BEARING ARRANGEMENT FOR A DEEP DRILLING DEVICE

Abstract

The invention relates to a bearing arrangement for a drilling head, through which flushing liquid flows, of a deep drilling device, having multiple radially outer and radially inner bearing rings, wherein the radially outer bearing rings are arranged coaxially over the radially inner bearing rings, wherein, radially between the bearing rings, there are arranged balls which roll in raceways of the bearing rings, and wherein the raceways are delimited axially on both sides by shoulders with mutually opposite shoulder surfaces which run parallel to a bearing longitudinal axis. In order for a bearing arrangement of this type, which, as per the prior art, is adjoined in an axial direction by at least one plain bearing, to be designed to be of short axial extent and in order to simplify the construction, the internal diameter (Di) of the shoulder surfaces of the radially outer bearing rings and the external diameter (Da) of the shoulder surfaces of the radially inner bearing rings are dimensioned such that said shoulder surfaces perform the function of parallel radial plain bearings with a radial clearance (S).

Claims

1. A bearing arrangement for a drill head of a deep drilling device in which a flushing liquid flows through the drill head, the bearing arrangement comprising multiple radially outer and radially inner bearing rings, the radially outer bearing rings are arranged coaxial over the radially inner bearing rings, balls are arranged radially between the radially outer and radially inner bearing rings, said balls roll in raceways of the radially outer and radially inner bearing rings and the raceways are axially bounded on two sides by shoulders with shoulder surfaces that are opposite to each other and run parallel to a bearing longitudinal axis, an inner diameter (Di) of the shoulder surfaces of the radially outer bearing rings and an outer diameter (Da) of the shoulder surfaces of the radially inner bearing rings are dimensioned so that a radial play (S) that produces a function of parallel radial plain bearings.

2. The bearing arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the shoulder surfaces of at least one of the radially inner bearing rings or radially outer bearing rings have grooves for guiding the flushing liquid.

3. The bearing arrangement according to claim 1, wherein each said radially outer bearing ring, each said radially inner bearing ring, or each said radially outer bearing ring and each said radially inner bearing ring is divided centrally by the raceways in a plane perpendicular to the bearing longitudinal axis and forms a 4-point bearing.

4. The bearing arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the bearing arrangement has at least one row of the balls with the associated bearing rings and axial end rings on an end side have an axially longer design than is typical for 4-point bearings for drill heads for comparable operating loads.

5. The bearing arrangement according to claim 1, wherein multiple rows of the balls are assembled with the associated radially inner and radially outer bearing rings to form a bearing assembly and the bearing rings that are end rings have a longer design than the bearing rings arranged between said end rings.

6. The bearing arrangement according to claim 1, wherein a number of rows of the balls with the associated bearing rings is greater than is typical for 4-point bearings for drill heads for comparable operating loads.

7. The bearing arrangement according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the shoulder surfaces of the radially outer bearing rings or the shoulder surfaces of the radially inner bearing rings are provided with at least one of a friction-reducing or wear-reducing coating.

8. The bearing arrangement according to claim 7, wherein the at least one of the friction-reducing or wear-reducing coating is formed of a tribological layer system.

9. The bearing arrangement according to claim 8, wherein the tribological layer system is applied by a Triondur® method.

10. The bearing arrangement according to claim 8, wherein the at least one of the friction-reducing reducing or wear-reducing coating has diamond layers.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawing. Shown in this drawing are:

[0014] FIG. 1 a drive shaft of a drill head with a bearing arrangement,

[0015] FIG. 2 the bearing arrangement according to FIG. 1 in schematic longitudinal section according to a first embodiment of the invention,

[0016] FIG. 3 a second embodiment of the bearing arrangement according to FIG. 1, and

[0017] FIG. 4 a radial cross section through the bearing arrangement of FIGS. 2 and 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0018] Accordingly, a bearing arrangement 1 of a drive shaft of a drill head is shown in FIG. 1. The drive shaft is arranged radially within the bearing arrangement 1 and is constructed as a hollow shaft 3. The hollow shaft 3 is supported by the bearing arrangement 1 in a rotationally locked housing 2 and transmits a drive torque from a drive turbine (not shown) to the drill head (not shown). A flushing liquid is introduced into the hollow shaft 3 according to the direction of flow 4 with which the drive turbine is operated. A part of the flushing liquid is guided through outlet openings 10 in the hollow shaft 3 into the bearing arrangement 1 axially in front of the bearing arrangement 1, in order to cool and lubricate the rolling bearings there and also to form a load-bearing film in the plain bearing integrated into the bearing arrangement. With a greater portion of the flushing liquid that is discharged from the hollow shaft 3 in the area 5 through openings in this shaft, the drill head is then cooled and lubricated. Because the flushing liquid is always somewhat contaminated, contaminants are constantly coming into the bearing arrangement 1.

[0019] FIG. 2 shows the bearing arrangement 1 of FIG. 1 that is formed according to a first embodiment and supports the hollow shaft 3 in the housing 2. In this bearing arrangement 1, multiple full-sphere radial-axial ball bearings (4-point bearings) are arranged in a row axially one behind the other to form an assembly. Each of the 4-point bearings has two radially outer bearing rings 6, 6* and two radially inner bearing rings 7, 7*. Every two axially directly adjacent radially outer bearing rings 6, 6* together form a radially outer running groove 6a and every two axially directly adjacent radially inner bearing rings 7, 7* together form a radially inner running groove 7a. The two raceways 6a, 7a of each 4-point bearing are consequently radially divided by a separating plane that is perpendicular to the bearing longitudinal axis 11.

