METHOD AND DEVICE FOR FITTING AN ANGULAR CONTACT ROLLER BEARING

Abstract

A method and device for fitting an angular contact roller bearing, including an inner bearing ring having an inner race arranged on the outer peripheral surface of the inner bearing ring and inclined with respect to the axis of rotation of the bearing, and a rim delimiting said race at the smallest diameter thereof, an outer bearing ring having an outer race arranged on the inner peripheral surface of the outer bearing ring and inclined with respect to the axis of rotation of the bearing, and a rim delimiting said race at the greatest diameter thereof, and also including a plurality of roller bearing elements arranged between the bearing rings and roll on the races and are held at uniform distances from one another in the circumferential direction by a bearing cage. The outer peripheral surface of the inner bearing ring and the inner peripheral surface of the outer bearing ring are in each case cylindrical and extend outside the races at least in some sections coaxially with respect to the axis of rotation of the bearing, and the races of both bearing rings are in each case integrated conically into the cylindrical peripheral surfaces, such that the rims which are produced and in each case delimit the races on one side are in each case formed in one piece with the bearing rings. The fitting of the angular contact roller bearing takes place according to an eccentric pivot fitting method the deep groove ball bearing eccentric fitting method.

Claims

1. A method for assembling an angular contact roller bearing, said angular contact roller bearing comprising an inner bearing ring having an inner race arranged on an outer peripheral surface thereof and inclined with respect to a bearing rotation axis, and a rim delimiting said race at a smallest diameter thereof, an outer bearing ring having an outer race arranged on an inner peripheral surface thereof and inclined with respect to the bearing rotation axis, and a rim delimiting said race at a largest diameter thereof, and a multiplicity of roller bearing elements, which are arranged between the bearing rings and roll on the races thereof and are held at uniform distances from one another in a circumferential direction by a bearing cage, wherein, in each case outside the races, the outer peripheral surface of the inner bearing ring and the inner peripheral surface of the outer bearing ring are cylindrical design and extend coaxially with respect to the bearing rotation axis, at least in some section or sections, the method comprising: producing the races of each of the bearing rings by machining conically into the respective outer and inner peripheral surfaces, also resulting in producing the rims which delimit the respective inner and outer races on one side being formed in one piece with the respective bearing rings; and assembling the angular contact roller bearing using an eccentric-pivoting assembly method.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising, in a first step, placing the outer bearing ring in a receptacle in an at least approximately vertical position with a rimless end in advance and making the outer bearing ring at least partially oval within an elastic limit at an outer peripheral surface thereof by deformation force application at a 12 o'clock line toward a 6 o'clock line on the outer peripheral surface.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising, in a second step, introducing the roller bearing elements into the race of the outer bearing ring with their larger ends of the roller bearing elements in advance from the rimless end of the outer bearing ring, either individually or as a roller set prefixed in a horseshoe shape in an auxiliary device.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising, in a third step, feeding the inner bearing ring to the outer bearing ring in a sliding movement, with a rimless end thereof resting on a sloping plane, such that the rimless end contacts the running surfaces races of two of the roller bearing elements at two impact points at two opposite points of the inner race.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising, in a fourth step, a centrifugal force resulting from the acceleration of the inner bearing ring on the sloping plane pivoting the inner bearing ring about a horizontal axis, formed between the impact points on the roller bearing elements, into the outer bearing ring, into a position perpendicular to the outer bearing ring, in which the rim of the inner bearing ring rests against smaller ends of the roller bearing elements, at least in some section or sections.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising, in a fifth step, moving the inner bearing ring into a coaxial position with respect to the outer bearing ring, and distributing the roller bearing elements uniformly around a circumference in the inner and outer races in the bearing rings, with ovalization of the outer bearing ring being canceled.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the bearing cage is a prong-type bearing cage, the method further comprising, in a sixth step, introducing the bearing cage by cage webs thereof between the roller bearing elements, from a side on which the smaller ends of the roller bearing latter are situated, and latching the bearing cage using latching webs thereof engaging on an inner surface of the rim on the inner bearing ring.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the bearing cage is a prong-type bearing cage, the method further comprising, in a sixth step, introducing the bearing cage by cage webs thereof between the roller bearing elements, from a side on which the larger ends of the roller bearing elements are situated, and latching the bearing cage using latching webs thereof on an inner surface of the rim on the outer bearing ring.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein encircling fastening grooves are located in the inner peripheral surface of the outer bearing ring, the method further comprising, in a concluding step, filling a bearing interior with lubricant, and inserting the two elastomer sealing washers into the encircling fastening grooves.

