A wind power plant which is equipped with novel elastic self-aligning ball bearings. The self-aligning ball bearings can, in principle, be used for the cardanic suspension of a pendulum absorber, preferably in a tower of a wind power plant, as well as for rope attachment of floating off-shore plants at the bottom of a body of water. Correspondingly equipped vibration pendulum absorbers per se and to corresponding installations and pendulum absorbers, which have additional damping devices, are disclosed.

A control arm including a frame, a mounting structure on the frame, and a ball-and-socket joint on the frame. The ball-and-socket joint includes an insert formed of a resilient plastic material bonded in a complementary receptacle or socket of the frame. A ball portion of a ball-and-socket joint pin is rotatably arranged in the insert. A plastic material coating is provided on the ball portion and a metal coating is provided on the plastic material coating. When placed in the insert the metal coating of the ball portion contacts an inner surface of the insert.

The ball socket assembly includes a housing with an inner bore, and a bearing is received in the inner bore. The bearing is made as a monolithic piece of a plastic material and has a curved bearing surface which surrounds a ball cavity. The ball socket assembly also includes a ball stud with a ball portion and a shank portion. The ball portion is received in the ball cavity of the bearing and has an equator. The curved bearing surface of the bearing is in slidable contact with the ball portion on opposite axial sides of the equator. The plastic material of the bearing comprises 8-12 mass percent petratetrafluoroethylene, 2-6 mass percent carbon fibers, and the remainder acetal.

An axial ball joint for a length-adjustable two-point link having a housing and a ball stud supported in the housing by a joint ball to be rotatably and swivelably movable and which extends in an axial direction out of the housing in undeflected state. The housing has a connection pin integrally connected to the housing that extends perpendicular to axial direction. A length-adjustable two-point link has two angle joints connected to one another via a connection element, particularly a connection pipe. One angle joint is formed as an axial ball joint connected to the connection element to be adjustable in length. The other angle joint is formed as a radial ball joint and is rigidly connected to the connection element.

A ball joint assembly includes a housing at least partially defining a cavity. A ball stud includes a head portion positioned within the cavity and a shaft extending from the head portion. A ball race having an inner surface is positioned within the cavity to define an interface between the inner surface of the ball race and an outer surface of the head portion. A solid friction coating is positioned within the interface. The solid friction coating is coupled to the inner surface of the ball race and/or the outer surface of the head portion of the ball stud. A piston can also be positioned within the cavity, wherein at least one gap is defined between the ball race and the piston and/or between the ball race and the housing. Methods of assembling a ball joint assembly are also disclosed.

A link arm member of the present invention is used in a vehicle for connecting a suspension and a stabilizer, and includes: a support bar that is sealed by plastically deforming a hollow metal pipe at both ends thereof; and a housing part made of resin that is arranged at each end of the support bar and has a receiving hole for receiving a ball part of a ball stud to which the suspension or the stabilizer is fixed, wherein the housing part is formed by insert molding with the support bar.

A wind power plant which is equipped with novel elastic self-aligning ball bearings. The self-aligning ball bearings can, in principle, be used for the cardanic suspension of a pendulum absorber, preferably in a tower of a wind power plant, as well as for rope attachment of floating off-shore plants at the bottom of a body of water. Correspondingly equipped vibration pendulum absorbers per se and to corresponding installations and pendulum absorbers, which have additional damping devices, are disclosed.

The socket assembly includes a housing with an inner surface that surrounds an inner bore which extends along a central axis. An elastomeric boot extends between first and second boot ends and is sealed with the housing and a shank portion of the stud. The first boot end is received in the inner bore of the housing. An insert, which is fabricated as a separate piece from the boot, is received in the inner bore of the housing. The insert has an outer periphery which presents a plurality of radial teeth that are spaced from one another in a circumferential direction. The teeth are angled at an acute angle relative to the central axis and compress portions of the elastomeric material of the first boot end of the boot to improve the seal between the first boot end of the boot and the inner surface of the housing.

A torque tuning method includes a high-frequency induction heating apparatus that generates a magnetic field from a coil by passing an alternating current (i) to the coil, which is arranged so as to be separated from an outer housing. By passing the current (i) having a predetermined frequency from the high-frequency induction heating apparatus to the coil, a ball portion is induction-heated by a magnetic field generated from the coil through which the current (i) flows, and after the ball portion has reached a temperature at which a ball seat can be deformed by induction heating, the current (i) is stopped and the ball portion is cooled.

The tie rod end includes a housing with an inner bore that extends along a central axis. A stud is partially received in the inner bore and has a shank portion which extends out of the inner bore for attachment with a gearbox. The tie rod end further includes an elastic boot body which extends from a first boot end, which is sealed with the housing, to a second boot end. A boot bearing, which is made of a plastic material, is secured with the second boot end. The boot bearing is in a dynamic sealing engagement with the shank portion of the stud. The boot bearing presents a plurality of radially inwardly extending and annularly-shaped ribs that contact the shank portion.