WO2016199781A1

WO2016199781A1 - Sliding bearing

Info

Publication number: WO2016199781A1
Application number: PCT/JP2016/066971
Authority: WO
Inventors: 関根　敏彦; 晃一森重; 圭介今川
Original assignee: オイレス工業株式会社
Priority date: 2015-06-10
Filing date: 2016-06-07
Publication date: 2016-12-15
Also published as: JP2017003006A; JP6496614B2

Abstract

Provided is a sliding bearing capable of exhibiting good sliding properties for a long period of time. A sliding bearing (1) is configured so that an annular load transmission surface (27) is formed on an upper case (2), a plurality of annularly arranged mounting holes (331) are formed in a lower case (3), and a circular cylindrical bearing piece (4) is mounted in each of the mounting holes (331) so that one end surface (40) of the bearing piece (4) slides on the load transmission surface (27) and the other end surface (41) thereof slides on the bottom surface (332) of the mounting hole (331). The diameter of the mounting holes (331) is set to be greater than the outer diameter of the bearing pieces (4), and the bottom surfaces (332) of the mounting holes (331) and the other end surfaces (41) of the bearing pieces (4), the other end surfaces (41) sliding on the bottom surfaces (332), are formed in a spherical shape. As a result, the one end surface (40) of each of the bearing pieces (4), which slides on the load transmission surface (27), can be aligned corresponding to the load transmission surface (27).

Description

Plain bearing

The present invention relates to a sliding bearing that supports a load to be supported, and particularly to a sliding bearing that supports a load applied to a shaft member while allowing the shaft member to rotate.

A strut suspension (MacPherson strut) used for the front wheels of automobiles has a structure in which a coil spring is combined with a strut assembly having a piston rod and a hydraulic shock absorber. Rotate. For this reason, in order to allow smooth rotation of the strut assembly, a bearing is usually disposed between the upper mount, which is a mechanism for attaching the strut assembly to the vehicle body, and the upper spring seat, which is a spring seat at the upper end of the coil spring. Has been.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a sliding bearing made of synthetic resin as a bearing for a strut suspension. This plain bearing is composed of a synthetic resin upper case attached to the upper mount side, a synthetic resin lower case attached to the upper spring seat side and rotatably combined with the upper case, and the upper case and the lower case. And an annular center plate made of a synthetic resin, which is disposed in an annular space formed by combination and realizes smooth rotation between the upper case and the lower case. Here, a bearing surface is formed on the surface of the center plate. The upper case has an annular load transmission surface that slides on a bearing surface formed on the surface of the center plate.

The sliding bearing with the above configuration realizes smooth rotation between the upper case and the lower case by sliding the load transmission surface of the upper case and the bearing surface of the center plate. The load applied to the strut suspension is supported by the bearing surface of the center plate via the load transmission surface of the upper case.

JP 2009-257516 A

Generally, in a strut suspension used for a front wheel of an automobile, a strut shaft and a kingpin shaft (load input shaft) are displaced from each other, thereby generating a rotational moment in the strut suspension. This rotational moment acts on the bearing disposed between the upper mount and the upper spring seat. In the sliding bearing described in Patent Document 1, this rotational moment causes a shift between the axis of the load transmission surface of the upper case and the axis of the bearing surface of the center plate, which is applied to the bearing surface of the center plate. Since the load differs depending on the position of the bearing surface, the bearing surface of the center plate is partially unevenly worn. Therefore, in the sliding bearing described in Patent Document 1, it has been difficult to maintain good sliding performance over a long period of time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a sliding bearing capable of realizing good sliding characteristics over a long period of time.

In order to solve the above problems, in the sliding bearing of the present invention, an annular load transmission surface is formed in the upper case, a plurality of annular mounting holes are formed in the lower case, A cylindrical bearing piece whose one end surface slides with the load transmitting surface and the other end surface slides with the bottom surface of the mounting hole was mounted. Then, the diameter of the mounting hole is made larger than the outer diameter of the bearing piece, and the bottom surface of the mounting hole and the other end surface of the bearing piece that slides on the bottom surface are made spherical, thereby sliding with the load transmitting surface. One end face of the bearing piece to be aligned can be aligned with the load transmission surface.

For example, the present invention is a sliding bearing for supporting a load to be supported,
An upper case that receives the load of the support object;
A lower case rotatably combined with the upper case;
A plurality of cylindrical bearing pieces arranged between the upper case and the lower case, and
The upper case has an annular load transmission surface,
The lower case has a plurality of mounting holes that are annularly arranged on a surface facing the load transmission surface of the upper case and have a larger hole diameter than the outer diameter of the bearing piece,
The bearing piece is mounted in the mounting hole of the lower case, and one end surface slides on the load transmission surface of the upper case, and the other end surface slides on the bottom surface of the mounting hole on the lower case. Move
The bottom surface of the mounting hole of the lower case and the other end surface of the bearing piece that slides with the bottom surface have a spherical shape.

