 7 is positioned on each tapered roller 5 ( FIG. At this time, the small-diameter flange portion 7 enters the inside of each tapered roller 5, but thereafter, due to the height difference G between the protruding end 7e and the rolling surface 5m, the small-diameter flange portion 7 and the protruding end 7e of the small-diameter flange portion 7 Interference with the rolling surface 5 m of each tapered roller 5 occurs. The height difference G is set so that the tapered rollers 5 and the cage 11 are not separated from the inner ring 1 after the bearing is assembled.

  In this interference state, when the inner ring 1 is further moved in the direction of the arrow Y, each tapered roller 5 is pressed and moved by the protruding end 7e of the small-diameter flange portion 7 by the difference of the height difference G. The small-diameter side annular portion 2 is expanded in the outer diameter direction T1 ((b) in the figure). Thereafter, when the inner ring 1 is further moved in the direction of the arrow Y ((c) in the same figure), each of the cones pressed by the projecting end 7e is moved by the projecting end 7e moving in the same direction Y. For example, as shown in FIG. 3 (e), the roller 5 turns and inclines in the arrow direction Rs with the innermost portion (innermost point) P1 on the inner peripheral surface 2s of the small-diameter side annular portion 2 as a fulcrum. .

  When each tapered roller 5 gets over the protruding end 7e of the small-diameter flange portion 7, the small-diameter-side annular portion 2 of the cage 11 is in its initial state (a state before being expanded in the outer diameter direction T1). Thus, the plurality of tapered rollers 5 held by the cage 11 can be incorporated into the raceway surface 1s of the inner ring 1 ((d) in the figure).

  By the way, in the conventional cage 11, when each tapered roller is swung in the arrow direction Rs with the innermost point P 1 as a fulcrum and tilted (FIG. 3 (e)), a relatively large force is required. Depending on the size, for example, the cage 11 may be deformed and damaged, or the raceway surface 1s of the inner ring 1 and the rolling surface 5m of the tapered roller 5 may be damaged. In particular, when the above-described height difference G between the protruding end 7e and the rolling surface 5m is large, a greater force is applied to the cage 11, the inner ring 1 and the tapered roller 5.

In order to solve such a problem, a distance L1 between the innermost point P1 of the inner peripheral surface 2s in the small-diameter side annular portion 2 and the contact point P2 where each tapered roller 5 contacts the protruding end 7e (see FIG. 3 (e)) may be increased. However, as shown in FIG. 1 (d), in the conventional cage 11, the end surface 5 e of the tapered roller 5 is held by the entire inner peripheral surface 2 s of the small-diameter side annular portion 2. There was a limit in setting a large distance L1 (FIG. 3 (e)) between the contact points P1 and P2. Therefore, it is desired to develop a technique excellent in assembling ease that can incorporate a plurality of tapered rollers 5 together with the cage 11 with a relatively small force into the bearing.
JP 2004-169761 A JP 2003-184893 A Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-17229

  The present invention has been made to meet such a demand, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique excellent in ease of assembly in which a plurality of tapered rollers can be incorporated into a bearing together with a cage with a relatively small force. It is in.

  In order to achieve such an object, the present invention is a bearing retainer that revolves along the inside of the bearing together with the plurality of rolling elements while rotatably holding the plurality of rolling elements inside the bearing, At least one annular portion that is continuous in the circumferential direction along the inside of the bearing, and a plurality of column portions that extend from the annular portion along the inside of the bearing and are arranged at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction along the annular portion And a plurality of pockets which are partitioned by the inner peripheral surface of the annular portion and the inner wall surfaces of the plurality of pillar portions and hold the plurality of rolling elements in a rotatable manner one by one. An annular rolling surface that is continuous in the direction and held by the inner wall surface of the pillar portion in each pocket, and is formed on both sides of the rolling surface and at least one of which is held by the inner peripheral surface of the annular portion in each pocket Each of the pockets. An annular rotation guide surface that is continuously formed along the circumferential direction on the outer side of the annular portion and holds the end surface of the rolling element while guiding the end surface in a predetermined direction during rotation of the bearing, An annular built-in guide surface that is continuously formed along the circumferential direction on the inner side and holds the end surface of the rolling element in a predetermined direction when the rolling element is incorporated into the bearing together with the retainer is provided. Yes.

