JP2008232281A - Trust roller bearing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thrust roller bearing, in which a cage and bearing ring is not separated even if vibrations or impacts act thereon. <P>SOLUTION: In a circumferential wall part 7 of a bottomed cylindrical bearing ring 3, a projection part 8 disposed to a part at a predetermined angular range θ of a whole circumference is bent inward in a radial direction to form a bent part 9. At a position symmetric with respect to an axis 3a of the bearing ring 3 and on a straight line dividing the predetermined angular range θ into two sections, a caulking part 11 having circumferential length shorter than the bent part 9 is formed. Each tip end of the bent part 9 and the caulking part 11 is arranged inside in the radial direction from the outer circumferential edge part of the cage 2, so as to prevent the cage 2 from being pulled out of the opening of the bearing ring 3. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a thrust roller bearing.

  A thrust roller bearing has a cage that rotatably holds a plurality of rolling elements (rollers) whose rotation axis is radially arranged, and a bottomed cylindrical shape, and each rolling element that is held by the cage at the bottom. And a disc-shaped raceway ring on which a raceway surface to be received is formed.

  For thrust roller bearings used in transmission parts of vehicles (automobiles), considering the convenience of assembling to the housing and shaft, the cage where the rollers are arranged and the raceway ring will not come off. (Which is called “non-separable”). As shown in FIG. 8, in the conventional non-separable thrust roller bearing 50, a plurality of portions of the peripheral wall portion of the race 51 are caulked inward in the radial direction, and each caulking portion 52 is formed. Yes. Then, the cage 53 is press-fitted into the race 51 by bringing the outer peripheral edge of the cage 52 into contact with the caulking portion 52 and causing elastic deformation. As the above-described technique, there is one disclosed in Patent Document 1 or 2. A processing method for forming the caulking portion 52 on the peripheral wall portion of the race 51 is referred to as “staking”.

However, the race 51 and the cage 53 may be separated due to vibration or impact during transportation. This causes a problem in the vehicle assembly process.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-180218 JP 2002-98156 A

  An object of the present invention is to prevent the cage and the raceway from separating even when vibration or impact acts on the thrust roller bearing in view of the above-described problems.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

The present invention for achieving the above-mentioned problems
A cage for holding a plurality of rolling elements whose rotation axis is radially arranged;
A disc-shaped raceway ring having a bottomed cylindrical shape, containing the cage inside the peripheral wall portion, and receiving the plurality of rolling elements on a raceway surface formed on the inner surface of the bottom wall portion. A thrust roller bearing,
Bending in the radial direction from the end face of the peripheral wall portion so that the distal end edge is located on the inner side of the outer peripheral edge of the retainer in a form continuous over a predetermined angle range in the peripheral wall portion of the raceway ring Formed folds, and
A part of the peripheral wall portion within an angular range set symmetrically with the bent portion with respect to the axis of the raceway bulges in a spot shape or a dot shape on the inner side in the radial direction from the outer peripheral edge of the cage Including one or a plurality of caulking parts that are caulked from the outer side to the inner side of the peripheral wall part,
The bent portion and the caulking portion prevent the retainer holding the rolling elements from coming out of the opening of the raceway ring.

  In the thrust roller bearing according to the present invention, in the peripheral wall portion of the bearing ring, a continuous portion over a predetermined angle range is bent inward in the radial direction to form a bent portion. Further, a part of the peripheral wall portion set symmetrically with the bent portion with respect to the axis of the raceway is caulked in a spot shape or a dot shape to form a caulking portion. As for the said bending part and the said crimping | crimping part, those front-end | tip edges are arrange | positioned inside the radial direction rather than the outer periphery of a holder | retainer. That is, the thrust roller bearing according to the present invention prevents the cage from being pulled out by the bent portion formed over a longer range than the conventional caulking portion, as compared with the case where only the conventional caulking portion is used. Is planned. Thereby, the cage accommodated inside the peripheral wall portion of the raceway ring is prevented from coming out of the opening of the raceway ring.

