JP2515852Y2 - Thrust needle bearing - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a thrust needle bearing incorporated in a portion for supporting a thrust load such as a torque converter portion or a gear unit portion of an automatic transmission vehicle.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, there are a separated type and a non-separated type in a thrust needle bearing including a bearing ring, a cage and a needle. Since the separation type is laborious to assemble, in recent years, the non-separation type has been widely used.

As conventional technology of non-separable thrust needle bearing,
There is one shown in FIG. In this thrust needle bearing, a plurality of staking claws 32 projecting in the inner diameter direction (inward) are provided on the tip peripheral edge portion of a cylindrical portion 31 provided on the outer diameter portion of the bearing ring 30, and are incorporated inside the cylindrical portion 31. The needle 35 is stored in the pocket 34 of the retainer 33, the flange 36 is formed on the outer diameter portion of the retainer 33, and the retainer 33 is prevented from coming off by the engagement of the flange 36 and the staking claw 32. There is.

The needle holding pocket 34 of the cage 33 has an end face in the needle axial direction (a face indicated by a broken line in FIG. 6).
However, the central portion 33a is in contact with the inner surface of the bearing ring 30, rises from both ends of the central portion 33a (33b portion), and reaches the outer peripheral surface of the needle, and the end surface of the pocket 34 and the needle 35. The contact area (guidance area) is increased so that smooth guidance can be achieved, and the outside (6th
The needle 35 is effectively prevented from coming off to the right in the figure).

[Problems to be solved by the device]

Generally, in a non-separable thrust needle bearing, the total height of assembly and the outer diameter of the needle are determined according to the purpose of use, so it is necessary to reduce the plate thickness of the bearing ring and the cage. Therefore, the bearing ring and the cage are formed by press-molding a thin steel plate, and the end face bent portion (the rising portion 33b) of the pocket 34 is two in number, which causes a large variation in the outer diameter dimension. If the variation of the outer diameter is large, the cylindrical portion 31 of the bearing ring 30 and the outer peripheral edge of the retainer 33 are likely to interfere with each other, and the retainer 33 may easily come off.

Further, in the thrust needle bearing, since hardness is required, after press forming of the bearing ring 30 and the cage 33,
Attempts are made to increase the hardness by carburizing and quenching. At the time of carburizing and quenching, warpage occurs when the rigidity of the bearing ring 30 and the cage 33 is low. Further, the retainer 33 is loaded into the cylindrical portion 31 of the bearing ring 30 by clicking, but at that time,
The cage 33 may be warped. The warp of the cage 33 leads to interference between the cylindrical portion 31 and the cage 33.

Therefore, in the conventional cage 33, as shown in FIG. 6, in order to eliminate the variation in the outer diameter dimension and to increase the rigidity of the cage 33, the inner and outer peripheral edge portions thereof are raised and the flange is raised.
36 are formed. That is, during press molding, since there are two bent portions, the expansion and contraction of the material in the radial direction is also large, and the end surface diameter changes due to the expansion and contraction at the cut end surface whose peripheral edge is in the radial direction, and the required outer diameter dimension is obtained. Is hard to put out. Therefore, when the peripheral portion is also formed with the flange 36 and press-molded, the outer diameter is determined by the press-molding die,
This is because it is easy to obtain the required outer diameter dimension. Also the flange
This is because the presence of 36 increases the rigidity of the retainer 33 due to an increase in the section modulus of the retainer 33 with respect to the rotation axis.

However, if the flange 36 rises, the flange
The degree of freedom L in the axial direction between the 36 and the staking claw 32 is reduced, and the both 36 and 32 are likely to interfere with each other. Further, since the staking claw 32 comes into contact with the end face edge of the flange 36, the edges are in contact with each other, and due to the mutual easiness of biting of the edges, defective rotation of the retainer 33 occurs and both are damaged. If it is easily damaged, the cage 33 may not rotate properly.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned inconveniences, increases the degree of freedom in the axial direction between the bearing ring and the cage, and eliminates the contact between the edges.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, in this invention,
A bearing ring having a cylindrical portion formed on one of the outer diameter portion and the inner diameter portion, a retainer fitted to the cylindrical portion, and a needle retained by the retainer. The pocket has a shape such that the end face in the needle axial direction has a central portion in contact with the inner surface of the bearing ring and rises from both ends of the central portion to reach the outer peripheral surface of the needle. Is a flat portion that falls from the rising end of the pocket and reaches the inner surface of the bearing ring, and the tip peripheral edge portion of the cylindrical portion has staking claws that project inside the cylindrical portion at required circumferential intervals. In the thrust needle bearing provided with this staking claw to prevent the retainer from coming off, the flat part is folded over 180 degrees around the entire circumference at the peripheral edge part facing the staking claw of the retainer. Bending than is adopted the configuration in which an annular bent piece in close contact with the retainer surface.