Here, the sliding bearing supports the load of the support target applied to the shaft member while allowing the shaft member to rotate.
The upper case is attached to a mechanism for attaching the shaft member to the support target in a state where the shaft member is inserted,
The lower case may support a coil spring combined with the shaft member in a state where the shaft member is inserted.

In the present invention, a cylindrical bearing piece in which one end surface slides with the load transmitting surface and the other end surface slides with the bottom surface of the mounting hole is mounted in a plurality of annular mounting holes. A bearing that slides on the load transmitting surface by forming the hole diameter larger than the outer diameter of the bearing piece and forming the bottom surface of the mounting hole and the other end surface of the bearing piece that slides on the bottom surface in a spherical shape. One end surface of the piece can be aligned with the load transmission surface. For this reason, the load added to a some bearing piece can be disperse | distributed uniformly, and the uneven wear of a some bearing piece can be prevented. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to maintain good sliding performance over a long period of time.

1A, FIG. 1B, and FIG. 1C are a front view, a rear view, and a side view of a plain bearing 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of the plain bearing 1 shown in FIG. 2A is an enlarged view of a portion B of the plain bearing 1 shown in FIG. 1D, and FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of a portion C of the plain bearing 1 shown in FIG. 3A, 3B, and 3C are a front view, a rear view, and a side view of the upper case 2, and FIG. 3D is an upper case shown in FIG. FIG. 4 (A), 4 (B) and 4 (C) are a front view, a rear view and a side view of the lower case 3, and FIG. 4 (D) is a lower case shown in FIG. 4 (A). 3 is an EE cross-sectional view of FIG. 3, and FIG. 4 (E) is an enlarged view of a portion F of the lower case 3 shown in FIG. 4 (D). FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are a front view and a top view of the bearing piece 4. FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams for explaining the alignment function of the bearing piece 4.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

1A, 1B, and 1C are a front view, a rear view, and a side view of the plain bearing 1 according to the present embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of the plain bearing 1 shown in FIG. 2A is an enlarged view of a portion B of the plain bearing 1 shown in FIG. 1D, and FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of a portion C of the plain bearing 1 shown in FIG. 1D. is there.

The sliding bearing 1 according to the present embodiment includes a housing hole 10 for housing a strut assembly (not shown) of a strut suspension, and allows the strut assembly housed in the housing hole 10 to rotate. Supports the load applied to the strut suspension. As shown in the figure, the plain bearing 1 includes an upper case 2, a lower case 3 that is rotatably combined with the upper case 2, and forms an annular space 5 between the upper case 2 and the annular space 5. A plurality of bearing pieces 4 arranged in an annular shape and a lubricating grease (not shown) filled in the annular space 5 are provided.

The upper case 2 is formed of a thermoplastic resin having excellent sliding characteristics such as a polyacetal resin impregnated with a lubricating oil if necessary, and an upper mount (not shown) in a state where a strut assembly of a strut suspension is inserted. Attached to.

3A, 3B, and 3C are a front view, a rear view, and a side view of the upper case 2, and FIG. 3D is an upper case shown in FIG. FIG.

As shown in the drawing, the upper case 2 is formed on an annular upper case main body 21 having an insertion hole 20 for inserting a strut assembly, and an upper surface 22 of the upper case main body 21, and is attached to an upper support. 23, and an annular groove 25 formed on the lower surface 24 of the upper case body 21 and formed to be rotatable with the lower case 3 to form the annular space 5, with the lower surface 24 side opened and the upper surface 22 side closed. And an annular load transmission surface 27 formed on the groove bottom 26 of the annular groove 25 and slidably contacting the bearing piece 4.

In the groove bottom 26 of the annular groove 25, an annular convex portion 28 protruding from the groove bottom 26 to the lower surface 24 side is formed on the outer peripheral edge side of the load transmitting surface 27. The convex portion 28 surrounds the outer peripheral side of the plurality of bearing pieces 4 that are annularly arranged in the annular space 5. When a load is applied to the strut suspension, the lubricating grease filled in the annular space 5 is annular. It plays a role of preventing the space 5 from being pushed outward in the radial direction.

The lower case 3 is an insert-molded product in which a steel plate 6 as a reinforcing material is embedded in a resin molded body using a thermoplastic resin such as a polyamide resin, and the strut in a state in which a strut assembly of a strut suspension is inserted. The upper end of a coil spring (not shown) of the suspension is supported.

4 (A), 4 (B) and 4 (C) are a front view, a rear view and a side view of the lower case 3, and FIG. 4 (D) is a lower case shown in FIG. 4 (A). 3 is an EE cross-sectional view of FIG. 3, and FIG. 4 (E) is an enlarged view of a portion F of the lower case 3 shown in FIG. 4 (D).

