Inner ring fastening type roller sleeve and method for producing inner ring fastening type roller sleeve

Abstract

The present invention relates to an inner ring fastened roller sleeve (1), comprising: - an inner ring (2) fastened to a shaft or rod; and - a roller-cage assembly (3) disposed on the inner ring (2) and formed by a bearing cage (4) and a plurality of roller-type rolling elements (8) inserted into the bearing cage (4), the bearing cage including two side rings (5, 6) and a plurality of connecting webs (7), the roller-type rolling elements being held by the bearing cage (4) at regular intervals in the circumferential direction and rolling on an inner raceway (9) formed by the outer surface of the inner ring (2), wherein the roller-cage assembly (3) is axially guided by means of two flanges (10, 11) disposed on the axial side of the inner ring (2) and extending radially outward. According to the invention, since the inner ring (2) is designed to have a flange (11) with an outer diameter larger than that of another flange (10) on the inner ring (2), and since the flange (11) is designed to have an edge region (12) that is axially curved toward the roller-type rolling element (8), the inner ring (2) can be manufactured as a final-formed and heat-treated part, and an axially slotted plastic cage can be used as a bearing cage (4), a side ring (6) of the bearing cage can be radially surrounded by the axially curved edge region (12) of the flange (11) with a larger outer diameter, and thus the roller-cage assembly (3) is fixed in the inner ring (2).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to an inner-ring fastened roller sleeve, which is particularly advantageous for supporting hollow shafts, gears, or planetary carriers in manual transmissions of motor vehicles. The invention also relates to a method for manufacturing such a roller sleeve. Background Technology

[0002] In rolling bearing technology, it is well known that roller sleeves are radial roller bearing designs with minimal total radial height, enabling bearing devices with high radial load carrying capacity that are particularly space-saving and easy to assemble. A well-known and most commonly used design is, for example, the housing-locked or outer ring-locked roller sleeve known from DE 195 13 668 A1, which includes an outer ring that can be inserted into a housing and a roller-cage assembly inserted into the outer ring and formed by an axially slotted bearing cage made of plastic, without cage lock, and composed of a plurality of roller-type rolling elements inserted into the bearing cage. These rolling elements roll on an outer raceway formed by the inner surface of the outer ring, wherein the roller-cage assembly is axially guided by two flanges disposed on the axial side of the outer ring and extending radially inward.

[0003] According to DE 195 13 668 A1, such an outer ring fastening roller sleeve is produced in the following manner: First, a can-shaped rotationally symmetrical drawn part consisting of a base and a sheath is formed from a circular blank obtained by stamping from a metal strip through one or more deep drawing processes, wherein the sheath has a reduced wall thickness on its side away from the base; then, the base is stamped to form a first flange; subsequently, the sheath is trimmed in the region where the wall thickness of the sheath is reduced; then, the sheath is flanged in the region where the wall thickness is reduced to form a second flange; subsequently, after the can is formed into a roller sleeve, the second flange is straightened by a piercing process before inserting an axially slotted cage fitted with roller-type rolling elements without a cage lock.

[0004] The opposite design of this outer-ring-fastened roller sleeve is, for example, the shaft-fastened or inner-ring-fastened roller sleeve known from documents DE 10 2011 007 458 A1 and DE10 2012 021 687 A1. Like the outer-ring-fastened roller sleeve, this sleeve includes an inner ring fastened to a shaft or rod and a roller-cage assembly disposed on the inner ring and formed by a bearing cage and a plurality of roller-type rolling elements. The bearing cage includes two side rings and a plurality of connecting webs into which the roller-type rolling elements are inserted and held by the bearing cage at regular intervals in the circumferential direction, and roll on an inner raceway formed by the outer surface of the inner ring. In this design, the roller-cage assembly is also axially guided by two flanges of equal length disposed on the axial sides of the inner ring and, in this case, extending radially outward.

[0005] However, a drawback of this roller sleeve design has been found: without cage locks, cost-effective, axially slotted plastic bearing cages cannot be used, as is the case with outer-ring-locked roller sleeves, because the ends of the bearing cage are not supported by the outer ring. Therefore, when assembling drive components mounted on inner-ring-locked roller sleeves, the relatively loosely resting ends of the plastic bearing cage may fall off the inner ring due to gravity, causing problems during drive assembly as the cage ends obstruct the installation space of the drive components. One possible solution to this problem is to allow the open plastic bearing cage to be locked using known cage locks, but none of these cage locks have proven durable enough to meet drive requirements. Another approach to solving this problem is to use a closed bearing cage made of steel plate, which is then inserted into the inner ring before the second flange is flanged, and after the second flange is flanged, the bearing cage and the inner ring undergo the necessary heat treatment. However, this requires accepting increased manufacturing and material costs for producing the inner ring-locked roller sleeve. Summary of the Invention

[0006] Based on the shortcomings of the known prior art solutions stated herein, the object of the present invention is to design an inner-ring fastened roller sleeve in which the roller-cage assembly can be formed from a cost-effective, axially slotted bearing cage made of plastic, the ends of which are loosely resting relative to each other and will not fall off the inner ring due to gravity. Furthermore, the object of the present invention is to provide a cost-effective method for producing the inner-ring fastened roller sleeve.

