WO2008116440A2

WO2008116440A2 - Bearing comprising a cover element

Info

Publication number: WO2008116440A2
Application number: PCT/DE2008/000445
Authority: WO
Inventors: Michael Pausch
Original assignee: Schaeffler Kg
Priority date: 2007-03-23
Filing date: 2008-03-14
Publication date: 2008-10-02
Also published as: WO2008116440A3; DE102007014016A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a bearing for rotatably receiving an element (5) about an axis, said bearing comprising an inner ring element, an outer ring element and a stationary cover element (12), for example in the form of a bearing washer. According to the invention, the cover element is provided with an electrically controlled display element (4, 13) which can be accommodated in the bearing in a space-saving manner. In a special embodiment of the invention, the display element is an OLED display.

Description

Name of the invention

Bearing for supporting a body rotatable about an axis with a cover body

description

Field of the invention

The invention is in the field of storage technology, in particular the rotatable mounting of shafts by means of bearings, which are usually designed as rolling bearings. By means of a bearing, the shaft is to be guided, positioned and rotatably held with low friction, with further demands made of the bearing, in particular the durability, ie tribological

Characteristics of the rolling elements and the raceways, low abrasion and the ability to absorb even larger forces concern.

Such bearings are used in industrial applications, in motor vehicles but also in consumer products such as sports equipment (inline skates) in various forms. There are also various forms of cover bodies known for such bearings, which more or less encapsulate the corresponding bearings and on the one hand protect the bearing against penetration of dust or other undesirable substances, on the other hand prevent the escape of lubricants or abrasion from the bearing.

On the market, a variety of designs of rolling bearings are known, some of which are also provided with a cover plate.

DE 202005002491 U1 discloses in general a rolling bearing with an outer ring, an inner ring and a cage.

DE 102004052684 shows a bearing arrangement with a seal, wherein the seal exclusively closes off a rolling body space, but does not provide a larger area.

DE 102004052263 shows a shaft in a thrust bearing, wherein the shaft has at its end a flange which forms a bearing plate which seals the bearing.

From DE 102004037202 a bearing is also known, which has a final end shield as a protective element.

DE 102004037202 likewise discloses an axial protective cap for a bearing (compare FIG. 3 there).

DE 102004018074 likewise shows (compare FIG. 1) a bearing plate for the axial termination of a bearing for a shaft. Against this background, the present invention seeks to use conventional bearing designs for additional purposes, without changing the technical characteristics or to increase the space requirement.

In a bearing with a first, for example, inner, connected to a rotatable body annular body and with a second, for example, outer, connected to a support body annular body and with at least a portion of the bearing in the axial direction covering Abdeck bodies succeeds this according to the invention in that an electrically activatable display element is provided on the cover body.

Such a covering body can seal the intermediate space between the inner and the outer annular body as a bearing seal and optionally also completely or partially cover the inner and / or the outer annular body in the axial direction. The covering body can also only cover a fixed one of the two annular bodies and optionally protrude into the intermediate space. The cover body is advantageously formed fixed and fixed to a fixed component.

Display elements of the type mentioned are known and particularly space-saving designed as light-emitting diode displays, LCD displays or organic light-emitting diode displays. However, other forms of display elements can be used, which are designed to save space, especially with low height.

Such display elements can be arranged on the cover body without increasing the space required for the bearing. The corresponding cover body can be viewed in the normal operating state of the bearing or it may be necessary to remove further housing parts in order to see the display element can. In many everyday objects, such as inline skates, the corresponding cover body of the bearing can be permanently visible.

The display element can display useful information, such as a model designation of the bearing, technical information such as load capacity, maximum speed or the like, as well as current measured values if a sensor device is integrated.

It can also be provided that the display element is used as an advertising medium, for displaying a mark or as a design element.

The cover body may be formed in the form of a circular disk and, for example, the bearing completely, that is, cover both the inner ring body and the outer ring body and possibly arranged therebetween rolling elements.

It is also conceivable that the cover body only partially covers the bearing and has the shape of a circular ring.

In addition, the cover body may form a bearing plate or part of a bearing plate or be integrated in this.

The cover body, if it is a bearing for a rotatable shaft mounted on the outside, for example, be attached to the outer ring body or on the support body and thus fixed.

