CA1108210A - Bearing seal with microencapsulated lubricants - Google Patents

Bearing seal with microencapsulated lubricants

Info

Publication number
CA1108210A
CA1108210A CA316,125A CA316125A CA1108210A CA 1108210 A CA1108210 A CA 1108210A CA 316125 A CA316125 A CA 316125A CA 1108210 A CA1108210 A CA 1108210A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
seal
bearing
lubricant
accordance
microcapsules
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA316,125A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
J. Russell Elmore
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Timken US LLC
Original Assignee
Torrington Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Torrington Co filed Critical Torrington Co
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1108210A publication Critical patent/CA1108210A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F16ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
    • F16NLUBRICATING
    • F16N15/00Lubrication with substances other than oil or grease; Lubrication characterised by the use of particular lubricants in particular apparatus or conditions
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F16ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
    • F16CSHAFTS; FLEXIBLE SHAFTS; ELEMENTS OR CRANKSHAFT MECHANISMS; ROTARY BODIES OTHER THAN GEARING ELEMENTS; BEARINGS
    • F16C33/00Parts of bearings; Special methods for making bearings or parts thereof
    • F16C33/72Sealings
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F16ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
    • F16JPISTONS; CYLINDERS; SEALINGS
    • F16J15/00Sealings
    • F16J15/16Sealings between relatively-moving surfaces
    • F16J15/162Special parts or details relating to lubrication or cooling of the sealing itself
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F16ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
    • F16JPISTONS; CYLINDERS; SEALINGS
    • F16J15/00Sealings
    • F16J15/16Sealings between relatively-moving surfaces
    • F16J15/32Sealings between relatively-moving surfaces with elastic sealings, e.g. O-rings
    • F16J15/3284Sealings between relatively-moving surfaces with elastic sealings, e.g. O-rings characterised by their structure; Selection of materials
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F16ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
    • F16NLUBRICATING
    • F16N7/00Arrangements for supplying oil or unspecified lubricant from a stationary reservoir or the equivalent in or on the machine or member to be lubricated
    • F16N7/12Arrangements for supplying oil or unspecified lubricant from a stationary reservoir or the equivalent in or on the machine or member to be lubricated with feed by capillary action, e.g. by wicks

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Sealing Of Bearings (AREA)
  • Manufacturing Of Micro-Capsules (AREA)
  • Lubricants (AREA)
  • Sealing Devices (AREA)

Abstract

BEARING SEAL WITH MICROENCAPSULATED LUBRICANTS
Abstract of the Disclosure A plurality of lubricant filled frangible microcapsules is supported by a seal body material. The microcapsules are individually broken as they become worn by rubbing contact between seal and mating rubbing surface. Lubricant is released from the broken capsules to lubricate the rubbing contact surfaces.

Description

8395--lC-BE
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SPECIFICATION
This invention relates to bearings, More particularly, this invention is a new bearing including a new bearing seal, Bearing seals are meant to exclude contamination from entering the bearing and to retain lubricant in the bearing for the decrease of friction between the moving bearing components. The seal is normally fixed to one part such as a race or cage and slides or rubs against another part of the bearing such as race or shaft. Seals are used in bot~
rotary and linear service, continuous or intermittent or oscillatory~ Lip seals, face seals, packings and "O-ringsn are among those items which lie in the general category of "bearing seals".
Unless the sealing lip or contact rubbing surface is lubricated in some fashion there is quite a bit of friction between the seal and the part againstwhich it rubs. Thia friction results directly in abrasion of the seal and the mating slide surface. Eventually this harms the sealing function. It also results in the generation of excessive heat which may be detrimental to the seal itself, again harming the sealing function, to the other components of the bearing, and to the lubricant contained in the bearing.
Any and all damage is liable to decrease bearing life.
Therefore, many kinds of seals have been formulated which are meant to help introduce a slight amount of lubricant between the seal lip or other rubbing contact surface and the sliding mating surface to reduce or eliminate this particular rubbing friction while still allowing the seal to perform its functions of retaining lubricant and ex-cluding contaminants.
;

