Inclined Roller Bearing Filling Plug Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Double-row angular roller bearings face challenges with complex filling plug closure, noise, vibrations, and limited axial distance due to the filling plug being part of the raceway, which complicates manufacturing and restricts miniaturization and installation space.
Innovation Solution
The filling plugs are positioned outside the raceways, sealed with inexpensive plastic balls, allowing for improved running behavior, reduced noise, and increased axial distance between raceways, with the option of full complement or spaced rolling elements and a centering bearing design for enhanced load capacity and smooth operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the filling plug is integrated into the raceway, then the bearing can be filled with rolling elements, but the manufacturing complexity increases and noise/vibrations occur
Solution Approach 1:
The filling plug is separated from the raceway into an independent component. The raceway remains continuous and intact, while the filling plug serves solely as a closure element for the filling opening, eliminating the need for complex hardening and grinding operations on the plug itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The filling plug function is extracted from the raceway structure. The plug is removed as a separate element that can be independently manufactured and installed, allowing the raceway to maintain its full functional integrity without interruptions or abutting edges that cause noise and vibrations.
2Reliability
If the filling plug is secured in the bearing ring, then the filling opening is sealed, but the radial expansion of the bearing ring increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of expanding the bearing ring radially to secure the filling plug, the solution inverts the approach by using a conical seating arrangement where the plug is secured axially through a conical surface, allowing the bearing ring to maintain its original radial dimensions.
3Reliability
If the filling plug is positioned within the raceway area, then the filling opening is closed, but the axial distance between raceways is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The filling plug is repositioned from the radial plane (within the raceway area) to the axial dimension, allowing it to close the filling opening from the axial direction. This dimensional shift enables greater axial distance between raceways without interfering with the filling plug's sealing function.
4Device complexity
If the filling opening is part of the raceway, then the bearing structure is simplified, but the filling plug requires hardening and grinding operations
Solution Approach 1:
The filling plug is segmented from the raceway structure, allowing it to be manufactured as a simple closure element without the complex hardening and grinding operations required when it is integrated into the raceway. The raceway itself remains simplified and continuous.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The roller bearing has an outer bearing ring (9) and an inner bearing ring (10) as well as a number of cylindrical roller bearings (11, 12) arranged in two rows between the bearing rings in an O-arrangement and rolling on tracks inclined with respect to a bearing axis. Each row of roller bearings has a filling opening outside the running path, whose central axis is an extension of rotation axes (28, 29) of the roller bearings and both filling openings are closed by fill stoppers (32) after filling the roller bodies.