AU2007100343A4 - Improved Adapter Sleeve - Google Patents

Description

EDITORIAL NOTE 2007100343 There are 5 pages of description.

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AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT IMPROVED ADAPTER SLEEVE The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: Improved Adapter Sleeve 'ELH' SIntroduction 0 Adapter sleeves are the most commonly used accessories to mount tapered bore e< bearings such as Self-aligning ball bearings, Spherical roller bearings Compact aligning roller bearings on smooth straight shafts. This method which Cq has been in use for over 100 years allows the bearings to be located at any position on the shaft.

m Adapter sleeves are supplied complete with a lock nut and locking device.

SSmaller sizes use a lock nut with a locking washer; larger sizes use a nut with t a locking clip. The sleeves are slotted and have an external taper of 1:12.

o o eq The most commonly used adapter sleeves are the metric dimensions series. The commonly used designation is H, for sleeves having oil injection design the designation is different among manufacturers. However, metric adapter sleeves made for shafts having inch dimensions as well as adapter sleeves made according to inch dimension are also in existence.

The standard metric adapter sleeves are used for 20 mm to 140 mm diameter shaft which suit the most commonly used standard split plummer block housings.

To enable the oil injection method to ease mounting and dismounting of bearings, metric adapter sleeves having a bore diameter of 140 mm up to 200 mm can be manufactured to specific order for an oil injection design. This feature is standard for metric sleeves having a bore diameter of 200 mm and above.

2 These adapter sleeves have an oil duct at the threaded side or opposite side and an oil distributor groove on the outside surface. If oil is injected through this duct and groove, an oil film is formed between the mating surfaces of the bearing and sleeve and the force required to mount the bearing is reduced considerably.

When this method is used for dismounting of bearing, the taper surface induces a thrust force which then forces the bearing inner ring to dislodge from the tapered Ssurface thus causing the bearing to dismount.

SThe oil injection method allows the bearing to be dismounted without using any cq] mechanical force and the dismounting job could be completed within a very c short time.

Details of the thread for attaching the oil supply lead to the duct as well as the cl appropriate hydraulic equipments can be fbund in most of the Bearing suppliers' product catalogues.

o Today there are still many adapter sleeves with a bore of above 150 mm that are Sbeing used without the oil injection design, thus make the mounting dismounting job very difficult. Often, due to the machinery design there is very Slittle room to apply a proper dismounting method, so the most commonly used method is to use brute force thus often resulting in damage to the shaft, the bearing, the sleeve and sometime the workers.

When brute force as a method fails to dismount the bearing, the gas cutting method is sometimes employed. Where an open flame is used, the risk of fire or explosion becomes a real concern, and much preparation time is needed for such cutting. The other method is the grinding wheel, where sparks are generated, and fire safety is also a main concern. These procedures often cause the maintenance time to be extended to few hours or days.

Description of the Improved Adapter sleeve ELH The improved adapter sleeve (The sample designation ELH) is designed for shaft diameters of 65 mm to 140 mm. The oil injection design for these sleeves has never been made before due to the sleeve's wall thickness 5 mm) being insufficient, therefore up till now, the only methods in use for the dismounting of such bearings are brutal force, gas cutting or grinding wheel cutting.

The standard way of using oil injection method is to connect the high pressure pipe to the side face (threaded side) of the adapter sleeve where the minimum required wall thickness is 7 mm to 10 mm. However, because of the insufficient wall thickness 5 mm along with the connecting pipe having a M6 thread, there has not been, until now, a way to apply such a method to adapter sleeves of shaft diameters ranging from 65 to 140 mm.

65 Currently, bearing with the adapter sleeve mounted in standard split housing, r- O there is quite a large empty space available between the side face (opposite c~ threaded side) of the sleeve and the side face of the housing.

SThe Improved Adapter sleeve ELH is designed to make use of the available space in the housing as well as by extending the length of the sleeve and increasing the outside diameter of the sleeve. (see diagram) C The hydraulic oil hole is drilled in the wall thickness from the extended length to o 2/3 of the bearing's width, while a vertical hole with a M6 thread is being machined on the increased diameter of the sleeve. (see diagram) 0 cq How an Improved Adapter sleeve ELH dismount works When a bearing requires dismounting, the split housing top half is firstly removed and the oil injection pipe connected to the vertical M6 oil hole. Then the sleeve lock nut is loosened. The sleeve is then pressurized by using a normal hydraulic hand pump until the bearing disengages or dislodges from the sleeve.

The dismounting job carried out with an Improved Adapter sleeve ELH is therefore completed within a very short time, and without using any brutal force, heating or grinding.

Note on sample designation ELH 322: t- SEL extended length of the adapter sleeve c( H Most commonly used designation for standard adapter sleeve without oil C^ injection design.

322 the adapter sleeve size made to suit bearing tapered bore of 110 mm ¢c diameter, therefore it suit a smooth shaft of 100 mm diameter.

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