In the front end surface of the peripheral wall portion, the predetermined angle range in which the bent portion is formed protrudes in the axial direction by the length of the bent portion than the angle range other than the bent portion,
In a state where the bent portion is formed, it is desirable that the front end surface of the peripheral wall portion is flush with the entire circumference.

  As a result, the bent portion does not protrude from the front end surface of the peripheral wall portion of the thrust roller bearing, and the bent portion is prevented from interfering with surrounding members in the assembled state.

  And the said bending part can be made to be formed in the angle range used as 1/4 or more and 1/2 or less of the perimeter of the said surrounding wall part.

  Thereby, a bearing ring and a holder | retainer can be assembled | attached, without making the operation which accommodates a holder | retainer in a bearing ring difficult.

  The caulking portion may be disposed on a straight extension line that bisects an angle range forming the bent portion when viewed from the axial direction of the race.

  As a result, the cage that is partially inserted into the raceway is elastically deformed and accommodated by the caulking portion. When the caulking portion is disposed on a straight extension line that bisects the angle range forming the bent portion when viewed from the axial direction of the raceway, a force for elastically deforming the cage is provided. Can be the smallest.

  Bending a predetermined angle range of the peripheral wall portion of the bearing ring to form a bent portion; caulking portions other than the predetermined angle range of the peripheral wall portion to form a caulking portion; And after the said bending part and the said crimping | crimping part are formed, it forms by a holder | retainer being assembled | attached inside the surrounding wall part of the track ring formed through the hardening process which performs a hardening process.

  Thereby, the intensity | strength of a bearing ring is raised, without impairing the assembly property of a holder | retainer and a bearing ring.

  Examples of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1A is a plan view of a thrust roller bearing 101 according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a front sectional view thereof, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the thrust roller bearing 101 of the first embodiment of the present invention includes a cage 2 that holds a plurality (16 in the case of this embodiment) of rolling elements (needle rollers 1), and And a bearing ring 3 for accommodating the cage 2. The retainer 2 is provided with pockets 4 for radially arranging and accommodating the axial lines 1a of the needle rollers 1 at equal angular intervals in the circumferential direction. The needle rollers 1 accommodated in the respective pockets 4 are rotatable within the pockets 4.

  The race 3 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the race 3 is formed by bending a thin metal plate into a bottomed cylindrical shape. A raceway surface 6 for receiving each needle roller 1 is formed on the inner surface of the bottom wall portion 5 of the raceway ring 3 (the bottom face portion of the raceway ring 3). In addition, a peripheral wall portion 7 that rises in an orthogonal state from the bottom wall portion 5 is formed on the outer peripheral portion of the bottom wall portion 5. A cage 2 in which each needle roller 1 is held is accommodated inside the peripheral wall portion 7.

  As shown in FIG. 2, about 1/3 of the entire circumference of the peripheral wall portion 7 (range of the predetermined angle θ) protrudes in the axial direction from the other portions, and the protruding portion 8 is continuous. It is formed with. The protruding portion 8 is bent inward in the radial direction (bended so as to be orthogonal to the axis 3 a of the race 3), whereby a bent portion 9 is formed.

  In the plan view of the race 3, the caulking portion 11 is formed on a straight extension line that bisects the range of the angle θ forming the bent portion 9. The circumferential length of the caulking portion 11 is much shorter than the circumferential length of the bent portion 9. The caulking portion 11 has the same function as the caulking portion 52 in the conventional thrust roller bearing 50 (see FIG. 8).

  A method for forming the bent portion 9 and the caulking portion 11 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the first mold 12 is disposed in the vicinity of the inner wall surface 11 of the peripheral wall portion 7 on one side of the raceway ring 3 (left side in the drawing view of FIG. 3). Is done. The first mold 12 has a bowl shape (substantially L-shaped) in order to receive the protruding portion 8 to be bent. In this state, the second molding die 13 is lowered from obliquely above the peripheral wall 7 and presses the protruding portion 8 of the peripheral wall 7. Thereby, the protrusion part 8 of the surrounding wall part 7 is bend | folded at substantially right angle, and the bending part 9 is formed. As a result, in the race 3, the portion where the bent portion 9 is formed has a double structure with the bottom wall portion 5, and a space portion V1 is formed between the bottom wall portion 5 and the bent portion 9. Has been.