Here, the cylindrical portion may be formed on the outer diameter edge portion of the bearing ring or may be formed on the inner diameter edge portion.

[Action]

As described above, since the bent piece that overlaps the surface of the cage is provided in the peripheral portion of the cage, the bent piece can be lengthened, and the hardness of the long bent piece can be increased by quenching. It is possible to obtain high rigidity in the cage, and the cage is less likely to be deformed when assembled by the click of the cage.

In addition, since it is a bent piece, the degree of freedom in the axial direction of the retainer with respect to the staking claw can be increased, and since the staking claw contacts the flat surface of the outer surface of the bent piece, the contact is smooth. Therefore, it is less likely to be damaged, and the defective product generation rate can be reduced.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

1 to 3 show a first embodiment of a thrust needle bearing according to the present invention. A cylindrical portion 2 is formed on an outer diameter portion of the bearing ring 1, and a plurality of staking claws 3 projecting inward are provided at a tip end portion of the cylindrical portion 2 at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction of the cylindrical portion 2. It is provided.

A plurality of pockets 5 are formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction in the cage 4 incorporated inside the cylindrical portion 2, and needles 6 are incorporated in the pockets 5. There is a step in the axial direction of the cage between both end portions 7 and the central portion 8 on both side edges of the pocket 5, which are opposed to each other in the circumferential direction. It touches the inner surface of the and rises from both ends of the central part 8 (part 7)
The needle 6 has a shape reaching the outer peripheral surface of the needle 6, and its both end portions 7
The central portion 8 contacts the outer circumferences on both sides of the needle 6 with the center line of the needle 6 as a line of symmetry, and the needle 6 is prevented from coming off by the contact.

The outer peripheral edge of the cage 4 is flattened from both ends 7 of the pocket 4 along the inner surface of the bearing ring 1 and has an annular shape overlapping the surface of the cage 4 by bending the edge thereof at 180 °. The bent piece 9 is provided, and the outer periphery of the bent portion of the bent piece 9 is an arcuate surface 10.

The outer surface portion 9a of the bent piece 9 faces the staking claw 3 and the retainer 4 is prevented from coming off by the outer surface 9a contacting the staking claw 3. At this time, since the outer surface 9a of the bent piece 9 is a flat surface around the entire circumference, the staking claw 3 is less likely to be damaged.

The cage 4 and the bearing ring 1 having the above structure are formed by press forming of a steel plate, and after the forming, heat treatment such as carburizing and quenching is performed to increase hardness. At this time, since the bending piece 9 can be made longer than the rising piece 36 of FIG. 6, the hardness of the long bending piece 9 is increased, and the rigidity of the peripheral portion of the cage 4 is improved. .

When assembling the thrust needle bearing having the above structure, the needle 6 is assembled in the pocket 5 of the retainer 4, and then the retainer 4 is clicked into the cylindrical portion 2 of the bearing ring 1. Press in through. At this time, the outer peripheral edge of the cage 4 and the staking claws 3 interfere with each other, but since the outer circumference of the cage 4 is an arcuate surface 10, the arcuate surface 10 serves as a guide surface and is held. Facilitates insertion of the container 4,
Moreover, since the staking claw 3 is elastically deformed in the outer diameter direction, the cage 4 can be assembled very smoothly. Further, since the cage 4 has sufficient rigidity, the cage 4 is hardly deformed when assembled.

By assembling the retainer 4 as described above, since the outer flat surface 9a of the bent piece 9 of the retainer 4 faces the staking claw 3, the staking claw 3 prevents the retainer 4 from coming off. And is made non-separable.