[0007] According to the invention, this objective is achieved using a roller sleeve in such a way that the inner ring can be manufactured as a final-formed and heat-treated component by designing the inner ring to have a flange with a larger outer diameter than another flange on the inner ring, and by designing the flange to have an edge region that bends axially toward the roller-type rolling element, and an axially slotted plastic cage can be used as a bearing cage, one side ring of which is radially surrounded by an axially bent edge region of a flange with a larger outer diameter, and thus the roller-cage assembly is secured in the inner ring.

[0008] Therefore, in the case of the roller sleeve designed according to the present invention, one side ring of the bearing cage has a larger outer diameter than the other side ring of the bearing cage, and the two side rings are connected to each other by a connecting web with a Z-shaped profile cross-section. It is necessary for the bearing cage to have a side ring with an outer diameter smaller than the other side ring so that this side ring can be arranged below the axially curved edge region of the inner ring, and the outer diameter of this side ring must be smaller than the rolling diameter of the roller-type rolling element. The Z-shaped profile cross-section of the connecting web also has the advantage that the contact surface of the connecting web adapted to the outer diameter of the roller-type rolling element is enlarged, thus improving the guidance of the cage. However, it is also conceivable to connect the two side rings of the bearing cage to each other using a simple inclined connecting web.

[0009] Another feature of the roller sleeve designed according to the invention is that the side ring of the bearing cage, having a larger outer diameter, radially surrounds the flange with a smaller outer diameter on the inner ring with a gap, and the bearing cage is designed as a rolling element guided bearing cage. However, the bearing cage can also be guided on the flange by appropriately surface-machining the circumferential annular surface of the flange with the smaller outer diameter.

[0010] The roller sleeve designed according to the present invention is further characterized in that the flange of the inner ring with a larger outer diameter is formed to have a smaller material thickness compared to the flange of the inner ring with a smaller outer diameter. The smaller material thickness of the flange with a larger outer diameter is produced during the production of the roller sleeve through a corresponding calibration process, and is intended to avoid the formation of folds on the flange surface in the axially bent edge region of the inner ring when the flange bends to its final position.

[0011] Finally, as an advantageous embodiment of the roller sleeve designed according to the invention, the bearing cage is axially slotted in such a way that it passes centrally through one of the connecting webs of the bearing cage, and the opposite ends of the bearing cage rest loosely against each other without a connecting lock. This has proven to be most advantageous for the stability of the bearing cage. If the disadvantage of being able to equip the roller-cage assembly with one less roller-type rolling element is accepted, the bearing cage can also be slotted axially through one of the recesses of the bearing cage.

[0012] The roller sleeve designed according to the present invention therefore has advantages over roller sleeves known from the prior art because the inner ring is designed to have a flange with an outer diameter larger than another flange on the inner ring, and because the flange is designed to have an edge region that bends axially toward the roller-type rolling element, the roller-cage assembly can be designed to have a cost-effective axially slotted bearing cage made of plastic, one side ring of which can be pushed under the axially bent edge region of the flange with the larger outer diameter, so that the relatively loosely resting ends of the roller-cage assembly no longer fall out of the inner ring due to gravity.

[0013] The second part of the object described in this invention is achieved by a method for producing the roller sleeve, the method comprising the following steps:

[0014] a) Stamping circular blanks from metal strips made of penetrating hardened steel or surface hardened steel;

[0015] b) Deep drawing a round billet to form a can-shaped starting portion, wherein the inclined circumferential can edge forms a flange with a smaller outer diameter, and the outer surface of the can wall forms an inner raceway and an inner ring flange with a larger outer diameter.

[0016] c) Align the portion of the outer surface of the tank wall that forms the inner ring with a larger outer diameter to a smaller material thickness;

[0017] d) A flange with a smaller outer diameter is hammered out of the inner ring;

[0018] e) The base of the can-shaped starting portion is punched out along the inner surface of the can wall;

[0019] f) Trim the sloping edge of the can to the final diameter of the flange with a smaller outer diameter;

[0020] g) An edge region is formed on a flange with a large outer diameter by bending and pressing, and the edge region is axially bent to fix the bearing cage;

[0021] h) The flange with a large outer diameter is bent by bending and pressing to form a final inner ring with two outwardly pointing flanges (2).