If it is a bearing for an annular rotatable body (tube shaft), wherein the inner ring body of the bearing is fixed, then the cover body can be attached to this or to the centrally located inside the supporting body. The cover body may carry a display element, that is, the display element may be on the outer surface of the cover, for example, by gluing or positively by plugging or clamping, be attached. It proves to be particularly space-saving, if plate-shaped or film-shaped display elements, as they are known from LCD technology or from the OLED technique, are used. The corresponding display element can also be introduced into a recess of the cover body in order to save space, possibly to arrange the display element protected and easy to attach.

It may also be provided according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, however, that the cover is formed by the display element, that thus a display element is made in a suitable shape to serve as a cover and to be attached to the camp can. This can be realized, for example, by means of display elements which can be produced by means of a printing method, as known in OLED technology. A corresponding display can thus be printed on a plastic base body, which serves as a cover and display element.

Advantageously, the display element is designed as a matrix display, by means of which in a known manner diverse information content can be displayed with the display element.

However, it can also be provided that only certain display states are provided and prepared in the display element.

If the display element has its own luminosity, it is also conceivable to use only these in order to make bearings visible, for example in a poorly illuminated environment. This can also serve, for example, in a device with a plurality of bearings to make certain bearings visible or to point them out, for example in the case of maintenance, when certain bearings have to be maintained, but others in their immediate surroundings are not.

For this purpose, for example bearings according to the invention may also be accessible via radio or other remote action in order to highlight certain bearings by color or illumination by means of a display element on command for maintenance personnel.

Advantageously and particularly space-saving, the display element can be designed as an organic light-emitting diode display, either with individual diode elements or in the form of a controllable pixel matrix. This display can also be multicolored in order to be able to display information content in a colorful manner.

In this case, the power supply for the display element can be integrated into the cover. This can be realized by a battery which can be accommodated in the cover element or by a miniature generator in which voltages are generated by the rotating parts of the bearing in a generator coil, which are made available for the energy supply.

Also, a drive unit for the display element may be integrated in the cover. Such a drive unit usually consists of a microchip which can be produced with a low overall height and can be fastened or integrated into a surface of the cover body. Corresponding electrical connections can be provided as conductor tracks on the surface of the cover body or integrated in these, or they can be provided on a film which is connected to the display element. Corresponding organic LEDs are usually produced from polymers, although the so-called SMOLEDs are also known, which are produced from "small molecules." Derivatives of PPV (poly (P-phenylene-vinylene) are frequently used as dyes for the polymer-made OLEDs). This allows the self-sufficient emission of light by fluorescence can be achieved.

More recently, the use of organometallic complexes has also become known, in which the light is generated by transitions of triplet states by phosphorescence.

Although in principle the use of LCDs, for example, is also conceivable for the invention, OLEDs offer the advantage that they can be printed on foils and other flexible substrates or also solid plastic materials of extremely small thickness. The OLED displays also need no backlight, as they can produce even colored light.

In addition, they connect a wide viewing angle range of up to 170 ° with high possible switching speeds, whereby the corresponding displays are also suitable for moving pictures. These can be used very effectively, but also technically meaningful, for example by the fact that in a bearing, as soon as this is moved, stylized rotating rolling elements are displayed, so that the state of motion is easily recognizable from the outside.

At the moment, OLEDs are still being improved in terms of their lifetime, with their luminance decreasing over time. In particular, due to the different lifetimes of the differently colored OLEDs, shifts in color values may result, although the estimated lifetimes are already on the order of 10 to a few hundred years, so that the corresponding displays can already be used without hesitation today. by virtue of The low cost can on the one hand compensated for changes by adjusting the control, on the other hand, if necessary, aged displays are replaced cost-effectively.

In order to protect the OLED display from the influence of moisture and oxygen that could destroy the organic material, encapsulation of a transparent material is necessary. The display is advantageous for this purpose with a transparent material, eg. As plastic or glass shed. This brings benefits for durability and stability.

The control of the OLED displays can be done via a so-called passive matrix with separate row and column control, in which case two lines are required for driving a pixel.

Larger displays would have to be optimally controlled with a so-called active matrix, wherein each pixel is driven via a semiconductor switching element, with additional control lines being necessary. However, this may be disregarded for the purposes of the present application in most cases when the respective bearings are not too large.

According to the invention, a sensor device which is connected to the drive device can additionally be provided on the bearing.

In this way, a measured variable which has been obtained at the bearing can be displayed directly on the covering body by means of the display element.

In this case, the sensor device may have, for example, a rotational speed sensor, a torsion sensor, a vibration sensor for recording longitudinal or transverse accelerations or bearing forces, or a temperature sensor. On the one hand, the rotational speed sensor can be designed as a frequency measuring device, wherein an additional evaluation device determines the rotational speed from the frequency according to predetermined evaluation algorithms or a counter can be provided which actually counts rotations by means of a proximity switch in the bearing and these relate to the elapsed time between them puts.

