WO2007010106A2

WO2007010106A2 - Method for mounting a bearing provided with a flange and two row of rolling elements

Info

Publication number: WO2007010106A2
Application number: PCT/FR2006/001556
Authority: WO
Inventors: James Perillat-Amede; Bernard Chaudier; Christophe Nicot
Original assignee: S.N.R. Roulements
Priority date: 2005-07-18
Filing date: 2006-06-30
Publication date: 2007-01-25
Also published as: WO2007010106A3; WO2007010106A8; FR2888625A1; FR2888625B1

Abstract

The invention concerns a method for mounting a bearing comprising an inner member (1), an outer member (2) and two rows (5a, 5b) of rolling elements, the inner member (1) including, from outside inwards: a radial flange (2), an outer annular seat (8) of diameter H, the rolling tracks and an inner part (9) having a maximum outer diameter which is not greater than the diameter H, said method consisting in shrinking onto the seat (8) an outer cage (12) having an inner seat of diameter H1 not greater than the diameter H. The invention also concerns a particular retaining cage (12) for implementing said mounting method, as well as a roller bearing comprising an outer flange (2) and incorporating such a cage (12).

Description

Method of mounting a bearing provided with a flange and two rows of rolling bodies

The invention relates to a method of mounting a rolling bearing comprising an inner member and an outer member, said members each comprising two adjacent raceways between which is arranged respectively a row of rolling bodies. To guide their rotation, the rolling bodies of each row are maintained equidistantly by a retention cage.

In known manner, the rolling bearings are mounted by arranging the outer member around the inner member, then by introduction of the rolling bodies by off-centering said outer member relative to the inner member. Then, a retention cage is introduced into each row of rolling bodies, respectively from the inner side and from the outer side.

However, when the inner member comprises a flange protruding from its outer part, the introduction of the outer cage by this side is made impossible.

To solve this problem, the prior art has proposed using a same retention cage for the two rows of rolling bodies, said cage being introduced by the opposite side to the flange.

This solution is not entirely satisfactory in particular because it constrains the rolling bodies at the same speed of rotation, which induces significant mechanical stresses on the cage during rotation. In particular, it can result in premature rupture of the cage under severe conditions of use.

The invention aims in particular to solve this problem by proposing a method of mounting a cage in each row of rolling bodies of a rolling bearing comprising an outer flange. The invention also proposes a particular retention cage for the implementation of this mounting method, and a rolling bearing comprising an outer flange and incorporating such a cage.

For this purpose, and according to a first aspect, the invention proposes a method of mounting a rolling bearing comprising an inner member and an outer member, said members each comprising two adjacent raceways which are disposed facing two by two. so as to form two raceways in which respectively a row of rolling bodies is arranged to allow the relative rotation of one member relative to the other, the rolling bodies of each row being maintained equidistant respectively by a cage retention member, the inner member comprising, from the external to the inside: a radial flange, an outer annular bearing surface of diameter H, the bearing tracks and an inner part having a maximum outside diameter which is smaller than or equal to the diameter H, said method comprising the steps of:

- Provide an outer cage having an inner bearing of diameter H1 less than or equal to the diameter H;

- arrange the outer cage around the inner part of the inner member;

relatively moving the outer cage relative to the inner member towards the outer span;

- Make a fitting of the inner bearing of the cage on the outer surface of the inner member so as to ensure a temporary attachment of said cage on said member;

arranging the outer member around the inner member with the rolling tracks facing each other;

- Introducing the rolling bodies in the raceways by eccentricity of the outer member relative to the inner member;

- Refocus the outer member and distribute the rolling bodies in each of the raceways; - Move the outer cage from the outer surface in the outer row of rolling bodies, so as to ensure the retention of said rolling bodies;

- arrange the inner cage in the inner row of rolling bodies. According to a second aspect, the invention proposes a retention cage for the implementation of such a mounting method, comprising an annular body provided with housings for receiving the rolling bodies, the inner face of said body comprising a projection of internal diameter. H1, said projection forming a fitting surface of said cage on a range of diameter H greater than or equal to the diameter H1