Here, since the cage 4 has a structure in which a bent piece 9 that closely adheres to the surface of the cage is provided on the outer peripheral edge portion, as compared with the flange 36 of FIG. A large degree of freedom l in the axial direction can be taken between 3 and, therefore,
Even if the cage 4 is deformed during heat treatment or assembly, the cage 4 does not easily interfere with the staking claws 3,
It is possible to reduce the occurrence rate of defective products such as defective rotation or abrasion of the staking claws 3 due to contact with the cage 4. Further, since the contact between the staking claw 3 and the cage 4 is made by the flat surface 9a on the outer side of the bent piece 9, the cage 4 can be smoothly rotated and the staking claw 3 is hardly damaged.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the thrust needle bearing according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the inner diameter portion of the bearing ring 11 is bent to form a cylindrical portion 12, and a staking claw 13 protruding in the outer diameter direction is provided at the tip edge of the cylindrical portion 12. Further, the inner diameter of the cage 14 assembled on the outside of the cylindrical portion 12 is bent 180 ° to provide a bending piece 19 overlapping the surface of the cage, and the outer surface 19a of the bending piece 19 and the staking claw 13 are brought into contact with each other. The retainer 14 is prevented from coming off by.

FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the thrust needle bearing according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a retainer 24 for holding the needle 6 is incorporated between a pair of bearing rings 21, 21 ', and one of the pair of bearing rings 21, 21' has a cylindrical portion on the outer diameter portion. 22 is provided, and a plurality of staking claws 23 projecting inward are provided at the tip of the cylindrical portion 22.

On the other hand, a cylindrical portion 22 'is formed in the inner diameter portion of the other race 21', and a plurality of staking claws 23 'projecting outward are provided at the tip of the cylindrical portion 22'.

Further, each of the outer diameter edge portion and the inner diameter edge portion of the cage 24 is bent by 180 ° to form a pair of bending pieces 29, 29 ′,
By engaging the bent pieces 29, 29 'with the staking claws 23, 23' facing the outer surfaces 29a, 29a ', the pair of races 2
1, 21 'and the cage 24 are held in a non-separated state.

[Effect of device]

As described above, in the present invention, the peripheral portion of the cage facing the staking claws provided on the cylindrical portion of the bearing ring is
Since the bent piece that is bent at 0 ° and overlaps the surface of the cage is provided, it is possible to increase the degree of freedom in the axial direction between the cage and the bearing ring.

Further, by providing the bent pieces that overlap the surface of the cage, it is possible to obtain high rigidity of the cage and reduce deformation during assembly. For this reason, in combination with the large degree of freedom in the axial direction, it is possible to prevent the disadvantage that the bent pieces of the cage interfere with the staking claws, and to improve the strength and performance of the product and It is possible to reduce the generation rate of non-defective products.

Furthermore, since the degree of freedom in the axial direction can be increased, the staking claw can be made thick. By making the staking nail thick, the hardness of only the surface of the nail can be increased during heat treatment such as carburizing and quenching. Therefore, elastic claws can be obtained, and the claws can be prevented from being damaged when the retainer is assembled due to the click.

Further, the contact between the cage and the staking claws is made on the flat surface outside the bent piece, so that the cage can be smoothly rotated,
There is also very little damage to the staking nails.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a first view of a thrust needle bearing according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the same, and FIG. 4 is a cross section of a thrust bearing according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 5 and 5 are sectional views showing a third embodiment of the thrust bearing according to the present invention,
FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a conventional thrust needle bearing. 1, 11, 21, 21 '... Orbital ring, 2, 12, 22, 22' ... Cylindrical part, 3, 13, 23 ... Staking claws, 4, 14, 24, 33
…… Cage, 5,34 …… Pocket, 6 …… Needle, 9
...... Folded piece, 9a, 19a, 29a, 29a '…… The outer surface of the bent piece.

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A holding ring comprising a bearing ring having a cylindrical portion formed on one of an outer diameter portion and an inner diameter portion, a retainer fitted to the cylindrical portion, and a needle retained by the retainer. The needle holding pocket of the container has a shape in which the end face in the needle axial direction has a shape in which the central portion contacts the inner surface of the bearing ring and rises from both ends of the central portion to reach the outer peripheral surface of the needle. The inner and outer peripheral parts of the vessel are
A staking claw protruding from the rising end of the pocket to the inner surface of the bearing ring is a flat portion, and a staking claw protruding toward the inner side of the cylindrical portion is provided at a peripheral edge of the cylindrical portion at a required circumferential interval. In the thrust needle bearing in which the retainer is prevented from coming off by this staking claw, in the peripheral edge portion of the retainer facing the staking claw,
A thrust needle bearing characterized in that the flat portion is bent 180 degrees over the entire circumference to provide an annular bent piece that is in close contact with the surface of the cage.