ROTARY ANODE BEARING ASSEMBLY AND ROTARY ANODE FOR X-RAY TUBE AND METHOD FOR ASSEMBLING A ROTARY ANODE BEARING ASSEMBLY

Abstract

The disclosure relates, inter alia, to a rotary anode bearing assembly for an X-ray tube comprising at least one bearing outer ring and rolling elements arranged within the at least one bearing outer ring, which rolling elements roll on the at least one bearing outer ring and enclose a radially inner receiving space for receiving a rotor of an X-ray tube; comprising a bearing housing in which the at least one bearing outer ring is mounted, wherein the bearing housing circumferentially surrounds the at least one bearing outer ring.

The rotary anode bearing assembly according to the disclosure is characterized in that an end face of at least one bearing outer ring or of a caulking ring axially adjoining the bearing outer ring is caulked to an end face of the bearing housing by plastic deformation of material of the bearing housing and/or of the bearing outer ring and/or of the caulking ring.

Claims

1. Rotary anode bearing assembly for an X-ray tube, comprising at least one bearing outer ring and rolling elements arranged inside the at least one bearing outer ring, which rolling elements roll on the at least one bearing outer ring and enclose a radially inner receiving space for receiving a rotor of an X-ray tube, comprising a bearing housing in which the at least one bearing outer ring is mounted, wherein the bearing housing circumferentially surrounds the at least one bearing outer ring; characterized in that an end face of at least one bearing outer ring or of a caulking ring axially adjoining the bearing outer ring is caulked with an end face of the bearing housing by plastic deformation of material of the bearing housing and/or of the bearing outer ring and/or of the caulking ring.

2. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the bearing outer ring is spring-preloaded with a spring element in the direction of the caulked end face.

3. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the bearing outer ring is clamped on both sides in the axial direction between material of the bearing housing plastically deformed by the caulking and a collar of the bearing housing arranged at an axial distance from the deformed material.

4. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the material is deformed in the axial direction and radial direction of the at least one bearing outer ring.

5. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that two bearing outer rings arranged adjacent to each other in the axial direction mounted in the bearing housing, which are supported against each other in the axial direction directly or via at least one intermediate piece and jointly enclose the receiving space, wherein only one of the two bearing outer rings is caulked to the bearing housing directly or via the caulking ring.

6. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the caulking ring has a lower hardness than the bearing housing and the at least one bearing outer ring.

7. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the at least one bearing outer ring and the caulking ring and in particular the bearing housing have the same coefficient of thermal expansion.

8. Rotary anode bearing assembly for an X-ray tube, comprising at least one bearing outer ring and rolling elements arranged inside the at least one bearing outer ring, which rolling elements roll on the at least one bearing outer ring and enclose a radially inner receiving space for receiving a rotor of an X-ray tube, comprising a bearing housing in which the at least one bearing outer ring is mounted, wherein the bearing housing circumferentially surrounds the at least one bearing outer ring; characterized in that at least one latching element is arranged in the radial direction between the bearing housing and the at least one bearing outer ring, which latching element can be displaced by a spring force or other externally activatable deformation force from a retracted position into an extended position between the bearing housing and the at least one bearing outer ring, wherein in the retracted position it permits a relative movement between the bearing housing and the at least one bearing outer ring in the axial direction and in the extended position blocks on both sides in the axial direction by positive locking.

9. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 8, characterized in that the at least one latching element is designed as a spring ring.

10. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 8, characterized in that the at least one latching element is manufactured as a ring from a shape memory material.

11. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 8, characterized in that the latching element is mounted in a radial groove in the bearing outer ring and, in the extended position, extends into a radial recess of the bearing housing facing the radial groove in the bearing outer ring.

12. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 8, characterized in that two bearing outer rings arranged adjacent to each other in the axial direction are mounted in the bearing housing, which are supported against each other in the axial direction directly or via at least one intermediate piece and jointly enclose the receiving space, wherein at least one latching element is arranged between only one of the two bearing outer rings and the bearing housing.

13. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 5, characterized in that the two bearing outer rings are elastically supported against each other.

14. Rotary anode for an X-ray tube, comprising a rotor and a stator circumferentially surrounding the rotor at a distance therefrom, wherein the rotor and the stator are in electromagnetic interaction with each other and wherein the rotor has a pot-shaped region circumferentially surrounding a rotor shaft of the rotor mounted on rolling bearings and connected to an axial end of the rotor shaft, characterized in that the rotor is supported by a rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 1, and the rotor shaft is arranged in the receiving space so that the bearing housing is arranged in the radial direction between the rotor shaft and the pot-shaped region.