According to a third aspect, the invention proposes a rolling bearing mounted in accordance with the method mentioned above, said bearing comprising an inner member and an outer member, said members each comprising two raceways which are disposed facing two by two of each other. so as to form two raceways in which respectively a row of rolling bodies is arranged so as to allow the relative rotation of one member relative to the other, the inner member comprising, from the external to the internal: a radial flange, an outer annular bearing surface of diameter H, the bearing tracks and an inner part having a maximum outside diameter which is less than or equal to the diameter H, said bearing further comprising a retention cage as mentioned above, said cage now equidistant from the rolling bodies of the outer row.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description, made with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

- Figures 1 are a longitudinal sectional representation of a rolling bearing showing eight steps of the mounting method (1 to 4 in Figure 1a and 5 to 8 Figure 1b) according to one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a representation in longitudinal section of a rolling bearing showing steps 3 and 4 according to a first variant of the embodiment of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a representation in longitudinal section of a rolling bearing showing steps 3 and 4 according to a second variant of the embodiment of FIG. 1; - Figures 4 are a representation respectively in perspective (Figure 4a) and in longitudinal section (Figure 4b) of the cage for carrying out the method according to the embodiment of Figure 1;

- Figures 5 are a representation respectively in perspective (Figure 5a) and in longitudinal section (Figure 5b) of the cage for the implementation of the method according to the first variant of Figure 2;

- Figures 6 are a representation respectively in perspective (Figure 6a) and in longitudinal section (Figure 6b) of the cage for the implementation of the method according to the second variant of Figure 3.

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, a rolling bearing for a driving wheel of a motor vehicle is described. The bearing comprises a rotating hub 1 on which the wheel is intended to be mounted. The hub is formed of an annular body having a central bore coaxial with the axis of rotation.

On the outer part of the surface of the body, a radial flange 2 is formed, said flange being provided with orifices 2a forming means for fixing the wheel by screwing. In addition, the periphery of the bore of the hub comprises concave rolling paths 3 for rolling bodies of a tripod joint which is provided to transmit the engine torque to said hub.

In the remainder of the description, the terms "internal" and "external" are defined with respect to the right and left sides respectively of the sectional sections of the bearing, and the terms "inside" and "outside" are defined with respect to the rotation axis.

On the central part of the surface of the body, two adjacent bearing tracks 4a, 4b are formed so as to allow the rotation of two rows of rolling bodies 5a, 5b therein in the form of balls 6. In addition, an outer ring fixed 7 of a bearing is mounted on the hub 1, said ring also comprising two bearing tracks 7a, 7b disposed opposite those of the hub 1 so as to form a raceway respectively for a row 5a, 5b of rolling bodies 6. The outer ring 7 is intended to be associated with the rocket door of the vehicle, for example by fitting, so as to allow the bearing to be associated with the chassis of the vehicle.

In the embodiment described, the body further comprises two outer annular bearing surfaces 8, 9 of diameter H which are provided on either side of the rolling tracks 4a, 4b. In particular, the outer diameter of the flange 2 is greater than the diameter H.

Furthermore, the two sides of the running space formed between the outer ring 7 and the hub 1 are sealed by two seals 10, 11 provided respectively facing the lateral faces of the outer and inner raceway.

The outer seal 10 is formed of an armature fitted on the outer ring 7, said armature being provided with a sealing lip in rubbing contact on the outer annular bearing surface 8.

The inner seal 11 comprises an outer armature fitted into the outer ring 7 and an inner armature fitted on the outer surface 9, so as to form an annular space between said armatures. At least one sealing lip is associated with the outer reinforcement, said lip comprising at least one free part coming into rubbing support on the inner armature so as to seal said annular space.

