DE102010012473A1 - Wire sleeve bearing e.g. single-row skew-angle roller bearing, for use in ocean current power plant, has cage made of high performance plastic, and rolling members made from group containing ceramic material, plastic and hard metal - Google Patents

Abstract

The bearing (2) e.g. single-row skew-angle roller bearing, has two wire race rings (8, 10) respectively arranged at inner circumference of an outer bearing ring (4) and at external periphery of an inner bearing ring (6). A cage (12) is made of high performance plastic, and comprises rolling members that are made from a group comprising ceramic material, plastic and hard metal. The rolling members are arranged in bearing axis direction. The inner and outer rings are formed as tube or bar profile and made of glass-fiber reinforced polyester (GRP) component material or carbon material. An independent claim is also included for a method for manufacturing a wire sleeve bearing.

Description

Field of the invention

The invention relates to a wire rolling bearing with an outer and an inner, each of a plurality of bearing axis direction arranged behind one another, annularly curved tube or rod profiles formed bearing ring, further arranged with at least one arranged on the inner circumference of the outer bearing ring and arranged on the outer circumference of the inner bearing ring wire Running ring, and with at least one guided in a cage rolling element row, and a method for producing such a bearing.

Background of the invention

Wire rolling bearings have generally been proven in many technical fields for quite some time. They are considered to be easy to build, quietly running and inexpensive to manufacture. Characteristic of wire rolling bearings is that only the wire races of a heavy-duty, hardened material, while the bearing rings supporting the rings in the sense of an "adjusted performance" can consist of a customized to the particular application material.

A particularly demanding area of application for rolling bearings in general is their operation in an aggressive medium, for example in seawater. Marine current power plants with horizontal or vertical rotors usually have bearings below sea level. Such bearings are characterized by large bore diameter (> 1 m) and small bearing cross sections. Bearing solutions for this application generally use so-called thin-ring bearings, the bearing rings of which are produced by machining from corrosion-resistant, martensitic materials. A machining large bearing rings is very complicated and expensive because of the required mechanical equipment for processing and handling. In addition, the provision of the starting material (blanks for the bearing rings) is associated with relatively high costs. The known bearings are usually sealed and use conventional lubricants. For large diameters and corresponding sealing lip lengths, however, a significant leakage of lubricant is inevitable, so that in a complex manner a regular lubricant supplement under water is required to avoid a dangerous dry running.

From the DE 202 00 241 U1 A wire rolling bearing is already known in which, for reasons of improved corrosion resistance, the bearing rings consist of a fiber composite material. This camp should also offer the possibility of a rotary joint. Therefore, the bearing rings are very solid and thus far removed from the concept of a thin-ring bearing. Incidentally, this camp is sealed and lubricated conventionally. It is therefore not suitable for the above-described use, for example, in ocean current power plants or the like.

From the DE 10 2008 026 202 A1 In addition, a wire rolling bearing of the type mentioned in the preamble of claim 1 is known with bearing rings formed from annularly bent material profiles. As material profiles preferably round bent tubes made of steel are provided. The bearings are not sealed, ie accessible to the surrounding medium. Because of the materials provided in these camps both the bearing rings and the races and the rolling elements they are not readily resistant to aggressive media and therefore also not suitable for use of the type described above.

Object of the invention

The invention has for its object to improve a wire roller bearing described in the preamble of claim 1 way that it is cost-effective lightweight construction and the possibility of media lubrication resistant to aggressive media, especially seawater, while wear resistant and dry running safe.

Summary of the invention

The invention is based on the finding that wire rolling bearings referred to in the preamble of claim 1 already have some of the solution of the present invention favors features, d. H. They allow lightweight construction and cost-effective production even with large bore diameters.

The invention is therefore based on a wire rolling bearing with an outer and an inner, each of several arranged in the bearing axis direction one behind the other, annularly curved pipe or rod profiles formed bearing ring, further arranged with at least one on the inner circumference of the outer bearing ring and the outer circumference of the inner bearing ring arranged wire race, and with at least one guided in a cage rolling element row. According to the invention is provided for solving the problem that the pipe or rod profiles are formed for the bearing rings of a fiber composite material, that the races are each formed of an austenitic material, that the cage is formed of a high performance plastic, and that the rolling elements of a material from the group ceramic, high-performance plastic, hard metal consist.

The inventive selection of the individual materials and material pairings makes it possible to use the wire roller bearing as a non-sealed bearing with a so-called media lubrication, so that it can dispense with vulnerable lip seals and conventional lubricants.