In some cases, the lubricant does not draw in under the ;
seal lip. In other cases there is no liquid lubricant or grease in the bearing which can be drawn in under the seaLed lip to lubricate it. Some bearings are run dry and without any lubricant whatsoever. Other bearings are run with a dry, low-friction solid lubricant which may, for example, be dispersed in a plastic resin to form a bearing surface. For example, some sealed ball bushings may have such a dry, low-friction bearing surface which lies against and slides against a mating steel bearing surface. The seal generally does not rub against the low-friction surface, instead, it rubs against the mating steel bearing surface which may be simply a hardened steel or it may be a steel which has been plated with chromium or nickel or cadmium. This dry rubbing results in the aforementioned high friction, with resulting high abrasion and possibly high heat generation. The bearing life is thus markedly reduced from the service life it would have without that friction.
According to a broad aspect o the present invention ;
there is provided a seal located to seal the space between a first and a second race member provided in a bearing.
First race member is spaced from the second race member and movable relative to each other with the seal located in the space therebetween. The seal includes a single member consisting of a plurality of frangible microcapsules dispersed within a seal material body. A lubricant is held in the microcapsules for release from worn and broken microcapsules as the seal material body becomes worn and for distribution at the rubbing contact surface of'the seal material body after release.
- 2 ~(~ According to a further aspect, my new bearing comprises first and second bearing race members movable ;
relative to each other and with one or more seals located to seal the space between the members. One or each bearing race may be a machine element, as for example a shaft. The seal includes a seal body, preferably elastomeric, holding individual minute lubricating particles which include a lubricant encapsulated in an encapsulating wall. The latter are known as lubricant filled microcapsules. The micro- `
capsules may be dispersed throughout the seal body, or may be dispersed in selected sections of the seal body, 2a s~

:

or may be coated on and bonded to specified surfac~s of he seal. A stiffening member, possibly of metal or hard pl~stic~, may be incorporated in or bonde~ to or mechanicall~ fas~^ned to the seal body. ~ -The new seal incluaes a plurality of frangible micro-capsules constructed to be worn through by abrasion and/or ta be broken upon the application of pressure on the capsules~
A lubricant is held in the microcapsules for exposure and release from the individual broken microcapsules and for distribution between mating rubbing contact surfaces of seal and race after release. The seal body material su?ports the microcapsules. There may be tens of thousands of micro-capsules incorporated in one seal.
The lubricant is preferably a liquid lubricant, such as a petroleum oil, but may be a solid dry lubricant. The friction which is generated between the seal and ~he mating slide surface will wear through the walls of the first microcapsules as the seal lip slide surface, exposing and releasing minute amounts of the lubricant to coat the sliding contact area of seal and race. This lubricant reduces the friction at the seal lip slide surface. As the bearing continues to operate, the exposed lubricant is ~radually dissipated. As the lubricant dissipates there is again a slight increase in friction and the walls of other micro-capsules gradually are worn through, releasing more lubri-cant as needed to again decrease the friction. Thus, we have a gradual lubricant release throughout the operating life of the seal. Because of the lubricant there is little abrasion of the bearlng surface where it contacts the sealin~

2~

lipD The abrasion of the sealing lip itself is reduced.
There is little frictional heat generated and thus no heat damage to the bearing or seal lubricant from that cause.
The life of both seal and bearing is greatly extended.
If a dry lubricant is used rather ~han c~r in conjuncticn with a liquid lubricant, we may use a microencapsulated orgz~ic or inorganic dry lubricant such as polytetrafluoroethylene or molybdenum disulfide. As the microcapsules of the seal are worn through, the dry lubricant is exposed to the bearins slidesurface, and smears or coats the surface contacted.
Here again, we have a decrease in friction between the seal and the bearing slide surface thus decreasing the abrasion to both the seal and the bearing surface and decreasing the generation of heat. Again, the exposure of the fresh solid lubricant to the rubbing surfaces is relatively stead and uniorm over a long period of bearing operation.
Two or more different microencapsulated lubricants may be placed in any one seal. There may be multiple liquids or multiple solids or any combination of liquids and solids, each in its own microcapsules. Thus I may have a co~binatic~
o lubricants for the seal which will allow the seal to operate properly under a much wider range of chemical, thermal, and mechanical conditions than would a seal with a single lubricant. I may also use a combination of micro-encapsulated lubricant and unencapsulated solid lubricant such as polytetrafluoroethylene flock in the same seal. The microcapsules might have solid continuous walls such as shown in U. S. Patents 2,800,458; 3,516,g41; and 3,993,831.
The solid continuous walls are generally impervious to the }~ 4 .