[0020] The bearing arrangement 1 shown in FIG. 2 has, on each axial end side, an end ring 6′, 7′ that is shorter in comparison with the other bearing rings 6, 7. Accordingly, the end rings 6′, 7′ are formed in the second embodiment according to FIG. 3 geometrically and length-wise identical to the other bearing rings 6, 6*, 7, 7*. The axially longer end rings 6′, 7′ are advantageous for reducing the wear and the surface pressure in the end rings 6′, 7′ through applied tilting moments. In this case, it is also possible to form the end rings 6′, 7′ without the half raceways shown in FIG. 3.

[0021] In the raceways 6a, 7a, there are load-bearing balls 8 that are preferably formed as ceramic balls Between two of the load-bearing ceramic balls 8 there is a preferably somewhat smaller separating ball 9 made from steel. The arrangement of the balls 8, 9 made from steel and ceramic is shown in FIG. 4 in a radial cross section through the bearing arrangement 1. In every individual 4-point bearing of the bearing arrangement 1, load-bearing ceramic balls 8 and separating steel balls 9 are inserted. The radially outer bearing rings 6, 6*, 6′ and the radially inner bearing rings 7, 7*, 7′ consist of steel. The steel balls 9 can be made from a rolling bearing steel, a stainless rolling bearing steel, or a wear-resistant steel.

[0022] The radially outer bearing rings 6, 6* and the radially inner bearing rings 7, 7* have axial shoulders 6b or 7b that end in radial shoulder surfaces 6c, 7c. Accordingly, these radial shoulder surfaces 6c, 7c extend axially between the adjacent raceways 6a, 7a. The inner diameter Di of the shoulder surfaces 6c of the shoulders 6b on the radially outer bearing rings 6, 6*, 6′ and the outer diameter Da of the shoulder surfaces 7c of the shoulders 7b on the radially inner bearing rings 7, 7*, 7′ are dimensioned so that a radial play S is formed between the radially opposite shoulder surfaces 6c, 7c. This radial play S allows these shoulder surfaces 6c, 7c to exert the function of parallel radial plain bearing surfaces. The radial play S between the radially opposite shoulder surfaces 6c, 7c only equals a few hundredths of a millimeter. In these embodiments, in the shoulders 7b of the radial inner bearing rings 7, 7*, 7′ there are grooves 13 and grooves 12 in the shoulders 6b of the radially outer bearing rings 6, 6*, 6′, in order to guarantee a sufficient flow rate of the flushing liquid through the bearing arrangement 1. These grooves 12, 13 are shown running in the axial direction in FIG. 3, but it is preferred that these grooves 12, 13 are formed at an angle to the bearing longitudinal axis 11, in order to not break the load-bearing film of the flushing liquid over the entire width of the bearing rings 6, 6*, 6′, 7, 7*, 7′.

[0023] FIG. 4 shows a row of balls of a 4-point bearing of the bearing arrangement in the axial top view. The load-bearing ceramic balls 8 recognizably have a diameter 8a that is slightly larger than the diameter 9a of the circumferentially adjacent steel balls 9. In this figure it is clearly shown that the ceramic balls 8 have, as rolling partners, only bearing components, namely the steel balls 9 and the two allocated bearing rings 6, 6*, 6′, 7, 7*, 7′. The smaller steel balls 9 in diameter 9a must be much smaller than the ceramic balls 8 so that for a maximum loading of the bearing arrangement 1, these separating steel balls 9 do not become load-bearing balls. The ceramic balls 8 can be made from solid ceramic or from a carrier material that is coated with ceramic. The ceramic material can be made, for example, from silicon nitride or zirconium oxide.

[0024] FIG. 4 also shows the play S produced between the shoulder surfaces 6c and 7c, because the inner diameter Di of the shoulder surfaces 6c is slightly larger than the outer diameter Da of the shoulder surfaces 7c. In addition, the grooves 12 and 13 can also be seen in the shoulders 6b and 7b that benefit the flow rate of the flushing liquid through the bearing arrangement 1.

[0025] At least the shoulder surfaces 6c of the radially outer bearing rings 6, 6*, 6′ and/or the shoulder surfaces 7c of the radially inner bearing rings 7, 7*, 7′ are provided with a friction-reducing and/or wear-reducing coating 14, 15 that is preferably made from a tribological coating system that is applied, for example, by the Triondur® method. Preferably, but not exclusively, these friction-reducing and/or wear-reducing coatings 14, 15 are diamond layers.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

[0026] 1 Bearing arrangement [0027] 2 Housing [0028] 3 Hollow shaft, drive shaft [0029] 4 Direction of flow of the flushing liquid [0030] 5 Outlet of the flushing liquid [0031] 6, 6* Radially outer bearing rings [0032] 6a Raceways in the outer bearing rings 6, 6* [0033] 6b Shoulders on the outer bearing rings 6, 6*, 6′ [0034] 6c Shoulder surfaces on the shoulders 6b [0035] 6′ Radially outer end ring [0036] 7, 7* Radially inner bearing rings [0037] 7a Raceways in the inner bearing rings 7, 7* [0038] 7b Shoulders on the inner bearing rings 7, 7*, 7′ [0039] 7c Shoulder surfaces on the shoulders 7b [0040] 7′ Radially inner end ring [0041] 8 Load-bearing ceramic balls [0042] 8a Diameter of load-bearing ceramic balls [0043] 9 Separating steel balls [0044] 9a Diameter of separating steel balls [0045] 10 Outlet openings in the hollow shaft for the flushing liquid [0046] 11 Bearing longitudinal axis [0047] 12 Grooves in the shoulders 6b [0048] 13 Grooves in the shoulders 7b [0049] 14 Coating [0050] 15 Coating [0051] Di Inner diameter of shoulder surfaces 6c [0052] Da Outer diameter of shoulder surfaces 7c [0053] S Radial play between the shoulder surfaces 6c and 7c