Although the description is made in connection with this particular embodiment, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention applies to all types of rolling bearing comprising an inner member 1 and an outer member 7, said members each comprising two raceways 4a, 4b, 7a, 7b which are disposed facing two by two so as to form two raceways in which respectively a row 5a, 5b of rolling bodies 6 is arranged to allow rotation relative to one organ over the other. In which the inner member 1 comprises, from the external to the inside: a radial flange 2, an outer annular bearing surface 8 of diameter H, the bearing tracks 4a, 4b and an inner portion 9 having a maximum outside diameter which is less than or equal to the diameter H.

Each row 5a, 5b of rolling bodies is provided with a retaining cage, respectively external 12 and internal 13, which keeps the rolling bodies 6 equidistant during rotation.

A cage 12, 13 comprises an annular body formed in one piece, for example by molding a polymeric material such as PA 6.6, possibly charged to improve its mechanical characteristics. The annular body is provided with housings 14 for individually receiving the rolling bodies 6, said housings being separated by material bridges 15 (see FIGS. 4 to 6). In particular, the cage 12, 13 is mounted in the row of rolling bodies 5a, 5b by clipping each rolling body 6 into a housing 14.

In connection with FIGS. 1, eight stages of mounting the illustrated bearing are described below.

In the embodiment shown, the method provides an initial step of moving the outer seal 10 around the inner member 1. This movement is made from the inner part of the member 1 against the inner face of the flange 2 so as to ensure a temporary attachment of the seal 10 on the flange 2 by any suitable means.

To allow mounting, the outer cage 12 has an inner bearing of diameter H1 less than or equal to the diameter H. According to the embodiment shown in Figure 4, the body has a cylindrical geometry whose inner face is provided with a protrusion of diameter H1 forming said range. More particularly, the projection is formed by a bead 16 provided on each of the material bridges 15 so as to form a discontinuous annular bead.

This geometry allows, after arrangement of the outer cage 12 around the inner part of the inner member 1 and relative displacement of said cage by report to said member to the outer surface 8, to make a fitting of the inner bearing 16 on the outer bearing 8 (step 1).

It can be provided that the projection 16 is provided near the inner side face of the body of the cage 12 so as to ensure the fitting at this level.

In addition, the diameter H1 may be strictly smaller than the diameter H, in particular between 0.95 H and H. This embodiment makes it possible, by deformation of the cage 12 during fitting, to temporarily secure the cage 12 on the member 1 which is particularly reliable for subsequent mounting steps.

Furthermore, the outer surface of the bearing surface 8 can be ground, in particular to improve the seal provided by the rubbing contact of the lip or to have an encoder means, which also contributes to improving the reliability of the fitting.

Then, the method provides for arranging the outer member 7 around the inner member 1 with the rolling tracks 4a, 4b, 7a, 7b facing each other, and then introducing the rolling bodies 6 into the raceways by means of eccentricity. the outer member 7 relative to the inner member 1 (step 2). Then the outer member 7 is recentered and the rolling bodies 6 are distributed in each of the raceways (step 3).

The realization of this step is made possible by the fact that the outer cage 12 and possibly the outer seal 10 are secured temporarily, which prevents any interference thereof during assembly of the rolling bodies 6.

Step 4 represents the displacement of the outer cage 12 from the outer surface 8 in the outer row 5a of rolling bodies 6. To ensure this removal, it is intended to use a tool comprising support fingers 17 on the outer cage 12, said tool being moved towards the running space. In the embodiment of Figure 1, the fingers 17 are supported on an outer face 18 of the cage 12. This embodiment reduces the distance d between the inner face of the flange 2 and the outer edge of the outer race 5a up to the minimum value allowing the disposition of the fingers 17.

In the variant shown in Figure 2, the fingers 17 are supported on an outer shoulder 19 provided for this purpose on the periphery of the cage 12 (Figures 5). This embodiment makes it possible to further reduce the distance d, and therefore the total axial space requirement of the bearing, since it allows a partial axial overlap between the seal 10 and the cage 12 while allowing the arrangement of the fingers 17 (see step 4, FIG. 2).