Torsion sensors are known per se and can be designed in many variations.

Also, temperature sensors are known in various designs and can be integrated into a space-saving storage.

In addition, an evaluation device can also be connected to the sensor device and the activation device, in order to also make it possible to derive derived variables by means of the display element. For example, the state of wear can be estimated via speed measurements and temperature measurements as well as measurements of the operating times of the bearing in the bearing itself.

It can also be the temperature development in the camp by itself already for the assessment of the state of wear be sufficient if, for example, despite constant rotational speeds, the storage temperature increases in trend.

The storage temperature or the state of wear can be made recognizable, for example by appropriate coloring on the display element.

The invention relates except to a bearing with a cover body, in which a display element is provided, also on a cover body for such a bearing and on a correspondingly designed display element. In addition, the invention relates to a bearing for supporting a rotatable about an axis body, in particular a shaft on a support body with a first, connected to the rotatable body ring body and a second, connected to the support body annular body and with a sensor device with at least one sensor mounted on a portion of the bearing and with an OLED technology display element spaced from the bearing.

Even with such an arrangement, the display can be arranged to save space.

In the following, the invention will be shown with reference to an embodiment and described below.

It shows

Figure 1 in cross section a cover body with a display element.

Figure 2 in cross section a bearing assembly with a cover.

Fig. 3 is a view of the arrangement of Figure 2;

4 shows schematically the activation of a display element;

5 shows in cross section an OLED display element with a cover.

Fig. 6 shows an arrangement with a display element spaced from the bearing. Figure 1 shows in cross section a circular disk-shaped cover body 1 for a bearing, with a built-in this seal body 2, which can be pushed together with the cover axially on a bearing to seal it against dust and other environmental influences.

On the outer side 3 of the cover body 1, a display element 4 is embedded in this in the form of a flat plate.

The display element 4 can be designed as an LCD display element, but advantageously also as an organic LED display.

The illustrated cover body 1 is used in bearings at the end of a shaft to seal the bearing and to protect against ingress of dirt and leakage of grease.

FIG. 2 schematically shows a shaft 5, which is rotatably mounted in a bearing 6 about an axis 7. The bearing 6 has an inner ring body 8 which is fixed on the shaft 5, and an outer ring body 9 which is fixed to a support body 10.

Both the inner ring body 8 and the outer ring body 9 have a raceway on their mutually facing surfaces, which may be formed circumferentially cylindrical as a flat, circular sector in cross-section groove.

Between the inner and outer ring body 8, 9 rolling elements 11 are provided which may be formed as rollers or balls. The corresponding successive surfaces are tribologically designed according to the requirements of the bearing. On the outer ring body 9, a cover body 12 is attached in the form of a circular disk, which covers the space between the outer ring body and the inner ring body 8 in the direction of the axis 7 and thus shields against influences from outside of the bearing 6. It may also prevent the escape of grease from the bearing. The cover body consists of a metal-reinforced plastic body, which can be held as a bearing seal in an inner groove on the outer ring body or an outer groove on the inner ring body.

The cover body can also completely or partially cover the inner and / or the outer annular body. In principle, it can also be fastened additionally or exclusively to the outer ring body. For the invention, a stationary arrangement of the cover body is advantageous.

On the outer surface of the cover body 12, a display element 13 is provided, which is shown here only schematically.

Furthermore, sensors in the form of a temperature sensor 14 and in the form of a rotational speed sensor 15 are shown, which are connected via lines to an evaluation device. The lines are not shown and can for example be replaced by a radio link. In addition, force or vibration sensors 23 may be provided to measure longitudinal and / or transverse accelerations or forces acting on the bearing, for example by means of the piezoelectric effect or by other known measuring principles.

According to the invention, they can also be arranged with an evaluation device and a display unit within the covering body or on the covering body in the immediate vicinity of the bearing. 3 shows an end view of the shaft 5, the cover body 12 and a ring segment divided display unit with individual display elements 13. The display elements 13 may optionally be integrally connected to each other over the entire ring.

These are OLED displays, which may be glued to the cover body 12, for example.

In FIG. 4, the control of an OLED display 13 is shown schematically.

By way of example, a pixel 17 is highlighted, which is connected to a row driver and a column driver, each formed by a drive line. The corresponding control lines for all pixels are connected to a drive unit 22 which controls the pixels 14 statically or else with changing images in accordance with the desired display.