Fiber composites, such as glass fiber reinforced plastic (GRP), carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), aramid fiber reinforced plastic and natural fiber reinforced plastic (NFK) are characterized by their very good resistance to aggressive media, especially seawater and have a low density and thus a low weight at highest Strength on. Pipe or bar profiles made from the above-mentioned composite materials are available in a wide variety of dimensions on the market or can be produced with relatively simple methods. Austenitic steel bearing ring wires are also provided in different dimensions and cross-sectional shapes as drawn profile wires. The same applies to balls made of the materials mentioned. It has also been shown that the mentioned material pairings are sufficiently lubricated, for example by seawater, but also have excellent dry-running properties. Overall, there is a seawater resistant, wear-resistant, suitable for dry running wire bearings in lightweight construction.

According to one embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the wire roller bearing is designed as a single-row angular contact ball bearing, which can accommodate both axial and radial forces.

The design of the single-row angular contact ball bearing is preferably made so that a plurality of such bearings can be assembled in tandem in a row to form a multi-row tandem angular contact ball bearings, as will be explained in more detail using an exemplary embodiment.

A further embodiment of the invention provides that the wire roller bearing is designed as also suitable for receiving axial and radial forces single-row four-point bearing.

As stated earlier, tube or bar profiles made of a fiber composite material in a wide variety of dimensions and profiles are available on the market. However, in order to have a profile optimized for a very specific application, it is provided according to the invention to produce the tubular or rod profiles forming the bearing rings by means of a pultrusion process as endless profiles, to bend annularly and cut to length according to the required length. But it is also possible to perform the cutting to length before the annular bending. The free ends of the annularly bent profiles can then be suitably connected to one another, or, for example, when the profiles forming a bearing ring are connected to one another in such a way that the open ends of the profiles are offset in the circumferential direction, they also remain open.

According to another method it is provided that the bearing rings forming endless tube or rod profiles are wound according to the required diameter and the winding is cut along a surface line, which results in a number of windings corresponding number of finished bent profiles.

Another procedure provides that the tubular or rod profiles forming the bearing rings are produced by means of a so-called radius pultrusion method as curved endless profiles and cut to length according to the required length. In this case, a separate bending process is not required.

The wire material forming the races is preferably produced by means of a wire drawing method with simultaneous work hardening as continuous material, bent annularly and cut to length according to the required length.

Similarly, the plastic material forming the cage is made as a continuous material, bent annularly and cut to the required length. This cage-forming plastic material consists of polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polyamide-imide (PAI), polyimide (PI), polyphenylene sulphite (PPS) or a material based on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or phenolic resin.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings of some embodiments. Show:

1 a half-side cross-sectional view of a single-row angular contact ball bearing according to the invention,

2 a half-side cross-sectional view of a double-row tandem angular contact ball bearing according to the invention,

3 a half-side cross-sectional view of a four-point bearing according to the invention.

Detailed description of the drawings

This in 1 shown wire rolling bearings 2 is designed as a single row angular contact ball bearings. It includes an outer bearing ring 4 , an inner bearing ring 6 , one on the inner circumference of the outer bearing ring 4 arranged wire raceway 8th , one on the outer circumference of the inner bearing ring 6 arranged wire raceway 10 and a bunch of in a cage 12 guided, on the running rings 8th . 10 Rolling rolling elements 14 , which are formed in the present case as balls.

The outer bearing ring 4 is made of two in the direction of the bearing axis, not shown, one behind the other arranged pipe profiles 16 . 18 formed in a common line of contact 20 are suitably connected to each other. The pipe profiles 16 . 28 are made of a fiber composite material or a carbon material.

The inner bearing ring 6 with the tube profiles 17 and 19 and a touch line 20 is formed in the same way as the outer bearing ring 4 , so that its structure does not need to be described again.

The two races 8th . 10 are formed in the selected embodiment as profile wires of an austenitic steel (eg., The steel 1.3816, which is also known under the name P900). This steel is nitrogen alloyed. The degree of achievable work hardening of the profiled wire material is increased by the nitrogen, so that at least a hardness of 48HRC can be achieved. The seawater resistance of this steel is very good. Other steel alloys with comparable hardness and sea water resistance can also be used.

The cage 12 consists of a durable high-performance plastic, such as polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polyamideimide (PAI), polyimide (PI), polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) or materials based on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). The cage can also be advantageously produced from a hard tissue based on phenolic resin.