15. Method for assembling a rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 1 for manufacturing a rotary anode, comprising the following steps of: inserting the rolling elements into the at least one bearing outer ring of the rotor into the radially inner receiving space and the at least one bearing outer ring into the bearing housing; caulking of the end face of at least one bearing outer ring or of the caulking ring axially adjoining the bearing outer ring with the end face of the bearing housing by plastic deformation of the material of the bearing housing and/or of the bearing outer ring and/or of the caulking ring; characterized in that the caulking takes place with the rotor shaft inserted in the radially inner receiving space.

16. Method according to claim 15, characterized in that at least one caulking body is displaced radially from the outside down to the material, wherein the at least one caulking body is immersed into a space between a flange on the rotor shaft and the end face of the bearing housing, and subsequently, in particular, a force is applied in the axial direction of the rotor shaft to the at least one caulking body and the material is thereby deformed to produce the caulking.

17. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 2, characterized in that the bearing outer ring is clamped on both sides in the axial direction between material of the bearing housing plastically deformed by the caulking and a collar of the bearing housing arranged at an axial distance from the deformed material.

18. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 2, characterized in that the material is deformed in the axial direction and radial direction of the at least one bearing outer ring.

19. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 3, characterized in that the material is deformed in the axial direction and radial direction of the at least one bearing outer ring.

20. Rotary anode bearing assembly according to claim 2, characterized in that two bearing outer rings arranged adjacent to each other in the axial direction are mounted in the bearing housing, which are supported against each other in the axial direction directly or via at least one intermediate piece and jointly enclose the receiving space, wherein only one of the two bearing outer rings is caulked to the bearing housing directly or via the caulking ring.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] The disclosure will be explained below by way of exemplary embodiments and the figures, wherein:

[0037] FIG. 1 shows an axial section through an embodiment of a rotary anode bearing assembly according to the disclosure in a rotary anode for an X-ray tube;

[0038] FIG. 2 shows an axial plan view of the caulking of the bearing outer ring in the bearing housing of FIG. 1;

[0039] FIG. 3 shows an alternative exemplary embodiment of a rotary anode bearing assembly according to the disclosure having a latching element in the retracted position before the bearing outer rings are fully inserted into the bearing housing;

[0040] FIG. 4 shows the rotary anode bearing assembly from FIG. 3 with the latching element in the extended position after the bearing outer rings have been fully inserted into the bearing housing;

[0041] FIG. 5 shows a tool or device for applying the caulking of a rotary anode bearing assembly according to the disclosure;

[0042] FIG. 6 shows an enlargement of the area with the not yet plastically deformed material of the bearing housing before caulking of this material.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] In FIG. 1, a rotary anode bearing assembly 1 of a rotary anode for an X-ray tube according to the disclosure is shown. With the rotary anode bearing assembly, a rotor 20 of the rotary anode is mounted in rolling bearings, wherein the rotor 20 encloses the bearing housing 5 with a pot-shaped region 23, which is shown in dashed line, and the pot-shaped region 23 is connected to a rotor shaft 22, which rotates about an axis of rotation during operation of the X-ray tube, which is arranged in a receiving space of the rotary anode bearing assembly within the rolling elements 4, which roll radially inwardly in two bearing outer rings 2, 3. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the rotor shaft 22 also forms the bearing inner rings for the rolling elements 4. However, this is not mandatory.

[0044] In practice, the rotor shaft 22 is followed by an anode plate with anode material, which is not shown in detail here.

[0045] A stator 21 is located radially opposite the rotor 20 or its pot-shaped region 23, wherein the rotor 20 is arranged within an X-ray tube housing (not shown), in particular made of glass, and the stator 21 is positioned outside the X-ray tube housing.

[0046] The bearing housing 5 is pot-shaped, wherein one of the two bearing outer rings, in this case the bearing outer ring 3, is directly or indirectly supported on a bottom of the pot-shaped housing and the other bearing outer ring 2 is positioned near the opening of the bearing housing 5. Accordingly, the bearing outer ring 3 may be referred to as the rear bearing outer ring and the bearing outer ring 2 may be referred to as the front bearing outer ring.