lubxicant and prevent all passage of the lubricant until ~he wall is worn away or broken away. If desirable, ~e might instead or in addition also have microcapsules which ha~e tiny passageways through the walls through which ~he liquid lubrican-t can gradually come out even without wearing away or breaking away the major thickness of the capsule `
wall. Microcapsules with tiny passageways are described in U. S. Patent 3,985,840.
The elastomeric material of the seal body may be very flexible, such as a rubber or a flexible urethane. It als~
can be a more rigid material of either the thermoplastic or the thermoset resin variety.
Although normally the microencapsulated lubricant would be dispersed throughout the seal body material, it ~ ~;
is also practical to disperse it only in a localized sect~on of the seal such as the fIexible lip of a lip seal or ~ihe rubbing face area of a face seal or the scraping lips of shaft packing. Dual molding and dual extrusion are two well-known methods of accomplishing this. Separate parts, at least one of them containing the microencapsulated lubricant, may also be fastened together by any of the wel~-known methods which include at least chemical and mechanic~l bonding and welding.
It may be that for some bearing applications only a thin layer of the microencap$ulated lubricants is needed and we do not need the micxoencapsulated lubricants dis-tributed throughout the entire seal body. In such case, a coat of a microencapsulated lubricant may be coated on one surface of the body. The microencapsulated ]ubricant ~' .

~3~

will be rubbed away as the surface of the microencapsulated lubricant coat rubs against the mating bearing part.
My new bearing seal may also take the form of the typical"O-rin~'with round or other shaped cross-~ections with the microencapsulated lubricant distributed throughout, or with the microencapsulated lubricant coated onto one or more of the surfaces or onto one or more areas of the surface. A non-round sealing configuration is shown in U. S. Patent 3,472,523.

Claims (7)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclu-sive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. A bearing comprising a first race member and a second race member spaced from the first race member, said race members being movable relative to each other; at least one seal located to seal the space between the race members, said seal including a single member consisting of a plurality of frangible microcapsules dispersed within a seal material body; and lubricant held in said microcapsules for release from worn and broken microcapsules as the seal material body becomes worn and for distribution at the rubbing contact surface of the seal material body after release.
2. A bearing in accordance with claim 1 wherein the encapsulating wall is frangible and non-porous.
3. A bearing in accordance with claim l wherein the encapsulating wall is frangible with micro-porosity.
4. A bearing in accordance with claim 1 wherein the seal body is an elastomeric body.
5. A bearing in accordance with claim 1 wherein there are multiple groups of capsules, the capsules in each group encasing a different lubricant.
6. A bearing in accordance with claim 5 wherein the capsules in at least one group contain liquid lubricant.
7. A bearing in accordance with claim 6 wherein the capsules in at least one other group contain solid lubricant.
CA316,125A 1978-02-03 1978-11-10 Bearing seal with microencapsulated lubricants Expired CA1108210A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US87479278A 1978-02-03 1978-02-03
US874,792 1978-02-03

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1108210A true CA1108210A (en) 1981-09-01

Family

ID=25364591

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA316,125A Expired CA1108210A (en) 1978-02-03 1978-11-10 Bearing seal with microencapsulated lubricants

Country Status (5)

Country Link
BR (1) BR7900493A (en)
CA (1) CA1108210A (en)
FR (1) FR2416407A1 (en)
GB (1) GB2013793A (en)
IT (1) IT1110754B (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN110410418A (en) * 2019-07-18 2019-11-05 风下电机(山东)有限公司 A kind of oiliness bearing and compensation process of autonomous make-up oil

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
ITMI20012824A1 (en) * 2001-12-28 2003-06-28 Nuovo Pignone Spa SELF-LUBRICATING PLASTIC MATERIAL FOR SEALING ELEMENTS
ITMI20012825A1 (en) * 2001-12-28 2003-06-28 Nuovo Pignone Spa METHOD OF PRODUCTION OF A SELF-LUBRICATING POLYMER MATERIAL FOR SEALING ELEMENTS
US20150159112A1 (en) * 2012-01-02 2015-06-11 Aktiebolaget Skf Lubrication capsule, machine element & method
WO2018119275A1 (en) 2016-12-23 2018-06-28 Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc. Coated abrasives having a performance enhancing composition
US10214704B2 (en) 2017-04-06 2019-02-26 Baker Hughes, A Ge Company, Llc Anti-degradation and self-healing lubricating oil

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN110410418A (en) * 2019-07-18 2019-11-05 风下电机(山东)有限公司 A kind of oiliness bearing and compensation process of autonomous make-up oil

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
BR7900493A (en) 1979-08-28
GB2013793A (en) 1979-08-15
IT1110754B (en) 1986-01-06
FR2416407A1 (en) 1979-08-31
IT7919710A0 (en) 1979-01-30

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