Spherical roller bearing

Abstract

A spherical roller bearing includes at least one outer ring and one inner ring and at least one rolling element disposed between the at least one outer ring and the one inner ring. The outer ring is axially enlarged with respect to the inner ring in a one-sided manner on a load-zone side of the spherical roller bearing.

Claims

1. A spherical roller bearing comprising: an outer ring; an inner ring; two rows of rolling elements are axially disposed adjacent to each other between the outer ring and the inner ring, wherein the two rows of rolling elements roll on the outer ring and the inner ring, wherein the outer ring is axially enlarged with respect to the inner ring and the axial enlargement of the outer ring is one-sided and located on a load-zone side of the spherical roller bearing, the inner ring being located on a shaft, the outer ring being an outermost ring of the spherical roller bearing and being angularly rotatable relative to the inner ring, a portion of the outer ring which forms the axial enlargement forming part of a raceway of the outer ring for at least one of the two rows of rolling elements to roll thereover.

2. The spherical roller bearing according to claim 1, wherein the outer ring is axially enlarged with respect to the inner ring by less than twenty percent (20%).

3. A spherical roller bearing assembly for supporting a shaft that includes the spherical roller bearing of claim 1 that is disposed on a first end of the shaft, and another of the spherical roller bearing of claim 1 on a second end of the shaft.

4. A roller bending machine for manufacturing tubular elements, comprising a roller that is supported by the spherical roller bearing assembly according to claim 3.

5. The spherical roller bearing according to claim 1, wherein the outer ring is axially enlarged with respect to the inner ring by less than ten percent (10%).

6. The spherical roller bearing according to claim 1, wherein the at least one outer ring has a first axial side and a second axial side and wherein the one inner ring has a first axial side and a second axial side, and wherein the first axial side of the at least one outer ring is axially aligned with the first axial side of the one inner ring.

7. The spherical roller bearing according to claim 6, wherein the outer ring is axially enlarged with respect to the inner ring by less than twenty percent (20%).

8. The spherical roller bearing according to claim 6, wherein the outer ring is axially enlarged with respect to the inner ring by less than ten percent (10%).

9. A spherical roller bearing comprising: an outer ring having a first axial side and a second axial side; an inner ring having a first axial side and a second axial side; and two rows of rolling elements axially disposed between the outer ring and the inner ring adjacent to each other, wherein the rolling elements roll on the outer ring and the inner ring, wherein the first axial side of the outer ring and the first axial side of the inner ring are axially aligned, and wherein a distance between the first axial side of the outer ring and the second axial side of the outer ring is greater than a distance between the first axial side of the inner ring and the second axial side of the inner ring on a load-zone side of the spherical roller bearing so as to create an axially enlarged section on the outer ring relative to the inner ring, the inner ring being located on the a shaft, the outer ring being an outermost ring of the spherical roller bearing and being angularly rotatable relative to the inner ring, the axially enlarged section forming part of a raceway of the outer ring for at least one of the two rows of rolling elements to roll thereover.

10. The spherical roller bearing according to claim 9, wherein the distance between the first axial side of the outer ring and the second axial side of the outer ring is greater than the distance between the first axial side of the inner ring and the second axial side of the inner ring by less than twenty percent (20%).

11. The spherical roller bearing according to claim 9, wherein the distance between the first axial side of the outer ring and the second axial side of the outer ring is greater than the distance between the first axial side of the inner ring and the second axial side of the inner ring by less than ten percent (10%).

12. A spherical roller bearing including an outer ring and an inner ring, between which two rows of rolling elements are axially disposed adjacent to each other with a portion of a cage therebetween, wherein the two rows of rolling elements roll on the outer ring and the inner ring, wherein the outer ring is axially enlarged with respect to the inner ring and the axial enlargement of the outer ring is one-sided and located on a load-zone side of the spherical roller bearing, wherein one of the two rows of rolling elements which is located on an unloaded side of the spherical roller bearing can axially protrude outwardly from the outer ring such that at least one of the rolling elements therein axially protrudes outwardly from the outer ring, when viewed in cross section, a single outer edge of the at least one of the rolling elements is partially contacted and guided by the outer ring and is partially axially outside of the outer ring, the inner ring being located on a shaft, the outer ring being an outermost ring of the spherical roller bearing and being angularly rotatable relative to the inner ring.

13. The spherical roller bearing according to claim 12, wherein the outer ring is axially enlarged with respect to the inner ring by less than twenty percent (20%).

