BEARING ASSEMBLY INCLUDING OIL QUALITY SENSOR

Abstract

A wheel bearing assembly for a motor vehicle includes a housing having an interior, at least one bearing in the interior including a first bearing ring and a second bearing ring rotatably disposed relative to the first bearing ring, a plurality of rolling elements disposed between the first bearing ring and the second bearing ring, a lubricant in the housing interior in contact with at least a part of the at least one bearing, an axle connected to the at least one bearing, a sensor in the housing interior in contact with the lubricant, the sensor being configured to sense at least one property of the lubricant and to output a signal indicative of the at least one property of the lubricant, and a display unit outside the housing interior and in communication with the sensor, the display unit being configured to produce an output based on the signal.

Claims

1. A wheel bearing assembly for a motor vehicle comprising: a housing having an interior; at least one bearing in the interior including a first bearing ring and a second bearing ring rotatably disposed relative to the first bearing ring; a plurality of rolling elements disposed between the first bearing ring and the second bearing ring; a lubricant in the housing interior in contact with at least a part of the at least one bearing; an axle connected to the at least one bearing; a sensor in the housing interior in contact with the lubricant, the sensor being configured to sense at least one property of the lubricant and to output a signal indicative of the at least one property of the lubricant; and a display unit outside the housing interior and in communication with the sensor, the display unit being configured to produce an output based on the signal.

2. The bearing assembly according to claim 1, wherein an opening into the housing is closed by a hub cover and wherein the display unit is disposed on or in the hub cover.

3. The bearing assembly according to claim 2, wherein the sensor is disposed on or in the hub cover.

4. The bearing assembly according to claim 2, wherein the hub cover is fixedly attached to the housing and defines a portion of the interior and wherein the lubricant is sealed in the housing by the hub cover.

5. The bearing assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is formed integrally with a seal of the at least one bearing.

6. The bearing assembly according to claim 1, wherein the display unit includes a light-emitting diode and wherein the output comprises light from the light emitting diode.

7. The bearing assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a temperature sensor.

8. The bearing assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a capacitance sensor.

9. The bearing assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is an ultrasound sensor.

10. The bearing assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a magnetic sensor.

11. The bearing assembly according to claim 1, wherein an opening into the housing is closed by a hub cover, wherein the display unit is disposed on or in the hub cover, wherein the sensor is disposed on or in the hub cover, wherein the hub cover is fixedly attached to the housing and defines a portion of the interior and wherein the lubricant is sealed in the housing by the hub cover, and wherein the display unit includes a light-emitting diode and wherein the output comprises light from the light emitting diode.

12. A hub cover configured to seal an opening of a bearing housing and define with the bearing housing an interior of a wheel bearing assembly, the hub cover including a sensor configured to sense at least one property of a lubricant contained in the interior and to output a signal indicative of the sensed at least one property.

13. The hub cover according to claim 12, including a display on or in the hub cover configured to produce an output at a location outside the interior based on the signal.

14. The bearing assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is freely movable with respect to the hub cover, such that the sensor is periodically in and periodically out of contact with the lubricant in the interior of the hub cover.

15. The bearing assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is attached to the axle.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevational view, partly in section, of a bearing assembly according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] In the following description, identical or functionally equivalent elements are designated by the same reference numbers.

[0023] FIG. 1 shows a bearing assembly 100. The bearing assembly 100 may be a wheel bearing assembly for a motor vehicle. In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the bearing assembly includes two bearings, each including a first bearing ring 1 and a second bearing ring 2 that are rotatably disposed relative to each other. The bearings are disposed on an axle 5, and each includes rolling elements 3 between the first bearing ring 1 and the second bearing ring 2. A lubricant 4 is provided in a sealed space that may be referred to as the bearing interior, which space includes the region around the axle 5 and around the bearing including the first bearing ring 1, the second bearing ring 2, and the rolling elements 3. This lubricant is sealed with respect to the outside by a housing 9 and a hub cover 8 which housing 9 and hub cover 8 at least partially define the bearing interior.

[0024] The lubricant 4 has a level in the interior indicated by a fill line 10, and due to gravity, is always located in the lower region of the bearing assembly 100. In order to monitor properties of the lubricant 4, a sensor 6 is disposed on or in the hub cover 8. The sensor 6 can be fixedly attached to the hub cover 8 and, when fixedly attached, it will move repeatedly through the lubricant 4 as the bearing assembly 100 rotates. Alternatively the sensor 6 can be disposed such that it is freely movable in the hub cover 8 and thus due to gravity always be located in the lubricant 4.

[0025] Alternatively or additionally the sensor 6 can also be disposed on the axle 5 and/or on one of the bearing elements and/or on a seal of the bearing.

[0026] The sensor 6 may be configured to detect, for example, a temperature or a dielectric conductivity of the lubricant 4. From these properties it is possible to determine a state of the lubricant 4. This means that based on the detected properties it is possible to determine whether it is necessary to exchange the lubricant 4. In order to make the state of the lubricant 4 knowable from a location outside the bearing interior, a display unit 7 is provided on the hub cover 8. For example, the display unit can include one or more LEDs, the state of which provides an indication as to whether an exchange of the lubricant is required. Only when the display unit 7 indicates that the lubricant 4 must be exchanged is a disassembly of the bearing assembly 100 required, including a removal of the hub cover 8.

[0027] Using the bearing assembly 100 described herein it is possible to realize in a simple manner a monitoring of the lubricant 4 present in the bearing assembly 100. For this purpose no disassembly of the bearing assembly 100 is required; rather the state of the lubricant 4 is detected inside the bearing assembly 100 by the sensor 6 and made visible outside by the display unit 7.

[0028] 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 bearing assemblies and associated oil quality sensors.

[0029] 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.

[0030] 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.

REFERENCE NUMBER LIST

[0031] 1 First bearing ring [0032] 2 Second bearing ring [0033] 3 Rolling element [0034] 4 Lubricant [0035] 5 Axle [0036] 6 Sensor [0037] 7 Display unit [0038] 8 Hub cover [0039] 9 Housing [0040] 10 Fill line [0041] 100 Bearing assembly