Patent Application
20220048319
This application claims priority to German patent application no. 10 2020 210 438.7 filed on Aug. 17, 2020, the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference.
The disclosure is directed to a wheel bearing assembly including an improved seal.
According to
An aspect of the disclosure is to provide a wheel bearing assembly of the above-described type having high operational reliability.
A wheel bearing assembly is disclosed that includes at least one hub and at least one first bearing inner ring, which, of all bearing inner rings of the wheel bearing assembly, has a shortest distance from an outboard-side axial end of the wheel bearing assembly. That is, the first bearing inner ring is the axially outermost or axially outboard-most inner ring of the wheel bearing assembly.
The wheel bearing assembly includes at least one seal element that seals against a radial inner surface of the first bearing inner ring in a liquid-tight manner. A high operational reliability can thereby be achieved. In particular, it can be achieved that the seal element can be preinstalled against the radial inner surface, and therefore its presence is controllable both during the preinstallation and during a final installation without additional expense, whereby a high operational reliability is achievable. In particular, oil can be reliably prevented from reaching a brake disc, where it could seriously impair brake function.
The first bearing inner ring preferably includes a groove on a radially inner-lying surface, by which groove the seal element is attached to the bearing inner ring. This makes the bearing ring simple to install on an axle pin and thus simple to preinstall on the axle pin.
The groove is advantageously axially spaced from a raceway of the first bearing inner ring, which raceway is configured for the rolling of rolling elements of the wheel bearing assembly. In this way a uniform transmission of bearing forces onto the axle pin is achieved.
Furthermore, the wheel bearing assembly includes an axle pin and a second bearing inner ring, and the wheel bearing assembly is free of seals that are disposed between the axle pin and the second bearing inner ring. In this way a cost-effective construction can be achieved.
The wheel bearing assembly is preferably free of seals that seal against a radial outer side of the first bearing inner ring between the first bearing inner ring and a second bearing inner ring of the wheel bearing assembly. Components can thereby be saved and a cost-effective design can be achieved.
The seal element is advantageously configured as an O-ring. In this way a constructively simple design can be achieved.
In addition, the wheel bearing assembly includes at least one seal unit sealing against oil, which seal unit is disposed on an axial-side end of the first bearing inner ring and is disposed on a radial outer surface of the first bearing inner ring. Oil can thereby be prevented from reaching a brake disc.
The seal element preferably seals between the first bearing inner ring and an axle pin in a liquid-tight manner. In this way it can be prevented that oil reaches between outer and inner rings of the bearing assembly and to a brake disc element.
Another aspect of the disclosure comprise a wheel bearing assembly that includes at least one hub having an axial outboard end and a first bearing installed in the hub. The first bearing has an outer ring and an inner ring, and at least one seal element that seals against a radially inner surface of the first bearing inner ring in a liquid-tight manner. The first bearing is the outboard-most bearing of the wheel bearing assembly.
Furthermore, a wheel bearing inner ring is disclosed, in particular for a wheel bearing assembly as described above, including an O-ring, wherein the wheel bearing inner ring includes a groove on a radially inner surface, in which groove the O-ring is at least partially disposed. A high operational reliability can thereby be achieved.
In addition, a motor vehicle is disclosed, in particular a truck, including a wheel bearing assembly as described above, wherein a wheel supported by the wheel bearing assembly is drivable by an oil-lubricated drive axle of the motor vehicle.
Furthermore, an installation method is disclosed for installing a wheel bearing assembly, in particular a wheel bearing assembly as described above, in which a seal element is attached to a radially inner side of a first bearing inner ring, and in which the first bearing inner ring is subsequently attached in the hub to a seal element, so that in a completely installed state of the wheel bearing assembly the first bearing inner ring is the bearing inner ring that, in comparison to all other bearing inner rings of the wheel bearing assembly, has the shortest distance to an outboard-side axial end of the wheel bearing assembly. A high operational reliability can thereby be achieved.
Further advantages arise from the following description of the drawings. An exemplary embodiment of the invention 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.
On a radial inner surface 42 of the first bearing inner ring, the wheel bearing assembly includes a seal element 40 that seals against the inner surface 42 in a liquid-tight manner. For this purpose the first bearing inner ring 36 includes a groove 44 on the radial inner surface 42, in which groove 44 the seal element 40 is disposed, and by which groove 44 the seal element is attached to the bearing inner ring 36. The tapered roller bearings 54, 56 are disposed on an axle pin 50 of the wheel bearing assembly, and the radial inner surface 42 abuts against the axle pin 50. The groove 44 and the seal element 40 extend completely around the axle pin 50 in the circumferential direction. In addition, the seal element 40 continuously abuts in the circumferential direction over 360° against the axle pin 50 and a base of the groove 44 so that the seal element seals between the bearing inner ring 36 and the axle pin 50 in a liquid-tight manner, and in particular with respect to oil. The seal element 40 is configured as an O-ring.
The wheel bearing assembly is free of seals that are disposed between the axle pin 50 and the second bearing inner ring 52. In one alternative design of the invention, such a seal or a plurality of such seals can be present in order to reliably prevent dirt from a spatial region 60, which is farther inboard-side in comparison to the tapered roller bearing 56, from reaching between the bearing inner ring 52 and the axle pin 50.
Furthermore, the wheel bearing assembly is free of seals that seal against a radial outer side of the first bearing inner ring and a radial outer side of the second bearing inner ring between the first bearing inner ring and the second bearing inner ring of the wheel bearing assembly. In one alternative embodiment of the invention, such a seal can be present.
The bearing inner ring 36 includes a raceway 46, on which rolling elements 48 roll during operation. The groove 44 is spaced from the raceway 46 in the axial direction of the wheel bearing assembly.
The axle pin 50 is hollow. Through it a driveshaft (not shown) extends, which is provided for driving a wheel (not shown) supported by the wheel bearing assembly. For this purpose, in a fully installed state the driveshaft is attached to the hub 35 with the aid of screw holes 62. The respective wheel is attached radially farther outward of the holes 64 of the hub 35. The driveshaft is oil-lubricated, and oil is located between the driveshaft and the axle pin 50. The oil can also lubricate a differential disposed on the driveshaft. Furthermore, a planetary transmission can be disposed outboard relative to the tapered roller bearing 54, which planetary transmission can also be lubricated by the oil.
In a method for installing the wheel bearing assembly, the seal element 40 is first attached in the groove 44, and subsequently the tapered roller bearing 54 is pressed into the hub 35. Then the hub 35 is installed on the axle pin together with the tapered roller bearings 54, 56. Thus, already prior to a delivery of the tapered roller bearing 54 to a location at which it is installed on the axle pin 50, a manufacturer of the tapered roller bearing 54 can ensure by installing the seal element 40 that in a fully installed state, no oil that is provided for lubricating the driveshaft and that can be disposed in a spatial region 66 that is outboard of the tapered roller bearing 54 can move forward. In comparison to the O-ring 24 of the embodiment according to
The tapered roller bearings 54, 56 are both lubricated by lubricating grease.
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 bearing assemblies.
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.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102020210438.7 | Aug 2020 | DE | national |
