1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to heavy duty gear boxes of the type found in the drive trains of rolling mills, where clutches are employed to alternatively engage and disengage gears from their respective support shafts, and is concerned in particular with the bearing assemblies for mounting the gears on the shafts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In arrangements of the type referred to above, when the gears are disengaged, they are free to rotate or “free wheel” with respect to their support shafts. However, when in the engaged mode, the gears are fixed with respect to their support shafts and are subjected to axial loading incidental to the driving forces being delivered to or received from other gears.
In the past, roller thrust bearings have been employed to mount the gears on their respective support shafts. The roller thrust bearings are ideally suited for supporting the gears when they are disengaged and free wheeling. It has now been determined, however, that when the gears are fixed with respect to their support shafts in the engaged mode, and the bearings are thus in a static condition, the axial loading on the gears causes the roller elements and races of the bearings to undergo accelerated localized wear in the regions where they are in frictional contact with one another. This localized wear eventually creates clearances which exceed acceptable tolerances, causing vibrations and necessitating a shut down of the equipment and replacement of the prematurely worn bearings.
In accordance with the present invention, the conventional roller thrust bearings are replaced by combinations of sleeve bearings and thrust ring assemblies. The sleeve bearings provide radial support for the gears in both the engaged and disengaged modes of operation. The thrust ring assemblies absorb axial loads under static conditions when the gears are fixed with respect to their support shafts.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
With reference initially to
Gears 24, 26 are carried on the shaft on opposite sides of an enlarged diameter shaft collar 28. The gears have different diameters and numbers of teeth, and are thus capable of meshing with other mating gears in the gear box (not shown) to accommodate different drive ratios.
The gears 24, 26 are each provided with clutch collars 30 having teeth 32 which may be rotatably aligned with external splines 34 on the shaft collar 28. A sleeve 36 internally splined as at 37 is mounted on the shaft collar 28. Sleeve 36 is axially shiftable between a neutral position as shown in
Thus, when the clutch sleeve is in the neutral position, both gears 24 and 26 are disengaged from the shaft 18 and as such are in a free wheeling mode. When the sleeve 36 is shifted into engagement with the clutch teeth 32 of one gear, that gear is engaged with the shaft, allowing the other gear to remain in a free wheeling mode.
The gears 24, 26 are mounted on the shaft 18 with mirror image combinations of sleeve bearings and thrust ring assemblies. Thus, the description will now proceed with reference to the mounting of gear 26, it being understood that the same description applies to the mounting of the other gear 24.
As can best be seen in
The sleeve bearing 40 includes a sleeve 44 received on the shaft 18. The sleeve has twin bearing surfaces 44a, 44b separated by a central groove 44c and journalled for rotation within bushings 46a, 46b received within a stepped bore of the gear 26.
Preferably, as shown somewhat diagrammatically in
One end of the sleeve 44 abuts a shoulder 48 on the shaft, and a thrust ring 50 is urged against the other end of the sleeve by a nut 52 threaded onto the shaft.
The thrust ring assembly 42 includes the thrust ring 50 and a collar 54 secured to a flank of the gear 26 by screws 56. Thrust ring 50 is captured between annular bearing plates 58a, 58b secured by screws 60 respectively to the outboard flank of gear 26 and the inboard face of collar 54. The opposite faces of the thrust ring 50 define annular first bearing surfaces, and the confronting surfaces of the plates 58a, 58b define annular second bearing surfaces.
Liquid lubricant is introduced via a passageway 62 extending centrally through the shaft 18. Branch passageways 64 in the shaft and radial bores 66 in the sleeve 44 deliver the lubricant to the groove 44c. The lubricant emerges from groove 44c to lubricate the interface between the sleeve bearing surfaces 44a, 44b and the bushings 46a, 46b before escaping in one direction towards the shaft shoulder 48 and in the opposite direction into circular channel 68 on one side of the thrust ring 50.
Other branch passageways 70 in the shaft direct lubricant to internal grooves 72 in the sleeve 44. Grooves 72 lead to a circular channel 74 inside the thrust ring. From here, the lubricant is delivered via grooves 76 to the opposite side of the thrust ring 50.
The lubricant delivered to opposite sides of the thrust ring serves to lubricate the interface between the first bearing surfaces defined by the opposite faces of the thrust ring 50 and the second bearing surfaces defined by the confronting surfaces of the bearing plates 58a, 58b.
The second bearing surfaces of the annular bearing plates 58a, 58b are mirror images of each other. With reference additionally to
As an alternative to providing two bearing plates 58a, 58b with mirror image second bearing surfaces and as shown in
In light of the foregoing, it will now be understood by those skilled in the art that the sleeve bearings 40 operate effectively to rotatably support the gears 24, 26 in the free wheeling mode, with the thrust ring assemblies 42 being efficiently lubricated to minimize frictional wear. When one or the other of the gears is rotationally fixed to the shaft, its sleeve bearing provides continued static radial support, and axial loads are taken up by the associated thrust ring assembly 42 which acts over its entire circumference.
It will additionally be appreciated by those skilled in the art that within the bearing assemblies, heat generation increases with increasing rotational speed. However, increasing rotational speed produces an increased lubricant flow through the radial passageways 64, 70 to their respective points of lubrication, the net effect being to maintain a substantially constant and tolerable bearing temperature over a wide range of operating speeds.
This application claims benefit of 60/371,959 filed Apr. 11, 2002.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2096304 | Lapsley | Oct 1937 | A |
2161768 | Smitmans | Jun 1939 | A |
3078975 | Eaton | Feb 1963 | A |
4823631 | Kishimoto | Apr 1989 | A |
4884899 | Schwartzman | Dec 1989 | A |
5265964 | Hooper | Nov 1993 | A |
5363557 | Thompson et al. | Nov 1994 | A |
5427455 | Bosley | Jun 1995 | A |
5529399 | Holze | Jun 1996 | A |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60371959 | Apr 2002 | US |