The rolling elements (balls) are made, for example, of ceramic (eg silicon nitride Si ₃ N ₄ ), of a high-performance plastic based on polyamide-imide (PAI) or polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK), or of a hard metal (eg DZ10).

2 shows a double-row angular contact ball bearing in tandem. It essentially consists of two identical single-row angular contact ball bearings 22 and 24 according to the 1 , The structure, the material selection and material pairing correspond to those of 1 so they do not need to be described again here. The two angular contact ball bearings 22 . 24 are for example in the contact lines 26 and 28 each adjacent pipe profiles of the outer bearing rings 30 . 32 as well as the inner bearing rings 34 . 36 in a suitable manner, for example by a bond or by mechanical fastening means, such as bolts, connected to each other. It is understood that more than two corresponding wire roller bearings can be connected to each other in tandem.

3 shows a four-point camp 38 with an outer bearing ring 40 , an inner bearing ring 42 , two on the inner circumference of the outer bearing ring 40 arranged wire raceways 44 . 46 and two on the outer circumference of the inner bearing ring 42 arranged wire raceways 48 . 50 on which the in a cage 52 guided rolling elements 54 , in this case again balls, roll.

The materials of the outer bearing ring 40 and the inner bearing ring 42 forming pipe profiles, also the races 44 . 46 . 48 . 50 , the cage 52 and the rolling element 54 again correspond to the basis of the 1 described materials.

It should be noted at this point that instead of in the 1 to 3 shown profile tubes each solid round profiles or other suitable profiles can be used, if appropriate.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

2

Wire Rolling

4

Outer bearing ring

6

Inner bearing ring

8th

Wire race

12

Cage

14

rolling elements

16

tube profile

17

tube profile

18

tube profile

19

tube profile

20

contact line

22

Angular contact ball bearings

24

Angular contact ball bearings

26

contact line

28

contact line

30

Outer bearing ring

32

Outer bearing ring

34

bearing ring

36

bearing ring

38

Four point contact bearings

40

Outer bearing ring

42

Inner bearing ring

44

Wire race

46

Wire race

48

Wire race

50

Wire race

52

Cage

54

rolling elements

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents listed by the applicant has been generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• DE 20200241 U1 [0004]
• DE 102008026202 A1 [0005]

Claims (10)

Wire rolling bearings ( 2 ) with an outer and an inner, each of a plurality of bearing axis in the successively arranged, annularly curved tube or rod profiles formed bearing ring ( 4 . 6 ), at least one on the inner circumference of the outer bearing ring ( 4 ) and on the outer circumference of the inner bearing ring ( 6 ) arranged wire raceway ( 8th . 10 ), and at least one in a cage ( 12 ) guided rolling element row, characterized in that the tube or rod profiles of the bearing rings ( 4 . 6 ) are formed from a fiber composite material that the races ( 8th . 10 ) are each formed from an austenitic material that the cage ( 12 ) is formed from a high-performance plastic, and that the rolling elements ( 14 ) consist of a material from the group ceramic, high performance plastic, carbide. Wire rolling bearing according to claim 1, characterized in that it is designed as a single-row angular contact ball bearing. Wire rolling bearing according to claim 1, characterized in that it is designed as a multi-row tandem angular contact ball bearing. Wire rolling bearing according to claim 1, characterized in that it is designed as a single-row four-point bearing. Method for producing a wire rolling bearing according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the bearing rings ( 4 . 6 ) forming pipe or rod profiles produced by means of a pultrusion process as endless profiles, bent annularly and cut to length according to the required length. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that the bearing rings ( 4 . 6 ) forming endless tube or rod profiles wound according to the required diameter and the winding is cut along a surface line. Method according to one of claims 5 or 6, characterized in that the bearing rings ( 4 . 6 ) forming pipe or rod profiles are produced by means of a radius pultrusion method as curved endless profiles and cut to length according to the required length. Method according to one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that the bearing rings ( 8th . 10 ) forming wire material produced by means of a wire drawing process with simultaneous work hardening as continuous material, bent annularly and cut to length according to the required length. Method according to one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that the cage ( 12 ) plastic material produced as continuous material, bent annularly and cut to length according to the required length. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cage ( 12 ) plastic material made of polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polyamideimide (PAI), polyimide (PI), polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) or made of materials based on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or phenolic resin.

Images