  In such an invention, the rotation guide surface extends along the inclination direction of the end surface of the rolling element in a state in which the rolling element is incorporated inside the bearing, while the built-in guide surface is the rotation guide surface. When the rolling element is assembled into the bearing together with the cage, the end surface of the rolling element is positioned between the rotation guide surface and the built-in guide surface. The rolling element is configured to turn and tilt in the direction of the built-in guide surface with the boundary portion as a fulcrum in a state where the built-in guide surface is in contact with the boundary portion on the outermost diameter side. The cage is entirely made of a resin material.

  The present invention also relates to a bearing assembly method for assembling a bearing by incorporating each rolling element into the bearing together with the retainer while holding the plurality of rolling elements with the bearing retainer. And a plurality of rolling elements that are rotatably arranged along the raceway surfaces that are continuously formed in the circumferential direction on opposite surfaces of the raceway. Further, an annular flange that holds and guides a plurality of rolling elements is projected along at least one of the raceway surfaces and at least one of the raceway surfaces, and the annular collar protrudes. When assembling a plurality of rolling elements together with the cage to the raceway formed, the end face of each rolling element abuts against the boundary portion on the outermost diameter side of the built-in guide surface between the rotation guide surface and the built-in guide surface. In the state of contact, each rolling element with the boundary part as a fulcrum By tilting swirled to write the guide surface direction, incorporated into the raceway surface of the bearing ring of each rolling element held by the holding device ride over a protruding end of the flange portion.

  According to the present invention, the rotation guide surface that guides and holds the end face of the rolling element during rotation of the bearing on the inner peripheral surface of the annular portion in each pocket, and the built-in guide face that guides and holds the end face of the rolling element during the bearing assembly. As a result, the ease of assembly is improved, and a plurality of tapered rollers can be incorporated into the bearing together with the cage with a relatively small force.

  Hereinafter, a bearing cage according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present embodiment is an improvement of the cage retainer 11 (FIG. 1B) used for the roller bearing (FIG. 1A) as described above, and other bearing configurations are the configurations shown in FIG. Since this is the same as the above, only the cage 11 of the improved part will be described below. Here, for example, a cage 11 applied to a bearing that supports a rotating shaft (an axle, various drive shafts, etc.) provided in a railway vehicle such as a Shinkansen is assumed.

  As shown in FIG. 1 (c), in the cage retainer 11 of the present embodiment, the inner peripheral surface 2s of the small-diameter side annular portion 2 in each pocket 8 is continuous to the outside along the circumferential direction. And an annular rotation guide surface 2a that guides and holds the end surface 5e of the tapered roller 5 in a predetermined direction during rotation of the bearing, and is formed continuously in the circumferential direction on the inside thereof together with the retainer 11 An annular built-in guide surface 2b is provided for guiding and holding the end surface 5e of the tapered roller 5 in a predetermined direction when the tapered roller 5 is incorporated in the bearing (in the drawing, the raceway surface 1s of the inner ring 1).

  In this case, the rotation guide surface 2a extends along the inclination direction of the end surface 5e of the tapered roller 5 in a state in which the tapered roller 5 is incorporated in the bearing (the raceway surface 1s of the inner ring 1). The guide surface 2b forms an angle different from that of the rotation guide surface 2a and extends in a direction away from the end surface 5e of the tapered roller 5.

  In the drawing, as an example, the rotation guide surface 2a and the built-in guide surface 2b are connected to each other on the inner peripheral surface 2s of the small-diameter side annular portion 2 in each pocket 8. The built-in guide surface 2b extends in the axial direction (not shown) of the bearing that crosses (slantingly intersects) the rotation guide surface 2a. Thereby, the built-in guide surface 2b extends in a direction away from the end surface 5e of the tapered roller 5 from the rotation guide surface 2a.