  Then, the 1st shaping | molding die 15 is arrange | positioned in the vicinity of the inner wall face of the surrounding wall part 7 of the other side (right side in the drawing figure of FIG. 3) of the track ring 3. FIG. And the 2nd shaping | molding die 16 approachs from the outer side of the surrounding wall part 7 horizontally. Thereby, the front-end | tip part of the surrounding wall part 7 is pressed toward the inner side of a radial direction, and is crimped by spot shape or dot shape, and the crimping part 11 is formed. As a result, in the race 3, the portion where the caulking portion 11 is formed has a double structure with the bottom wall portion 5, and the space portion V2 is formed between the bottom wall portion 5 and the caulking portion 11. Yes.

  In this state, the upper surface of the bent portion 9 and the upper surface of the caulking portion 11 are flush with each other. As a result, the entire height of the raceway ring 3 is constant over the entire circumference, and there is no protrusion, so that the assembled thrust roller bearing 101 does not easily interfere with surrounding members.

  Next, an operation when the cage 2 is assembled to the race 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the outer peripheral edge portion 17 of the cage 2 is inserted in an oblique state into the space portion V <b> 1 formed between the bottom wall portion 5 and the bent portion 9 of the raceway ring 3. The entire cage 2 is rotated in the direction of the arrow 18 with the vicinity of the lower edge of the outer peripheral edge 17 of the cage 2 as a fulcrum. The caulking portion 11 and the outer peripheral edge portion 17 of the cage 2 are brought into contact with each other. If the entire cage 2 is further rotated as it is, the outer peripheral edge portion 17 of the cage 2 pressed by the caulking portion 11 is elastically deformed and formed by the bottom wall portion 5 of the race ring 3 and the caulking portion 11. Enter the space V2. In this state, the outer peripheral edge of the cage 2 is disposed on the outer side in the radial direction with respect to the distal end surface 9 a of the bent portion 9 and the distal end surface 11 a of the caulking portion 11. In other words, in the plan view of the thrust roller bearing 101, the outer peripheral edge of the cage 2 and the distal end surface 9a of the bent portion 9 and the distal end surface 11a of the caulking portion 11 are arranged in an overlapping state (see FIG. 1). . This prevents the cage 2 from coming out of the opening of the raceway ring 3.

  In the case of the thrust roller bearing 101 of the first embodiment, the bent portion 9 is in the range of 1/3 of the entire circumference of the peripheral wall 7 of the bearing ring 3 (the angle range of the angle θ (θ = 120 °) in the entire circumference). Is formed. Here, in the conventional thrust roller bearing 50, three caulking portions 52 are provided on the peripheral wall portion 7 of the bearing ring 3 at equal angular intervals (120 °). The thrust roller bearing 101 of the present embodiment has a configuration in which two caulking portions 52 among the three caulking portions 52 in the conventional thrust roller bearing 50 are made continuous by the bent portions 9. For this reason, the bending part 9 of the thrust roller bearing 101 of the present embodiment is arranged so as to overlap with the outer peripheral edge part 17 of the cage 2 over a longer range than the conventional caulking part 52. The functions of the caulking portion 11 of the thrust roller bearing 101 of the present embodiment and the remaining caulking portion 52 of the conventional thrust roller bearing 50 are the same. As a result, the thrust roller bearing 101 of the present embodiment has the cage 2 that is not in the conventional thrust roller bearing 50 and the cage 2 does not impair the ease of assembling the cage 2 and the race 3. It can be made difficult to escape from the opening.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the thrust roller bearing 101 includes a bent portion forming step 19 for forming a bent portion 9 by bending a protruding portion 8 provided on the peripheral wall portion 7 of the bearing ring 3, and the bearing ring 3. The caulking portion forming step 21 for caulking the peripheral wall portion 7 and the quenching step 22 for quenching the race 3 are formed. The thrust roller bearing 101 is formed by assembling the cage 2 to the hardened raceway ring 3.

