This application claims priority to German patent application no. 10 2019 200 297.8 filed on Jan. 11, 2019, the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference.
The disclosure is directed to a rolling-element bearing unit having improved axial support for rolling elements.
A known rolling-element bearing unit (see
The disclosure is directed to a rolling-element bearing unit that has at least one outer ring, at least one inner ring that includes at least one surface against which a seal element abuts and which is disposed at an axial end region of the rolling-element bearing unit, and a number of rolling elements that contact the outer ring and the inner ring.
The disclosed rolling-element bearing unit includes an elevation or projection that extends radially, starting from the surface against which the seal element abuts, toward the rolling elements, to a location farther radially outward than the surface. This projection defines a radially outward extension of the flange surface that is typically used to guide the axial end of a rolling element so that a greater surface area of the flange contacts the rolling element. According to this, an increased efficiency can be achieved. In particular a greater robustness with respect to transverse loads, such as during vehicle cornering, can be cost-effectively be achieved with the disclosed rolling-element bearing unit. This benefit can be obtained by changing a single part of known rolling-element bearing units that are already found in series production, used in particular as wheel-bearing units or pinion-bearing units, and specifically in particular for those having the design according to
Another aspect of the disclosure comprises a tapered rolling-element bearing unit having an outer ring and an inner ring having a raceway, the raceway having a first axial end having a first diameter rand a second axial end having a second diameter greater than the first diameter. The inner ring also has a guide flange at the second axial end of the raceway and a cylindrical wall on a side of the guide flange opposite from the raceway. A plurality of tapered rollers are mounted on the raceway, and each of the tapered rollers has an axial end surface at the second axial end of the raceway. Each of these axial end surfaces has an annular outer surface portion and a central portion recessed relative to the annular outer surface portion. The annular outer surfaces of the rollers contact the guide flange, the guide flange extends radially over a portion of the central recessed portion, and a maximum diameter of the guide flange is greater than a diameter of the cylindrical wall. The bearing unit may include a seal element extending from the outer ring to the cylindrical surface of the inner ring, and the inner ring may include a groove between the guide flange and the cylindrical wall.
Further advantages arise from the following description of the drawings. An exemplary embodiment of the disclosure is depicted in the drawings. The drawings, the description, and the claims contain numerous features in combination. The person skilled in the art will also advantageously consider the features individually and combine them into further meaningful combinations.
The outer ring, the inner ring, and the rolling elements form a tapered roller bearing so that the inner ring is a tapered-roller-bearing inner ring. The inner ring includes a raceway 36 that is configured for rolling-on of the rolling elements, and the raceway includes a first axial end 46 and a second axial end 48. A diameter of the second axial end 48 is greater than a diameter of the first axial end 46. The surface 24 is disposed radially outward of and directly at an axial end 50 of the inner ring. Furthermore the surface 24 is disposed closer to the second axial end 48 than to the first axial end 46. The elevation 34, starting from the surface 24, is angled axially away from the axial end 50. In addition, with respect to its axial position the elevation is disposed between the surface and the raceway 36 of the inner ring. An axial inner side of the elevation 34 forms a flange surface 38 of the inner ring.
The rolling elements are configured as tapered rollers. A distance between an axis of symmetry 40 of one of the rolling elements and a radially outer surface of the elevation 34 is zero and thus less than a fraction of a radius of a wider side 42 of the tapered roller. The inner ring includes a notch 44 between the surface 24 and the elevation 34.
In a state wherein the flange surface 38 is loaded by the rolling elements in a manner that corresponds to a load limit of the rolling-element bearing unit, all contact surfaces between the rolling elements and the flange surface are ellipses.
The rolling-element bearing unit includes a further inner ring 23 and further rolling elements (not shown) which, together with the outer ring, form a further tapered-roller bearing. This is part of the rolling-element bearing unit.
An alternative exemplary embodiment is depicted in
Representative, non-limiting examples of the present invention were described above in detail with reference to the attached drawings. This detailed description is merely intended to teach a person of skill in the art further details for practicing preferred aspects of the present teachings and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Furthermore, each of the additional features and teachings disclosed above may be utilized separately or in conjunction with other features and teachings to provide improved rolling-element bearings.
Moreover, combinations of features and steps disclosed in the above detailed description may not be necessary to practice the invention in the broadest sense, and are instead taught merely to particularly describe representative examples of the invention. Furthermore, various features of the above-described representative examples, as well as the various independent and dependent claims below, may be combined in ways that are not specifically and explicitly enumerated in order to provide additional useful embodiments of the present teachings.
All features disclosed in the description and/or the claims are intended to be disclosed separately and independently from each other for the purpose of original written disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter, independent of the compositions of the features in the embodiments and/or the claims. In addition, all value ranges or indications of groups of entities are intended to disclose every possible intermediate value or intermediate entity for the purpose of original written disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter.
10 Outer ring
12 Inner ring
14 Rolling element
16 Surface
18 Seal element
20 Outer ring
22 Inner ring
23 Inner ring
24 Surface
26 Seal element
28 End region
30 Rolling element
32 Radial direction
34 Elevation
36 Raceway
38 Flange surface
40 Axis of symmetry
42 Side
44 Notch
46 End
48 End
50 End
52 Height
54 Surface
56 Surface
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
102019200297.8 | Jan 2019 | DE | national |