[0047] An intermediate piece 10 is arranged between the two bearing outer rings 2, 3 in the axial direction, here in the form of a C-ring which is interrupted over the circumference. The two bearing outer rings 2, 3 are supported against each other in the axial direction via the intermediate piece 10. A resilient support is provided, which is achieved by arranging in the bearing outer ring 2 a thrust element 15 acted upon by the spring element 9, which is pressed elastically against the intermediate piece 10 by the spring element 9 and slides radially inwards on a surface in the bearing outer ring 2. The thrust element 15 has an outer circumferential groove by means of which it can be secured in the axial direction by means of a pin, not shown here, which is pushed through a corresponding bore in the bearing outer ring 2, in order to resist the spring force of the spring element 9 and not to be pressed out of the bearing outer ring 2 before the intermediate piece 10 is inserted between the bearing outer rings 2, 3.

[0048] However, the elastic support between the two bearing outer rings 2, 3 could also be designed differently.

[0049] In the area of the opening of the bearing housing 5, a caulking ring 6 is provided on the end face of the bearing outer ring 2, which serves to fix the bearing outer ring 2 in the bearing housing 5 in the axial direction and radial direction. The caulking ring 6 advantageously adjoins the bearing outer ring 2 with the same diameter. In the area of its front end, the bearing outer ring 2 has a radial extension which abuts against a collar 5.1 of the bearing housing 5. The bearing housing 5 has axially projecting material 14 on its end face 8, which is shown in FIG. 1 in the not yet deformed state.

[0050] According to a preferred embodiment, but not mandatory, the material 14 is annular and may in particular have notches 16 spaced apart in the circumferential direction of the bearing housing 5. The notches 16 facilitate caulking of the material 14 by bending it in the direction of the caulking ring 6.

[0051] FIG. 2 shows the caulked state of the end face 7 of the caulking ring 6 with the end face 8 of the bearing housing 5. As can be seen, the material 14 is bent radially inward and pressed into the material of the caulking ring 6 at its end face 7. FIG. 2 accordingly shows a top view of the end faces 7, 8.

[0052] The fact that the material of the caulking ring 6 is preferably comparatively soft, in particular softer than the material of the bearing housing 5 and preferably also than the material of the bearing outer ring 2, makes it easy to introduce the material 14 into the material of the caulking ring 6. At the same time, undesirable deformation of the bearing outer ring 2 is avoided.

[0053] FIGS. 5 and 6 show a possible device for caulking the material 14. As can be seen, a caulking body 30 is displaced radially from the outside down to the material 14 on the bearing housing 5, wherein the caulking body 30 dips into the space between a flange on the rotor 20 or on the rotor shaft 22 and the end face 8 of the bearing housing 5. Subsequently, a force, represented by the arrow in FIG. 5, can be applied in the axial direction to the or several circumferentially oriented caulking bodies 30 arranged one behind the other in order to deform the material 14 for producing the caulking between the bearing housing 5 and the bearing outer ring 2, or in this case the caulking ring 6.

[0054] FIGS. 3 and 4 show an alternative embodiment of the disclosure, in which a latching element 1l is provided in the bearing outer ring 2, which is displaceable between a retracted position within a radial groove 12 in the bearing outer ring 2 and an extended position, in which it is arranged partly within the radial groove 12 and partly within a radial recess 13 in the bearing housing 5. The retracted position is shown in FIG. 3, and the extended position is shown in FIG. 4. The extended position is reached when the two bearing outer rings 2, 3 together with the intermediate piece 10, the rolling elements 4 and the part of the rotor 20 arranged in the receiving space between the rolling elements 4, in this case the rotor shaft 22, have been completely pushed into the bearing housing 5, so that the radial groove 12 and the radial recess 13 are directly opposite one another in the radial direction and the latching element 11 has been deformed or pressed radially outwards by a spring force or another deformation force which can be activated specifically from outside, in order to engage correspondingly in the radial recess 13.

[0055] Also in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a resilient support could be provided between the bearing outer ring 2 and the bearing outer ring 3, for example by the intermediate piece 10 being resilient, or also by means of a spring arrangement as shown in FIG. 1. Other, also non-resilient, embodiments are possible.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0056] 1 Rotary anode bearing assembly [0057] 2 Bearing outer ring [0058] 3 Bearing outer ring [0059] 4 Rolling element [0060] 5 Bearing housing [0061] 5.1 Collar [0062] 6 Caulking ring [0063] 7 End face [0064] 8 End face [0065] 9 Spring element [0066] 10 Intermediate piece [0067] 11 Latching element [0068] 12 Radial groove [0069] 13 Radial recess [0070] 14 Material [0071] 15 Thrust element [0072] 16 Notch [0073] 20 Rotor [0074] 21 Stator [0075] 22 Rotor shaft [0076] 23 Pot-shaped region [0077] 30 Caulking body