As shown in the figure, the lower case 3 is formed on a cylindrical lower case main body 31 having an insertion hole 30 for inserting a strut assembly and an upper surface 32 of the lower case main body 31, and the lower case 3 is formed in the upper case 2. And an annular protrusion protruding toward the upper case 2 that is inserted into an annular groove 25 formed in the lower surface 24 of the upper case body 21 of the upper case 2 to form the annular space 5. And an annular dust seal 34 made of an elastic material such as urethane resin, and a flange portion 36 provided on a side surface 35 of the lower case body 31 and projecting outward.

An upper spring seat (not shown), which is a spring seat at the upper end of a coil spring (not shown) of the strut suspension, is attached to the lower surface 360 of the flange portion 36 in a state where the strut assembly of the strut suspension is inserted.

A plurality of mounting holes 331 for mounting the bearing piece 4 are formed in an annular shape on the upper surface 330 of the annular convex portion 33. A bottom surface 332 of the mounting hole 331 is formed in a spherical shape.

The dust seal 34 is for preventing foreign matters such as dust from entering the annular space 5, and as shown in FIGS. 2 (A) and 2 (B), the convex portion 33 of the lower case 3 is formed as an upper portion. A lip 340 that closes the gap between the outer peripheral surface 333 of the convex portion 33 and the outer peripheral side inner wall 250 of the annular groove 25 when inserted into the annular groove 25 formed in the lower surface 24 of the upper case body 21 of the case 2; A lip 341 that closes the gap between the inner peripheral surface 334 of the portion 33 and the inner peripheral side inner wall 251 of the annular groove 25 is provided.

The bearing piece 4 is formed of a thermoplastic resin having excellent sliding characteristics such as a polyolefin resin impregnated with a lubricating oil if necessary. The bearing piece 4 is mounted on each of a plurality of mounting holes 331 that are annularly arranged on the upper surface 330 of the annular convex portion 33 of the lower case 3, and is formed on the lower surface 24 of the upper case body 21 of the upper case 2. The load transmitting surface 27 of the groove bottom 26 of the annular groove 25 is supported.

5 (A) and 5 (B) are a front view and a top view of the bearing piece 4. Here, in order to make it easy to discriminate the shape of the bearing piece 4, it is displayed at a different scale (enlarged display) from the sliding bearing 1 shown in FIG. 1.

As shown in the drawing, the bearing piece 4 is formed in a columnar shape, and one end surface (upper surface) 40 is a load on the groove bottom 26 of the annular groove 24 formed on the lower surface 23 of the upper case body 21 of the upper case 2. The bottom surface of the mounting hole 331 that slides with the transmission surface 27 and whose other end surface (lower surface) 41 is annularly disposed on the upper surface 330 of the annular convex portion 33 formed on the upper surface 32 of the lower case body 31 of the lower case 3. 332 and slide. The outer diameter D2 of the bearing piece 4 is smaller than the hole diameter D1 of the mounting hole 331. The radius R2 of the other end surface 41 formed in the spherical shape of the bearing piece 4 is smaller than the radius R1 of the bottom surface 332 formed in the spherical shape of the mounting hole 331. For this reason, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, one end face 40 of the bearing piece 4 that slides with the load transmission surface 27 can be aligned with the load transmission surface 27. .

In the sliding bearing 1 having the above-described configuration, the plurality of bearing pieces 4 are mounted in a plurality of mounting holes 331 that are annularly disposed on the upper surface 330 of the annular convex portion 33 formed on the upper surface 32 of the lower case body 31. One end face 40 of each bearing piece 4 slides on the load transmitting surface 27 of the groove bottom 26 of the annular groove 25 formed on the lower surface 23 of the upper case body 21 of the upper case 2. Thereby, the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 are combined with each other via the plurality of bearing pieces 4 so as to be rotatable. In addition, since one end face 40 of the bearing piece 4 that slides with the load transmission surface 27 can be aligned with the load transmission surface 27, the load applied to the plurality of bearing pieces 4 via the load transmission surface 27. Can be uniformly dispersed to prevent uneven wear of the plurality of bearing pieces 4. Therefore, according to this Embodiment, the sliding performance of the sliding bearing 1 can be maintained favorable over a long period of time.