[0022] i) The final inner ring is heat-treated by hardening and tempering;

[0023] j) Widen the axially slotted plastic bearing cage to the extent that the plastic bearing cage can be pushed through the flange with a smaller outer diameter into the inner ring;

[0024] k) Overlap the ends of the bearing cage so that the bearing cage can be pushed under the axially bent edge region of the flange with a larger outer diameter.

[0025] l) Loosen the bearing cage so that the ends of the bearing cage rest loosely on each other, and insert the roller-type rolling elements into the recesses formed between the connecting webs of the bearing cage.

[0026] If a higher precision inner raceway is required, the inner ring can optionally be surface-machined by grinding the inner raceway after step i).

[0027] However, as an alternative method for producing the inner ring fastening roller sleeve, steps a) to h) of this method can be replaced by the following first step. a) Hollow cylindrical starting sleeves are produced by cutting a certain length of annular segment from a tube or from a deep-drawn cylindrical part made of penetrating hardened steel. b) Two circumferential grooves are formed in the edge region of the outer surface of the starting sleeve to create a flanged edge for the flange; c) Flang the edge region of the axially bent bearing cage to one edge of the starting sleeve; d) The final flanged inner ring is produced by flanging the axial end region of the starting sleeve in a radially outward direction; Then, steps i) to l) of the production method mentioned earlier will be performed again. Attached Figure Description

[0028] The preferred embodiment of the roller sleeve designed according to the present invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: Figure 1 A side view of a roller sleeve designed according to the present invention is shown; Figure 2 The diagram shows the cut-off point through the roller sleeve designed according to the invention. Figure 1 The cross section AA; Figure 3 The diagram shows the cut-off point through the roller sleeve designed according to the invention. Figure 2 Details of the cross-sectional view Z; Figure 4 The diagram shows the cut-off point through the roller sleeve designed according to the invention. Figure 2 Details of the cross-sectional view Y; Figure 5 A three-dimensional overall view of the roller sleeve designed according to the present invention is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0029] Figure 1 , Figure 2 and Figure 5 Each is shown as an inner ring-fastened roller sleeve 1, which includes an inner ring 2 fastened to a shaft or rod (not shown) and a roller-cage assembly 3 disposed on this inner ring 2. (See also...) Figure 3 , Figure 4 and Figure 5 As can be seen, the roller-cage assembly 3 is formed by a bearing cage 4 and a plurality of roller-type rolling elements 8. The bearing cage includes two side rings 5 ​​and 6 and a plurality of connecting webs 7. These roller-type rolling elements are inserted into the bearing cage 4 and held by the bearing cage 4 at regular intervals in the circumferential direction, and roll on the inner raceway 9 formed by the outer surface of the inner ring 2. In order to provide axial guidance for the roller-cage assembly 3 in the inner ring 2, two flanges 10 and 11 are provided on the axial side of the inner ring 2 in a known manner, and these two flanges extend radially outward.

[0030] In order to enable the production of the inner ring 2 for this roller sleeve 1 as a final formed and heat-treated component, and in order to enable the use of a cost-effective axially slotted plastic cage as the bearing cage 4, particularly from Figure 3 and Figure 4 As can be seen from the diagram, a flange 11 is formed on the inner ring 2 with a larger outer diameter than another flange 10 on the inner ring 2, and the edge region 12 of the flange is axially bent toward the roller-type rolling element 8 such that a side ring 6 of the bearing cage 4 is radially surrounded by the axially bent edge region 12 of the flange 11, and the roller cage assembly 3 is fixed in the inner ring 2.

[0031] Figure 3 and Figure 4 It is also shown that one side ring 5 of the bearing cage 4 has a larger outer diameter than the other side ring 6 of the bearing cage 4, and the two side rings 5 ​​and 6 are connected to each other by a connecting web 7 with a Z-shaped profile cross section.

[0032] from Figure 3 and Figure 4It is also clear that the side ring 5 of the bearing cage 4 with a larger outer diameter radially surrounds the flange 10 with a smaller outer diameter on the inner ring 2 with a certain gap space, and the bearing cage 4 is designed as a rolling element guided bearing cage.

[0033] also, Figure 3 and Figure 4 As shown, the flange 11 of the inner ring 2 with a larger outer diameter is designed to have a smaller material thickness than the flange 10 of the inner ring 2 with a smaller outer diameter, thereby achieving better formability.

[0034] Finally, from Figure 5 It can also be seen in the upper region that the axial slot of the bearing cage 4 is made in such a way that it passes through one of the connecting webs 7 of the bearing cage axially and centrally, and the opposite ends of the bearing cage 4 are loosely resting on each other without a connecting lock.