10. An assembly device for carrying out the method as claimed in claim 1, the assembly device comprising a vertical holding part for retaining and filling the outer bearing ring with the roller bearing elements, and a ramp part, arranged opposite relative to the holding part and including a slope for feeding the inner bearing ring to the outer bearing ring.

11. The assembly device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the holding part has an L-shaped profile cross section with a horizontal leg and a vertical leg.

12. The assembly device as claimed in claim 11, wherein a surface of the horizontal leg is formed with a concave recess extending to the vertical leg and is adapted to receive an upright loose holding ring for the outer bearing ring.

13. The assembly device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the vertical leg includes a circular aperture of at least approximately a same size as the inside diameter of the outer bearing ring, through which the roller bearing elements are introducible into the race of the outer bearing ring.

14. The assembly device as claimed in claim 13, further comprising two stop webs arranged with an offset of approximately 190° to one another that project into the loose holding ring and between which a roller set fed to the outer bearing ring is fixable in position in said bearing ring, and is secured in the aperture of the vertical leg.

15. The assembly device as claimed in claim 14, further comprising a device for producing a vertical pressure force for ovalization of the outer bearing ring, including a sleeve which formed with an internal thread and in which an adjusting screw is rotatably arranged, secured on a free end of the vertical leg, at a plane of a 12 o'clock line of a peripheral surface of the loose holding ring.

16. The assembly device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the ramp part has a sloping flat slideway having two lateral guide rims, and a spacing of the two lateral guide rims relative to one another corresponds to an outside diameter of the inner bearing ring.

17. The assembly device as claimed in claim 16, wherein an end of the slideway which is adjacent to the holding ring is secured on two bearing pedestals, and the slideway is removably fixed on the surface of the horizontal leg of the holding part via said bearing pedestals.

18. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein encircling fastening grooves are located in the inner peripheral surface of the outer bearing ring, the method further comprising, in a concluding step, filling a bearing interior with lubricant, and inserting the two elastomer sealing washers into the encircling fastening grooves.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] A preferred embodiment of an angular contact roller bearing and a method for the assembly thereof and a device for carrying out this method are explained in greater detail below with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

[0032] FIG. 1 shows an enlarged illustration of a cross section through a single-row angular contact roller bearing having rims formed in one piece with the bearing rings;

[0033] FIGS. 2A, 2B show a three-dimensional illustration of the first step of the assembly method according to the invention in a plan view and a sectioned view;

[0034] FIGS. 3A, 3B show a three-dimensional illustration of the second step of the assembly method according to the invention in a plan view and a sectioned view;

[0035] FIGS. 4A, 4B show a three-dimensional illustration of the third step of the assembly method according to the invention in a plan view and a sectioned view;

[0036] FIGS. 5A, 5B show a three-dimensional illustration of the fourth step of the assembly method according to the invention in a plan view and a sectioned view;

[0037] FIGS. 6A, 6B show a three-dimensional illustration of the fifth step of the assembly method according to the invention in a plan view and a sectioned view;

[0038] FIGS. 7A, 7B show a three-dimensional illustration of the sixth step of the assembly method according to the invention in a plan view and a sectioned view; and

[0039] FIG. 8 shows a three-dimensional illustration of a device for carrying out the assembly method according to the invention in a plan view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] FIG. 1 illustrates a cross section of a single-row angular contact roller bearing 1, which is suitable, for example, as a replacement for the hitherto used deep groove ball bearing for supporting the crankshaft in motor-vehicle internal combustion engines. As is clearly apparent, this angular contact roller bearing 1 comprises an inner bearing ring 2 having an inner race 4 arranged on the outer peripheral surface 3 thereof and inclined with respect to the bearing rotation axis A.sub.L, which is delimited at its smallest diameter by a rim 5, and an outer bearing ring 6 having an outer race 8 arranged on the inner peripheral surface 7 thereof and likewise inclined with respect to the bearing rotation axis A.sub.L, which is delimited at its largest diameter by a rim 9. A multiplicity of roller bearing elements 10, which roll on the races 4, 8 thereof and are held at uniform distances from one another in the circumferential direction by a bearing cage 11, are furthermore arranged between the bearing rings 2, 6.

[0041] It can furthermore be seen in FIG. 1 that, in each case outside the races 4, 8, the outer peripheral surface 3 of the inner bearing ring 2 and the inner peripheral surface 7 of the outer bearing ring 6 are of cylindrical design, extending coaxially with respect to the bearing rotation axis A.sub.L, at least in some section or sections, and the races 4, 8 of both bearing rings 2, 6 are in each case machined conically into the peripheral surfaces 3, 7. As a result, the rims 5, 9 which are produced in this case and in each case delimit the races 4, 8 on one side are in each case formed in one piece with the bearing rings 2, 6.