Further, the plain bearing 1 according to the present embodiment is provided in the annular space 5 formed by combining the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 with the groove bottom 26 of the annular groove 25 formed on the lower surface 24 of the upper case 2. An annular convex portion 28 that protrudes from the groove bottom 26 of the upper case 2 toward the lower case 3 is provided so as to surround the outer peripheral side of the plurality of bearing pieces 4 arranged in an annular shape. The convex portion 28 can prevent the lubricating grease filled in the annular space 5 from being pushed outward in the radial direction of the annular space 5 when a load is applied to the strut suspension. One end surface 40 of the bearing piece 4 that slides on the surface 27 can be more reliably covered with the lubricating grease film. This makes it possible to support the load of the strut suspension while allowing the strut assembly of the strut suspension to smoothly rotate over a longer period.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the gist.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, one end surface 40 of the bearing piece 4 that slides with the load transmission surface 27 is formed flat, and this end surface 40 is a bearing that slides with the bottom surface 332 of the mounting hole 331. Similarly to the other end face 41 of the piece 4, it may be formed in a spherical shape. By doing in this way, the load applied to the plurality of bearing pieces 4 via the load transmission surface 27 can be more uniformly distributed, and uneven wear of the plurality of bearing pieces 4 can be prevented. Further, for each of the plurality of bearing pieces 4 mounted in the plurality of mounting holes 331 arranged in an annular shape, the spherical end surface 40 makes point contact with the load transmission surface 27 at a position displaced from the apex (axis O). Thereby, it can rotate around the axis O in the mounting hole 331 (see FIGS. 6A and 6B), and the rotation between the upper case 2 and the lower case 3 can be made smooth. Therefore, the sliding performance of the sliding bearing 1 can be improved.

In the above embodiment, the mounting surface 23 formed on the upper surface 22 of the upper case body 21 of the upper case 2 is perpendicular to the strut shaft of the strut suspension. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The angle of the mounting surface 23 of the upper case 2 with respect to the strut shaft of the strut suspension may be appropriately determined according to the performance required for the vehicle. For example, the mounting surface 23 of the upper case 2 may be inclined with respect to the strut shaft of the strut suspension.

In the above embodiment, the upper spring seat that supports the upper end portion of the coil spring of the strut suspension is attached to the lower surface 360 of the flange portion 36 of the lower case 3. The lower surface 360 itself may function as an upper spring seat.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is widely applied to a sliding bearing that supports a load to be supported, and particularly to a sliding bearing that supports a load applied to the shaft member while allowing the shaft member to rotate in various mechanisms including a strut suspension. Is possible.

1: sliding bearing, 2: upper case, 3: lower case, 4: bearing piece, 5: annular space, 6: steel plate, 10: accommodation hole for sliding bearing 1, 20: insertion hole for upper case 2, 21: Upper case body, 22: upper surface of upper case body, 23: mounting surface of upper case body 21, 24: lower surface of upper case body 21, 25: annular groove of upper case body 21, 26: groove bottom of annular groove 25, 27: Load transmission surface, 28: Annular projection of annular groove 25, 30: Insertion hole of lower case 3, 31: Lower case body, 32: Upper surface of lower case body 31, 33: Annular shape of lower case body 31 Convex part 34: Dust seal 35: Side surface of the lower case body 31 36: Franc of the lower case body 31 Part: 37: lower surface of the lower case body 31; 40, 41: end face of the bearing piece 4; 250: inner wall on the outer peripheral side of the annular groove 25; 251: inner wall on the inner peripheral side of the annular groove 25; Upper surface, 331: mounting hole, 332: bottom surface of mounting hole 331, 333: outer peripheral surface of annular convex portion 33, 334: inner peripheral surface of annular convex portion 33, 340, 341: lip of dust seal 34, 360: flange Back side of part 36

Claims

A sliding bearing that supports a load to be supported,
An upper case that receives the load of the support object;
A lower case rotatably combined with the upper case;
A plurality of cylindrical bearing pieces arranged between the upper case and the lower case, and
The upper case has an annular load transmission surface,
The lower case has a plurality of mounting holes that are annularly arranged on a surface facing the load transmission surface of the upper case and have a larger hole diameter than the outer diameter of the bearing piece,
The bearing piece is mounted in the mounting hole of the lower case, and one end surface slides on the load transmission surface of the upper case, and the other end surface slides on the bottom surface of the mounting hole on the lower case. Move
The bottom surface of the mounting hole of the lower case and the other end surface of the bearing piece that slides on the bottom surface have a spherical shape.
The sliding bearing according to claim 1,
The other end surface of the bearing piece has a spherical shape having a smaller diameter than the bottom surface of the mounting hole of the lower case that slides with the end surface.
The sliding bearing according to claim 1 or 2,
One end surface of the bearing piece that slides with the load transmitting surface of the upper case has a spherical shape.
A sliding bearing according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The sliding bearing supports the load of the support target applied to the shaft member while allowing the shaft member to rotate.
The upper case is attached to a mechanism for attaching the shaft member to the support target in a state where the shaft member is inserted,
The lower bearing supports a coil spring combined with the shaft member in a state in which the shaft member is inserted.