[0035] List of reference numerals 1 Roller sleeve 2 Inner Ring 3 Roller-Cage Assembly 4. Bearing cage 5 4 side ring 6 4 side ring 7 4 connecting web 8 Roller-type rolling elements 9. Inner raceway The flange on 10 2 The flange on 11 2 12 11 edge area

Claims

1. An inner ring-fastened roller sleeve (1), the inner ring-fastened roller sleeve comprising an inner ring (2) fastened to a shaft or rod and a roller-cage assembly (3), the roller-cage assembly being disposed on the inner ring (2) and formed by a bearing cage (4) and a plurality of roller-type rolling elements (8) inserted into the bearing cage (4), the bearing cage comprising two side rings (5, 6) and a plurality of connecting webs (7), the roller-type rolling elements (8) being held by the bearing cage (4) at regular intervals in the circumferential direction, and the roller-type rolling elements rolling on an inner raceway (9) formed by the outer surface of the inner ring (2), wherein, The roller-cage assembly (3) is axially guided by two flanges (10, 11) disposed on the axial side of the inner ring (2) and extending radially outward. The inner ring (2) is characterized by having a flange (11) with an outer diameter larger than that of another flange (10) on the inner ring (2), and the flange (11) with the larger outer diameter is designed to have an edge region (12) that is axially curved toward the roller-type rolling element (8). An axially slotted plastic cage can be used as the bearing cage (4). A side ring (6) of the bearing cage can be radially surrounded by the axially curved edge region (12) of the flange (11) with the larger outer diameter, and thus the roller-cage assembly (3) is fixed in the inner ring (2). The side ring (5) of the bearing cage (4) with the larger outer diameter is radially surrounded by the flange (10) with the smaller outer diameter on the inner ring (2) with a gap.

2. The inner ring fastening roller sleeve (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that, One side ring (5) of the bearing cage (4) has a larger outer diameter than the other side ring (6) of the bearing cage (4), and the two side rings (5, 6) are connected to each other by a connecting web (7) with a Z-shaped profile cross section.

3. The inner ring fastening roller sleeve (1) according to claim 2, characterized in that, The bearing cage (4) is designed as a rolling element guided bearing cage.

4. The inner ring fastening roller sleeve (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that, The flange (11) of the inner ring (2) with a larger outer diameter is formed to have a smaller material thickness than the flange (10) of the inner ring (2) with a smaller outer diameter.

5. The inner ring fastening roller sleeve (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that, The bearing cage (4) is axially slotted in such a way that it passes centrally through one of the connecting webs (7) of the bearing cage, and the opposite ends of the bearing cage (4) rest loosely on each other without a connecting lock.

6. A method for producing an inner ring fastening roller sleeve (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized by the following steps: a) Stamping circular blanks from metal strips made of penetrating hardened steel or surface hardened steel; b) Deep-draw the circular billet to form a can-shaped starting portion, wherein, The inclined circumferential edge of the tank forms a flange (10) with a smaller outer diameter, and the outer surface of the tank wall forms the inner raceway (9) and the flange (11) of the inner ring (2) with a larger outer diameter. c) Align the portion of the outer surface of the tank wall that forms the flange (11) with a larger outer diameter of the inner ring (2) to a smaller material thickness; d) Hammer out a flange (11) of the inner ring (2) with a smaller outer diameter; e) The base of the can-shaped starting portion is punched out along the inner surface of the can wall; f) Trim the inclined circumferential can edge to the final diameter of the flange (10) with a smaller outer diameter; g) The edge region (12) is formed on the flange (11) with a large outer diameter by bending and pressing, the edge region being axially bent to fix the bearing cage (4). h) The flange (11) with a large outer diameter is bent by bending and pressing to form a final inner ring (2) with two outwardly pointing flanges (10, 11). i) The final inner ring (2) is heat-treated by hardening and tempering; j) Widen the axially slotted plastic bearing cage (4) to the extent that the plastic bearing cage can be pushed through the flange (10) with a smaller outer diameter and into the inner ring (2); k) Overlap the ends of the bearing cage (4) so ​​that the bearing cage can be pushed under the axially bent edge region (12) of the flange (11) with a larger outer diameter; l) Loosen the bearing cage (4) so ​​that the ends of the bearing cage rest loosely on each other, and insert the roller-type rolling element (8) into the recess formed between the connecting webs (7) of the bearing cage (4).

7. The method for producing an inner ring fastening roller sleeve (1) according to claim 6, characterized in that, After step i), the inner ring (2) is surface-machined by grinding the inner raceway (9).

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