  According to such a configuration, as shown in FIG. 2 (e), the built-in guide between the contact point P2 where each tapered roller 5 contacts the protruding end 7e, the rotation guide surface 2a, and the built-in guide surface 2b. The distance L2 between the boundary portion (fulcrum) P3 on the outermost diameter side of the surface 2b can be increased. That is, each cone in the cage 11 of the present embodiment is compared with the distance L1 (FIG. 3 (e)) between the fulcrum P1 of each tapered roller 5 and the contact point P2 of the tapered roller 5 in the conventional cage 11. A distance L2 (FIG. 2 (e)) between the fulcrum P3 of the roller 5 and the contact point P2 of the tapered roller 5 can be set large (L2> L1). In other words, the turning radius L2 around the fulcrum P3 of the tapered roller 5 in the present embodiment can be set larger than the turning radius L1 around the fulcrum P1 of the conventional tapered roller 5.

  Here, in the same bearing assembling method as in the prior art, as shown in FIGS. 2A to 2E, the inner ring 1 is moved in the arrow Y direction with the tapered rollers 5 held in the pockets 8 of the cage 11. (Fig. 5A), each tapered roller 5 is pressed by the protruding end 7e of the small-diameter flange portion 7 (Fig. 7B), whereby the small-diameter side annular portion 2 is moved in the outer diameter direction T1. It is spread out ((c) in the figure). In this state, as shown in FIG. 2 (e), each tapered roller 5 pressed by the protruding end 7e has its end face 5e built-in guide between the rotation guide face 2a and the built-in guide face 2b. In a state where the surface 2b is in contact with the boundary portion P3 on the outermost diameter side, it turns and tilts in the direction of the built-in guide surface 2b (arrow direction Rs) with the boundary portion P3 as a fulcrum.

  In this case, since the distance L2 between the contact points P1 and P2 is set to be large, each tapered roller is turned and tilted in the arrow direction Rs with the boundary portion P3 as a fulcrum (see FIGS. 3C and 3E). )) Power can be reduced. As a result, the force applied to the cage 11, the inner ring 1 and the tapered roller 5 is reduced. For example, the cage 11 is deformed and broken, or the raceway surface 1s of the inner ring 1 and the rolling surface 5m of the tapered roller 5 are damaged. It is possible to eliminate conventional problems such as As a result, the ease of assembly is improved, and a plurality of tapered rollers 5 together with the retainer 11 can be mounted on the inside of the bearing (the raceway surface 1s of the inner ring 1) over the protruding end 7e of the flange portion 7 with a relatively small force. Yes ((d) in the figure).

  In the embodiment described above, the material of the cage retainer 11 is not particularly mentioned, but the whole may be formed of a resin material or a metal material. In this case, any material can be selected as the material of the cage 11 as long as it has high rigidity and high strength, and is not particularly limited here. Further, since the bearing is exposed to high temperatures during rotation of the bearing, it is preferable to select a material having excellent heat resistance.

  Moreover, in embodiment mentioned above, although the tapered roller was assumed as the rolling element 5, and the cage type | mold retainer 11 which can hold | maintain this was demonstrated, in addition to this, for example, a cylindrical roller, a needle roller, a spherical surface The effect as described above can be realized by applying the technical configuration of the present invention to the retainer 11 that can hold rollers, convex rollers, and the like.

