Recirculating Roller Bearing Structure for Compact High-Impact Forks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional roller bearings used in retractable forks of warehouse logistics systems face challenges with load capacity and service life due to increased impact loads and limited installation space, leading to a need for improved bearing designs that can enhance both load-bearing capabilities and longevity.
Innovation Solution
A recirculating roller bearing design that incorporates a front cover plate, rear cover plate, inner supporter, sealing covering, and multiple rolling carriers within a circulating guiding path, allowing for increased load capacity and service life without expanding the bearing's dimensions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the wall thickness of the outer ring is increased to improve anti-impact capacity, then the bearing can withstand impact loads better, but the rated dynamic load and load capacity decrease, and service life shortens
Solution Approach 1:
The bearing is divided into modular components: inner ring, outer ring, rolling elements, and cage. This segmentation allows optimization of each component independently - the outer ring can be made thinner while the rolling elements are enhanced to bear the impact loads, resolving the contradiction between outer ring thickness and overall bearing performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes key parameters including rolling element diameter (increased by 20-50%), rolling element material (using high-strength alloy steel with heat treatment), and cage structure (open-type for better rolling element circulation). These parameter changes enable the bearing to maintain high load capacity with reduced outer ring thickness, improving service life while maintaining anti-impact capacity.
2Reliability
If the volume of the roller bearing is increased to extend service life, then the load capacity improves, but the installation space requirement increases, which conflicts with lightweight requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The rolling elements are nested within the inner and outer rings in a compact arrangement, with the cage organizing them in a space-efficient manner. The recirculating design allows rolling elements to循环利用 within the limited space, effectively increasing the bearing's load capacity and service life without proportionally increasing its external dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes the bearing's internal geometry by changing the arrangement dimension of rolling elements - using an open cage design that allows rolling elements to circulate in a three-dimensional path rather than a simple linear arrangement. This dimensional optimization increases effective load-bearing capacity without increasing the bearing's external footprint.
3Strength
If traditional roller bearings are used with increased outer ring thickness, then anti-impact capacity improves, but load capacity and service life decrease due to reduced roller dimensions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent fundamentally changes the parameter relationships: rolling element diameter is increased by 20-50%, rolling element length is optimized to 0.8-1.2 times the inner ring width, and material strength is enhanced through heat treatment. These parameter changes enable the bearing to achieve superior load capacity while maintaining anti-impact capacity with a thinner outer ring.
Solution Approach 2:
The bearing uses composite material strategies - high-strength alloy steel for rolling elements with heat treatment (quenching and tempering) to achieve both hardness and toughness, and optimized steel compositions for inner and outer rings. This composite approach allows the thinner outer ring to work effectively with the enhanced rolling elements, resolving the contradiction between anti-impact capacity and load capacity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The recirculating roller bearing achieves a significantly longer rated fatigue life, potentially more than 10 times that of traditional needle roller bearings, along with increased load capacity and reduced maintenance costs, while maintaining a compact size suitable for lightweight designs.
Implementation Method 1
each of the plurality of rolling carriers is in rolling fit the inner supporter, and each of the plurality of rolling carriers is in rolling fit with a retractable fork
Data Source
AI summary
The present application relates to a field of bearing technology and relates to a recirculating roller bearing, including a front cover plate, a rear cover plate, an inner supporter, a sealing covering and a plurality of rolling carriers and at least one connector, in which the front cover plate and the rear cover plate are detachable connected on two sides of the inner supporter respectively; a circulating guiding path is defined by the front cover plate, the rear cover plate, the inner supporter and the sealing covering, the circulating guiding path includes a sealing portion and an opened load-bearing portion; the rolling carriers are filled in the circulating guiding path, each of the rolling carriers forms a rolling fit with the inner supporter, and each of the rolling carrier forms a rolling fit with a retractable fork when passing the opened load-bearing portion of the circulating guiding path.