Segmented Bearing Cage Curved Contact Surfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Large-diameter bearings with segmented cages used in applications like wind turbines and tunnel boring machines experience untimely deterioration due to contact surface configurations that lead to inadequate contact and shifting during radial pivoting, resulting in unsatisfactory performance.
Innovation Solution
A segmented cage design where adjacent end faces of the segments are shaped to create a single contact line or point, distant from the inner and outer circumferential faces, allowing for convex, concave, or cylindrical shapes to enable smooth radial pivoting without altering the cage's circumferential length, thereby maintaining consistent contact and reducing stress.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If flat abutting surfaces are used between adjacent segments, then the segments can be easily manufactured, but the segments take off from one another during radial pivoting and stay in contact only on inner or outer contacts, increasing the median nominal diameter of the cages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature by shaping the abutting surfaces of adjacent segments as cylindrical surfaces with equal diameters, one convex and one concave. This curved configuration ensures continuous contact between segments during radial pivoting, preventing them from taking off from one another and eliminating the increase in median nominal diameter that occurs with flat surfaces.
2Stability of the object's composition
If cylindrical abutting surfaces with equal diameters are used, then the segments can maintain contact during radial pivoting, but the segments either take off from one another or slide over each other with radial shifting, inducing untimely deteriorations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces asymmetry by positioning the contact line between the inner and outer circumferential faces of the segments, rather than at the extreme edges. This asymmetric contact line configuration prevents both complete separation and excessive sliding that cause deterioration, providing stable contact during radial pivoting while maintaining reliability.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the contact abutting surfaces are designed to stay in contact and slide one over the other, then continuous contact is maintained, but the segments shift radially one relative to the other, causing untimely deteriorations
Solution Approach 1:
The cylindrical curved surfaces enable smooth rolling contact between segments during radial pivoting. The curvature allows the segments to maintain continuous contact through a controlled contact line that moves along the cylindrical surfaces, preventing harmful radial shifting while maintaining contact continuity.
Data Source
AI summary
A segmented cage for a bearing is provided. The segmented cage provides at least two successive segments each being able to receive at least one rolling element. These segments have inner and outer circumferential faces and adjacent end faces abutting circumferentially one on the other. The adjacent end faces are shaped to obtain only one contact line or contact point between them, the contact point or contact line being distant from the inner and outer circumferential faces.