(a) is a longitudinal sectional view of a tapered roller bearing, (b) is a perspective view of a cage, and (c) is a partially enlarged configuration of a bearing cage according to an embodiment of the present invention. Sectional drawing shown, (d) is a sectional view showing a partially enlarged configuration of a conventional bearing cage. It is a figure for demonstrating the bearing assembly method which concerns on one embodiment of this invention, (a) is a figure which shows the state which is moving the inner ring | wheel toward a rolling element, (b) is a rolling element The figure which shows the state pressed by the collar part, (c) is a figure which shows the state by which the annular part was pushed and expanded, (d) is the figure which shows the state by which the rolling element was integrated in the inside of a bearing with a holder | retainer. (E) is a figure which shows the state which a rolling element inclines and inclines around a fulcrum in the figure (c). It is a figure for demonstrating the conventional bearing assembly method, (a) is a figure which shows the state which has moved the inner ring | wheel toward the rolling element, (b) is the state by which the rolling element was pressed by the collar part. (C) is a diagram showing a state in which the annular portion is expanded, (d) is a diagram showing a state in which the rolling element is incorporated into the bearing together with the cage, and (e) is a diagram showing the same. The figure which shows the state in which a rolling element inclines and inclines around a fulcrum in figure (c).

Explanation of symbols

2,4 Ring part 2a Rotation guide surface 2b Built-in guide surface
2s, 4s Inner peripheral surface 5 Rolling elements (cone rollers)
5e End surface 6 Column 6s Inner wall surface 8 Pocket 11 Cage

Claims (4)

A bearing retainer that revolves along the inside of the bearing together with the plurality of rolling elements while holding the plurality of rolling elements within the bearing rotatably,
At least one annular portion that is continuous in the circumferential direction along the inside of the bearing, and a plurality of column portions that extend from the annular portion along the inside of the bearing and are arranged at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction along the annular portion And a plurality of pockets that are partitioned by the inner peripheral surface of the annular portion and the inner wall surfaces of the plurality of column portions, and that rotatably hold the plurality of rolling elements one by one,
Each rolling element includes an annular rolling surface that is continuous in the direction of rotation and is held by the inner wall surface of the column portion in each pocket, and is formed on both sides of the rolling surface, at least one of which is an annular ring in each pocket. It is composed of a circular end surface held by the inner peripheral surface of the part,
An annular rotation guide surface formed on the inner circumferential surface of the annular portion in each pocket continuously along the circumferential direction and holding the end face of the rolling element while guiding the end surface in a predetermined direction during rotation of the bearing. And an annular built-in guide surface that is continuously formed along the circumferential direction on the inner side thereof and holds the end surface of the rolling element in a predetermined direction when the rolling element is incorporated into the bearing together with the retainer. A cage for bearings, wherein The rotation guide surface extends along the inclination direction of the end surface of the rolling element in a state in which the rolling element is incorporated inside the bearing, while the built-in guide surface forms an angle different from the rotation guide surface and Extending in a direction away from the end face of the rolling element,
When assembling the rolling element together with the cage into the bearing, the end surface of the rolling element is in contact with the boundary portion on the outermost diameter side of the built-in guide surface between the rotation guide surface and the built-in guide surface, The bearing retainer according to claim 1, wherein the rolling cage is tilted by turning in the direction of the built-in guide surface with the boundary portion as a fulcrum.   The bearing retainer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the whole is formed of a resin material. A bearing assembly method in which a plurality of rolling elements are held by the bearing cage according to any one of claims 1 to 3, and the rolling elements are assembled together with the cage to assemble the bearing.
The bearing includes a raceway arranged to be relatively rotatable and a plurality of rolling elements that are rotatably incorporated along a raceway surface that is continuously formed in a circumferential direction on a facing surface of the raceway. An annular flange that holds and guides a plurality of rolling elements is projected along at least one of the raceways and at least one of the raceways.
When incorporating a plurality of rolling elements together with a cage into a raceway with an annular flange protruding, the outer diameter of the built-in guide surface between the rotation guide surface and the built-in guide surface is the end surface of each rolling element. Each rolling element held by the retainer is tilted by turning each rolling element in the direction of the built-in guide surface with the boundary part as a fulcrum in a state of being in contact with the boundary part on the side. A bearing assembling method characterized in that the bearing is mounted on the raceway surface of the raceway ring over the protruding end of the raceway.

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