In particular, the distance d may be between plus or minus 10% of the axial dimension outside of all h _c of the cage 12 plus the axial dimension outside all hj of the outer seal 10.

In variant not shown, it can be provided that the displacement of the outer cage 12 is made by bearing on the outer seal 10, for example by means of fingers, said seal driving the cage during its displacement. This embodiment eliminates the space required between the outer seal 10 and the outer cage 12 for engagement of the fingers on said cage. In addition, the provisions of the outer cage 12 and the seal 10 are then made jointly.

In the cages 12a, 12b according to FIGS. 4 and 5, the axial dimension of the bead 16 is smaller than the diameter of the housings 14. This embodiment makes it possible, when the cage 12 is disposed in the running space, to prevent the protrusion 16 interferes with the outer span 8 during rotation. Indeed, the base portion of the body, which is arranged facing the outer surface 8, has a diameter H2 greater than that H1 of the bead 16 and greater than the diameter H of the outer surface 8.

In the second variant shown in Figures 3 and 6, the body of the cage 12c has a frustoconical geometry converging on the inner side. In In particular, the projection 16 is formed on the end portion of each material bridge 15 by bevelling. The frustoconical geometry also makes it possible to overcome an interference between the cage 12 and the outer surface 8 during the rotation of the bearing. In addition, the base portion 20 of the material bridges also has a stall of maximum diameter H2.

In step 5, the inner cage 13 is disposed in the inner row 5b of rolling bodies 6. The inner cage 13 shown in Figure 1 has the same cylindrical geometry as that of the outer cage 12. Alternatively, it can be provided an inner cage of different geometry from that of the outer cage, for example cylindrical in the case of a frustoconical outer cage. In addition, the inner cage may comprise an inner bearing according to the invention, or not to include such a range.

Step 6 represents the various checks and the lubrication of the running space which is prior to the step 7 of moving the outer seal 10 and the step 8 of the arrangement of the inner seal 11 facing the lateral faces of the path rolling respectively external and internal.

Claims

1. A method of mounting a rolling bearing comprising an inner member (1) and an outer member (2), said members each comprising two adjacent raceways (4a, 4b, 7a, 7b) which are disposed opposite two in two so as to form two raceways in which respectively a row (5a, 5b) of rolling bodies (6) is arranged so as to allow the relative rotation of one member with respect to the other, the rolling bodies ( 6) of each row (5a, 5b) being held equidistantly by respectively a retention cage (12, 13), the inner member (1) comprising, from the external to the inside: a radial flange (2) an outer annular bearing surface (8) of diameter H, the raceways (4a, 4b) and an inner part (9) having a maximum outside diameter which is less than or equal to the diameter H, said method comprising the steps of: provide an outer cage (12) having an inner bearing (16) of diameter H1 less than or equal to diameter H;

arranging the outer cage (12) around the inner part of the inner member (1);

- Relatively move the outer cage (12) relative to the inner member (1) to the outer span (8);

- Make a fitting of the inner bearing (16) of the cage (12) on the outer surface (8) of the inner member (1) so as to temporarily secure said cage on said member;

- Have the outer member (7) around the inner member (1) with the rolling tracks (4a, 4b, 7a, 7b) opposite;

- Introducing the rolling bodies (6) in the raceways by eccentricity of the outer member (7) relative to the inner member (1);

- Recenter the outer member (7) and distribute the rolling bodies (6) in each of the raceways; - Move the outer cage (12) from the outer surface (8) in the outer row (5a) of rolling bodies (6), so as to ensure the retention of said rolling bodies;

arranging the inner cage (13) in the inner row (5b) of rolling bodies (6).

2. Mounting method according to claim 1, wherein, prior to the arrangement of the outer cage (12) around the inner member (1), an outer seal (10) is moved around said inner member, from the inner part against the inner face of the flange (2), the method further providing, after the displacement of the outer cage (12) in the row (5a) of rolling bodies (6), to move the outer seal (10). ) facing the lateral face of the outer raceway so as to seal the outer side of the running space.