The drive unit can either generate a predetermined image or certain predetermined display contents or it can be fed by an evaluation device 16. This is connected to sensors 14 (temperature sensor), 15 (speed sensor) and 19 (torsion sensor) or to one of these sensors, which currently supply corresponding measured values from the area of the bearing 6.

On the one hand, the evaluation device 16 can ensure that current measurement parameters are displayed by the display element 13.

However, it can also use the integrated time measurement 20 to display corresponding trends of the measured values, and from combinations of the measured values, for example, calculate the wear load of the bearing and summate it over time. In addition, by means of the evaluation device 16, a fault condition of the bearing can be determined if, for example, the temperature exceeds predetermined limit values at a given rotational speed and thus can be concluded that bearing damage has occurred.

In addition, the evaluation device 16 can also communicate with a superordinated control unit which can address all the bearings of a larger mechanical device, with certain groups of bearings being addressed, for example, for maintenance purposes, and then a special display, for example simple lighting or flashing, appears on them to allow maintenance personnel to distinguish between the mentioned bearings.

In addition, by means of a display element 13 also simply an advertising content or the brand of the bearing manufacturer can be displayed or this can be done in temporal change with the display of corresponding measured values.

FIG. 5 shows schematically that a display element 4 shown on a cover body 1, if this is designed as an OLED, should advantageously be covered with an inorganic transparent layer 21, for example in the form of glass, for protection against corrosion. This prevents the penetration of moisture and oxygen, which could destroy the materials of the OLED display by corrosion.

6 shows a bearing arrangement with a temperature sensor 14 and a display 13, which sits on the bearing seal and for the sake of clarity is shown separately in a frontal view and in which the corresponding measured values are displayed with time resolution.

In summary, a useful display space-saving on the cover body of a bearing can be arranged by the invention. LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1 cover body

2 sealing bodies

3 outside of the cover body

4 indicator

5 wave

6 bearings

7 axis

8 inner ring body

9 outer ring body

10 supporting bodies

11 rolling elements

12 cover body

13 indicator

14 temperature sensor

15 speed sensor

16 evaluation unit

17 Biidpunkt

19 torsion sensor

20 Integrated time measurement 1 Cover 2 Control unit 3 Vibration sensor

Claims

claims

1. Bearing for supporting a rotatable about an axis body (5), in particular a shaft on a support body (10) having a first, connected to the rotatable body ring body (8), a second, connected to the support body ring body (9) and a fixed, at least part of the bearing in the axial direction covering cover body (12), characterized in that on the cover body (12) an electronically controllable display element (4, 13) is provided.

2. Bearing according to claim 1, characterized in that the cover body (12) has the shape of a circular disk.

3. Bearing according to claim 2, characterized in that the covering body (12) has the shape of a circular ring.

4. Bearing according to claim 1 or one of the following, characterized in that the covering body (12) forms a bearing plate.

5. Bearing according to claim 1 or one of the following, characterized in that the cover body (12) carries a display element.

6. Bearing according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the covering body (12) forms a display element.

7. Bearing according to claim 1 or one of the following, characterized in that the display element (4, 13) is designed as a controllable matrix.

8. Bearing according to claim 1 or one of the following, characterized in that the display element (4, 13) is designed as an organic light-emitting diode (OLED).

9. Bearing according to claim 1 or one of the following, characterized in that in the cover (12) a power supply for the display element is integrated.

10. Bearing according to claim 1 or one of the following, characterized in that a drive unit (22) for the display element (4, 13) in the cover (12) is integrated.

11. Bearing according to claim 1 or one of the following, characterized a sensor device (14, 15, 19) is provided on the bearing, which is connected to the drive device for the display element (12).

12. Bearing according to claim 11, characterized in that the sensor device has a rotational speed sensor (15).

13. Bearing according to claim 11, characterized in that the sensor device comprises a torsion sensor (19).

14. Bearing according to claim 11, characterized in that the sensor device has a temperature sensor (14).

15. Bearing according to claim 11, characterized in that the sensor device comprises a vibration sensor (23) and / or a NEN force sensor.

16. Bearing according to claim 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15, characterized in that the drive device (22) with an evaluation device (16) and this is connected to the sensor device.

17. Bearing for supporting a rotatable about an axis body (5), in particular a shaft on a support body (10) having a first, connected to the rotatable body ring body (8) and a second, connected to the support body annular body (9) by a sensor device having at least one sensor which is fastened to a part of the bearing, and a display element (13) based on the OLED technology, which is arranged at a distance from the bearing.