14. The spherical roller bearing according to claim 12, wherein the outer ring is axially enlarged with respect to the inner ring by less than ten percent (10%).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows a schematic depiction of a first exemplary embodiment of the inventive bearing assembly with centrally disposed shaft;

(2) FIG. 2 shows a schematic depiction of the bearing assembly depicted in FIG. 1 with inclined shaft; and

(3) FIG. 3 shows a schematic sectional view through a roller bending machine with rollers supported using the spherical roller bearings shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(4) In the following, identical or functionally equivalent elements are designated by the same reference numbers.

(5) FIG. 1 schematically shows a bearing assembly 1 with shaft 2 received therein. Here the bearing assembly 1 includes a first and a second spherical roller bearing 4, which each include an inner ring 6 that is connected to the shaft 2 so as to rotate therewith. Rolling elements 10 are disposed between the inner rings 6 and outer rings 8 of the spherical roller bearing 4, which rolling elements have a characteristic shape for a spherical roller bearing 4. Furthermore, it can be seen from FIG. 1 that the rolling elements 10 are received in a known manner by a double-chamber cage 12 and secured in their position with respect to one another.

(6) Shafts 2 supported in this way preferably find their use in roller bending machines. Such a roller bending machine is schematically depicted in FIG. 3. It usually includes 3, or, as depicted, 4, rollers 31, 32, 33, 34 that can be arranged and moved with respect to one another so as to bend a tubular element 36 from a plate-shaped element 35. Such machines 30 here can bend steel plates having a weight of up to well over 100 t into tubes at room temperature. In order to be able to support the enormous forces acting here, the rollers 31-34 are supported by the spherical roller bearings 4 shown in FIG. 1. Here the specific design of the spherical roller bearing 4 described in the following also makes possible an inclination of the rollers so that conical profiles, for example, for a tower element of a wind turbine, can also be formed.

(7) Here FIG. 1 shows that the outer ring 8 has a greater axial extension A on one-side in a region 14 than the inner ring 6, wherein the extent of the axial enlargement A is adapted to an expected inclination of the shaft 2 and is dimensioned accordingly. This means, for example, that there is an axial enlargement of less than 20% of the entire axial length L of the inner ring, preferably less than 10% of the axial length L of the inner ring.

(8) If, for example, an inclination of 2 to 4, as depicted in FIG. 2, of the shaft 2 is achieved, then even an axial enlargement of less than 10% would be sufficient to ensure such a inclination.

(9) As mentioned such an inclination of the shaft 2 in the rolling-element bearings 4 is schematically depicted in FIG. 2. Here the axis of rotation D of the shaft 2 is inclined by an angle with respect to a central axis M of the rolling-element bearing 4. As can further be seen from FIG. 2, this inclination can be achieved with the inventive rolling-element bearings 4 such that the rolling elements 10 move in the enlarged region A of the outer ring 8 and are further contacted by it and guided in the load-zone region 14. On the one hand wear is thereby minimized, and on the other handed it is prevented that the rolling elements 10 can be pushed out of the bearing 4.

(10) In contrast, on the unloaded side 16 of the rolling-element bearing 4 the rolling elements 10 come out of the outer rings 8 and are no longer completely contacted and guided. However, since on this side 16 no or only a slight load occurs, no excessive wear occurs on the rolling elements 10. In addition, a snapping-out of the rolling elements 10 from the rolling-element bearing 4 can be prevented by the load-supporting of the region 14 and the enlargement provided via the enlarged region A of the outer ring. Due to the one-side design of the enlargement, the rolling-element bearing 4 simultaneously remains installable in its usual form with bearing cage.

(11) Overall, due to the preferably one-sided axial enlargement of the outer ring of the inventive rolling-element bearing it can be achieved that a significant tilting of the shaft is possible even with large loads that occur, for example, in the use in a roller bending machine, without a too-great wear of the rolling elements or a too-great swiveling-out and thus snapping-out of the rolling elements from the bearing rings being expected or being feared.

REFERENCE NUMBER LIST

(12) 1 Bearing assembly 2 Shaft 4 Rolling-element bearing 6 Inner ring 8 Outer ring 10 Rolling elements 12 Bearing cage 14 Load zone 16 Unloaded region 30 Roller bending machine 31, 32, 33, 34 Rollers 35 Plate-shaped element 36 Tubular element A Axial enlargement L Axial length of the inner ring D Axis of rotation M Center axis