[0042] It can likewise be seen from FIG. 1 that the roller bearing elements 10 are designed as taper rollers, which have a taper angle 6 of preferably 2° and roll on their races 4, 8 at an enveloping circle angle 8 of preferably 6°. The gap S between the outer peripheral surface 3 of the inner bearing ring 2 and the inner peripheral surface 7 of the outer bearing ring 6 is furthermore dimensioned in such a way that twice the dimension thereof is greater than the maximum diameter D.sub.W of the roller bearing elements 10 in order to enable the roller bearing elements 10 to be inserted into the radial rolling bearing 1 by the assembly method described in greater detail below. In addition, both the rim 5 delimiting the race 4 in the inner bearing ring 2 and the rim 9 delimiting the race 8 in the outer bearing ring 6 have an equal minimum height h.sub.BI, h.sub.BA of about 20% of the maximum diameter D.sub.W of the roller bearing elements 10 to enable high axial forces which occur during the operation of the bearing to be absorbed in one direction with a minimum possible rim friction.

[0043] It can furthermore be seen in FIG. 1 that the bearing cage 11 is preferably formed by a prong-type cage, which can be inserted into the radial rolling bearing 1 after the installation of the roller bearing elements 10. In this case, the bearing cage 11, which comprises a cage ring 12 and a multiplicity of axial cage webs 13, has on its cage webs 13 (concealed in the illustration) a plurality of latching webs 14 (likewise concealed in the illustration), which are uniformly distributed over the circumference, which extend obliquely to the central axis A.sub.L of the bearing and by which the bearing cage 11 can be fixed axially in position on the inner surface 15 of the rim 9 on the outer bearing ring 6.

[0044] Finally, it is also possible to see in FIG. 1 that the radial rolling bearing 1 is sealed off from contamination from the outside and from the escape of any lubricant introduced into the bearing interior 20 by two elastomer sealing washers 18, 19 with metal reinforcement inserted into encircling fastening grooves 16, 17 in the inner peripheral surface 7 of the outer bearing ring 6 axially on both sides of the roller bearing elements 10.

[0045] In FIGS. 2A to 7B, the individual steps of an assembly method for the angular contact roller bearing 1 according to the invention are furthermore illustrated schematically. This assembly method is essentially a modified eccentric assembly method known per se as an assembly method for deep groove ball bearings, in which, as can be seen in FIGS. 2A and 2B, in a first step, the outer bearing ring 6 is placed in a receptacle in an at least approximately vertical position with its rimless end 21 in advance and is made slightly oval within its elastic limit at its outer peripheral surface 22 by deformation force application at a 12 o'clock line indicated in the drawing by an arrow toward a 6 o'clock line, likewise indicated by an arrow, on its outer peripheral surface 22.

[0046] After this, in a second step depicted in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the roller bearing elements 10 are introduced into the race 8 of the outer bearing ring 6 with their larger ends 24 in advance from the rimless end 21 of the outer bearing ring 6, either individually or as a roller set 23 already prefixed in a horseshoe shape in an auxiliary device.

[0047] In a third step, which can be seen from FIGS. 4A and 4B, the inner bearing ring 2 is then fed to the outer bearing ring 6 in an automatic sliding movement, with its rimless end 25 resting on a sloping plane, in such a way that it strikes the running surfaces 28 of two roller bearing elements 10 at two impact points 26, 27 by two opposite points of its race 4.

[0048] After this, as a fourth step, which is shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, a centrifugal force resulting from the acceleration of the inner bearing ring on a sloping plane causes the inner bearing ring 2 to pivot about a horizontal axis, formed between its impact points 26, 27 on the roller bearing elements 10, into the outer bearing ring 6, into a position perpendicular to the latter, in which the rim 5 of the inner bearing ring 2 rests against the smaller ends 29 of the roller bearing elements 10, at least in some section or sections.

[0049] In a fifth step, as can be seen from FIGS. 6A and 6B, the inner bearing ring 2 is then moved into a coaxial position with respect to the outer bearing ring 3 in order to arrange the roller bearing elements 10 in a manner distributed uniformly around the circumference in their races 4, 8 in the bearing rings 2, 6, with the ovalization of the outer bearing ring 3 being canceled.

[0050] After this, in a sixth step, as depicted in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the bearing cage 11 is introduced by its cage webs 13 between the roller bearing elements 10, from the side on which the larger ends of the latter are situated, and, as shown in FIG. 1, is latched by its latching webs 14 on the inner surface 15 of the rim 9 on the outer bearing ring 6. A variant of this, which is not illustrated in the drawings for reasons of simplification, would be to introduce the bearing cage 11, which is designed as a prong-type cage, by its cage webs 13 between the roller bearing elements 10, from the side on which the smaller ends of the latter are situated, and to latch it by latching webs on the inner surface of the rim 5 on the inner bearing ring 2.