  In the thrust roller bearing 101 of the first embodiment described above, the bent portion 9 is provided over 1/3 of the entire circumference of the peripheral wall portion 7 of the bearing ring 3. However, like the thrust roller bearing 102 of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the bent portion 24 may be provided over half of the entire circumference of the peripheral wall portion 7 of the bearing ring 3. That is, the angle range θ is 180 °. Even in this case, the cage 2 can be assembled at an angle.

  Further, like the thrust roller bearing 103 of the third embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the bent portion 25 is provided over a quarter of the entire circumference of the peripheral wall portion 7 of the race 3, Two caulking portions 11 may be provided in the portion. That is, the angle range θ is 90 °. Even in this case, the same effect as the thrust roller bearings 101 and 102 of the first and second embodiments can be obtained.

(A) is a top view of the thrust roller bearing 101 of 1st Example of this invention, (b) is front sectional drawing similarly. (A) is a top view of the track ring 3 before the bending part 9 and the crimping part 11 are formed, (b) is also a front view. (A), (b) is a figure which shows the state which forms the bending part 9 and the crimping part 11 in the bearing ring 3. FIG. It is a figure which shows the state which accommodates the holder | retainer 2 in the track ring 3. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process of forming a thrust roller bearing 101. (A) is a top view of the thrust roller bearing 102 of 2nd Example of this invention, (b) is front sectional drawing similarly. (A) is a top view of the thrust roller bearing 103 of 3rd Example of this invention, (b) is front sectional drawing similarly. (A) is a top view of the conventional thrust roller bearing 50, (b) is also a front sectional view.

Explanation of symbols

101-103: Thrust roller bearing
1: Needle roller (rolling element)
1a: Spinning axis
2: Cage
3: Raceway
3a: axis
5: Bottom wall
6: Track surface
7: Peripheral wall part 9, 24, 25: Bending part
11: Caulking part
17: Outer peripheral edge (outer peripheral edge of cage)
θ: Angle (predetermined angle range)

Claims (4)

A cage for holding a plurality of rolling elements whose rotation axis is radially arranged;
A disc-shaped raceway ring having a bottomed cylindrical shape, containing the cage inside the peripheral wall portion, and receiving the plurality of rolling elements on a raceway surface formed on the inner surface of the bottom wall portion. A thrust roller bearing,
Bending in the radial direction from the end face of the peripheral wall portion so that the distal end edge is located on the inner side of the outer peripheral edge of the retainer in a form continuous over a predetermined angle range in the peripheral wall portion of the raceway ring Formed folds, and
A part of the peripheral wall portion within an angular range set symmetrically with the bent portion with respect to the axis of the raceway bulges in a spot shape or a dot shape on the inner side in the radial direction from the outer peripheral edge of the cage Including one or a plurality of caulking parts that are caulked from the outer side to the inner side of the peripheral wall part,
A thrust roller bearing, characterized in that the bent portion and the caulking portion prevent the retainer holding the rolling elements from coming out of the opening of the raceway. In the front end surface of the peripheral wall portion, the predetermined angle range in which the bent portion is formed protrudes in the axial direction by the length of the bent portion than the angle range other than the bent portion,
2. The thrust roller bearing according to claim 1, wherein the front end surface of the peripheral wall portion is flush with the entire periphery in a state where the bent portion is formed.   The said caulking part is arrange | positioned on the extended line of the straight line which bisects the angle range which forms the said bending part seeing from the axial direction of the said bearing ring, The Claim 1 or 2 characterized by the above-mentioned. Thrust roller bearing.   Bending a predetermined angle range of the peripheral wall portion of the bearing ring to form a bent portion; caulking portions other than the predetermined angle range of the peripheral wall portion to form a caulking portion; In addition, after the bent portion and the caulking portion are formed, the cage is formed by assembling a cage inside the peripheral wall portion of the race ring formed through a quenching process for performing a quenching process. The thrust roller bearing according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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