3. Mounting method according to claim 2, wherein the outer seal (10) is arranged to come into rubbing contact on the outer annular bearing surface (8).

4. A method of assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, after the introduction of rolling bodies (6), an inner seal (11) is disposed opposite the side face of the path of internal bearing so as to seal the inner side of the running space.

5. Mounting method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the displacement of the outer cage (12) in the row of rolling bodies is achieved by means of a tool comprising support fingers (17). on the outer cage (12).

6. Mounting method according to claim 5, wherein the fingers (17) bear on an outer face (19) of the cage (12).

7. Mounting method according to claim 5, wherein the fingers (17) bear on an outer shoulder (18) provided for this purpose on the periphery of the cage (12).

8. Retention cage (12) for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, comprising an annular body provided with housings (14) for receiving the rolling bodies (6), the inner face of said body comprising a projection (16) of inner diameter H1, said projection forming a fitting surface of said cage on a range of diameter H greater than or equal to the diameter H1.

9. Retention cage according to claim 8, characterized in that the body has a cylindrical geometry.

10. Retention cage according to claim 9, characterized in that the recesses (14) are separated by material bridges (15), the projection being formed by a bead (16) provided on each of the material bridges (15). so as to form a discontinuous annular bead.

11. Retention cage according to claim 8, characterized in that the body has a frustoconical geometry converging on the inner side.

Retention cage according to claim 11, characterized in that the housings (14) are separated by material bridges (15), the end portion of each material bridge (15) being bevelled so as to form a projection (16). ).

13. Retention cage according to any one of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that the projection (16) is provided near the inner side face of the body.

14. Retention cage according to any one of claims 8 to 13, characterized in that the periphery of the cage comprises an outer shoulder (19).

A rolling bearing mounted according to the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, said bearing comprising an inner member (1) and an outer member (7), said members each comprising two raceways (4a, 4b, 7a, 7b) which are arranged facing each other in pairs so as to form two raceways in which respectively a row (5a, 5b) of rolling bodies (6) is arranged so as to allow the relative rotation of a member by relation to the other, the inner organ (1) comprising the external to the internal: a radial flange (2), an outer annular bearing surface (8) of diameter H, the rolling tracks (4a, 4b) and an inner portion (9) having a maximum outside diameter which is smaller than or equal to the diameter H, said bearing further comprising a retention cage (12) according to any one of claims 7 to 14, said cage now being equidistant from the rolling bodies (6) of the outer row (5a).

16. Rolling bearing according to claim 15, characterized in that it further comprises an internal retention cage (13) maintaining equidistant rolling bodies (6) of the inner row (5b).

17. Rolling bearing according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that the axial dimension of the projection (16) is smaller than the diameter of the housing (14).

18. Rolling bearing according to any one of claims 15 to 17, characterized in that the diameter H1 is strictly between 0.95 H and H.

19. Roller bearing according to any one of claims 15 to 18, characterized in that the outer diameter of the flange (2) is greater than the diameter H.

Rolling bearing according to any one of claims 15 to 19, characterized in that it further comprises an outer seal (10) which is arranged facing the lateral face of the outer raceway so that sealing the inner side of the running space, said seal being in rubbing contact on the outer annular bearing surface (8).

21. Rolling bearing according to any one of claims 15 to 20, characterized in that the distance d between the inner face of the projection and the outer edge of the outer race is between plus or minus 10% of the dimension axial overall h _c of the cage (12), optionally supplemented with the axial overall dimension hj of the outer seal (10).

22. Rolling bearing according to any one of claims 15 to 21, characterized in that it comprises a rotating hub (1) on which a drive wheel of a motor vehicle is intended to be mounted via the flange (2). ), a fixed outer ring (7) of a bearing which is mounted on the hub (1) via the rolling bodies (6) so as to allow said bearing to be associated with the chassis of the vehicle, said hub comprising a bore in which a tripod joint is intended to be disposed.