[0051] Finally, the bearing interior 20 is then filled with lubricant, and the two elastomer sealing washers 18, 19 are inserted into the encircling fastening grooves 16, 17 in the inner peripheral surface 7 of the outer bearing ring 6 in the manner which is likewise illustrated in FIG. 1.

[0052] Finally, in FIG. 8, the assembly device 30 for carrying out the eccentric-pivoting assembly method according to the invention is illustrated. It is clearly apparent that this assembly device 30 essentially comprises a vertical holding part 31 for retaining the outer bearing ring 6 and for the filling thereof with the roller bearing elements 10, and a ramp part 32, arranged opposite and in a manner sloping relative to the holding part 31, via which the inner bearing ring 2 is fed to the outer bearing ring 6.

[0053] It can furthermore be seen in FIG. 8 that the holding part 31 has an L-shaped profile cross section with a horizontal or almost horizontal leg 33 and a vertical or almost vertical leg 34. In this case, the surface 35 of the horizontal leg 33 is formed with a concave recess 36 extending to the vertical leg 34 and intended to receive an upright loose holding ring 37 for the outer bearing ring 6, while the vertical leg 34 is designed with a circular aperture 38 of at least approximately the size of the inside diameter of the outer bearing ring 6, through which the roller bearing elements 10 can be introduced into the race 8 of the outer bearing ring 6.

[0054] It can furthermore be seen from FIG. 8 that two stop webs 39, 40, which are arranged with an offset of approximately 190° to one another and project into the loose holding ring 37 and between which the roller set 23 fed to the outer bearing ring 6 can be fixed in position in said bearing ring, are secured in the aperture 38 of the vertical leg 34.

[0055] It can likewise be clearly seen in FIG. 8 that a device for producing a vertical pressure force for the ovalization of the outer bearing ring 6, which is designed as a sleeve 41 which is formed with an internal thread and in which an adjusting screw 42 is rotatably arranged, is secured on the free end of the vertical leg 34, at the level of the 12 o'clock line of the peripheral surface of the loose holding ring 37.

[0056] Finally, it is apparent from FIG. 8 that the ramp part 32 of the assembly device 30 has a sloping flat slideway 43 having two lateral guide rims 44, 45, the spacing of which relative to one another corresponds approximately to the outside diameter of the inner bearing ring 2. In this case, the end of the slideway 43 which is adjacent to the holding ring is secured on two bearing pedestals 46, 47, which can be fixed on the surface 35 of the horizontal leg 33 of the holding part 31 by a pin joint in such a way that the slideway 43 can be removed from the holding part 31 together with these bearing pedestals 46, 47.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0057] 1 angular contact roller bearing [0058] 2 inner bearing ring [0059] 3 outer peripheral surface of 2 [0060] 4 inner race in 2 [0061] 5 rim on 4 [0062] 6 outer bearing ring [0063] 7 inner peripheral surface of 6 [0064] 8 outer race in 6 [0065] 9 rim on 8 [0066] 10 roller bearing element [0067] 11 bearing cage [0068] 12 cage ring of 11 [0069] 13 cage webs on 12 [0070] 14 latching webs on 13 [0071] 15 inner surface of 9 [0072] 16 fastening groove in 7 [0073] 17 fastening groove in 7 [0074] 18 elastomer sealing washer [0075] 19 elastomer sealing washer [0076] 20 bearing interior [0077] 21 rimless end of 6 [0078] 22 outer peripheral surface of 6 [0079] 23 roller set [0080] 24 larger ends of 10 [0081] 25 rimless end of 2 [0082] 26 impact point on 28 [0083] 27 impact point on 28 [0084] 28 running surface of 10 [0085] 29 smaller end of 10 [0086] 30 assembly device [0087] 31 holding part of 30 [0088] 32 ramp part of 30 [0089] 33 horizontal leg of 31 [0090] 34 vertical leg of 31 [0091] 35 surface of 33 [0092] 36 concave recess in 35 [0093] 37 holding ring of 31 [0094] 38 aperture in 34 [0095] 39 stop web in 38 [0096] 40 stop web in 38 [0097] 41 sleeve on 34 [0098] 42 adjusting screw in 41 [0099] 43 slideway of 32 [0100] 44 guide rim on 43 [0101] 45 guide rim on 43 [0102] 46 bearing pedestal on 43 [0103] 47 bearing pedestal on 43 [0104] A.sub.L bearing rotation axis [0105] 67 taper angle [0106] β enveloping circle angle [0107] S gap between 3 and 7 [0108] D.sub.W largest diameter of 10 [0109] h.sub.BI rim height on 2 [0110] h.sub.BA rim height on 6