JP2006200677A - Thrust ball bearing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To utilize low rotation torque and low manufacturing costs of a thrust ball bearing as a merit at a location required thrust load by improving a loading capacity against thrust load in place of a thrust roller bearing. <P>SOLUTION: A radial multi-row raceway grooves 12b, 12c, 14b, and 14c are arranged on respective opposite faces of two sets of first and second annular raceways 12 and 14 oppositely arranged in a radial direction, and a plurality of balls 16a and 16b are arranged among these multi-row raceway grooves. These balls are retained in each row by a retainer 18, and these balls in each row are arranged between respective raceway grooves with a designated contact angle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a thrust ball bearing incorporated in various auxiliary machines of automobiles, and generally in general industrial machines.

Thrust bearings include thrust roller bearings and thrust ball bearings.
The thrust roller bearing has a large load capacity (thrust load capacity) against the thrust load (axial load) because the rolling element is a roller. An improved thrust roller bearing is also provided (see Patent Document 1). However, in the case of a thrust roller bearing, although the load bearing capacity in the thrust direction is high as described above, since the rolling element is a roller, the rotational torque is large, and it is difficult to manufacture with high accuracy and the manufacturing cost is high. Furthermore, there is a problem that there is no load capacity for radial loads (load load capacity in the radial direction).

In the case of a thrust ball bearing, the rolling element is a ball, so the rotational torque is small, and it is easy to manufacture with high accuracy and the manufacturing cost is low. Low. For this reason, it is difficult to use a portion that requires a load bearing capacity in the thrust direction, and a thrust roller bearing that requires a large rotational torque and high manufacturing cost has to be used in such a portion.
JP 2000-240645 A

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is that in the thrust ball bearing, the load bearing capacity in the thrust direction is increased, and the rotational torque is smaller and the rotational torque and the manufacturing cost are lower than those of the thrust roller bearing. It is to be able to take advantage of the advantages.

  The thrust ball bearing according to the present invention is provided with raceway grooves in radial multiple rows on the mutually facing surfaces of two annular races arranged opposite to each other in the axial direction, and held in a cage between the multiple rows of raceway grooves. The plurality of balls are arranged with a contact angle.

  According to the present invention, unlike thrust roller bearings in which the rolling elements are rollers, even if balls are arranged in multiple rows in the radial direction, it is possible to keep the rotational torque low at a low manufacturing cost. The load bearing capacity in the thrust direction, which is inferior, can be easily increased by setting the number of rows of balls at the same level as or more than the thrust roller bearing with low production cost and low rotational torque. Become. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily use a thrust ball bearing instead of the thrust roller bearing even in a portion where a load bearing capacity in the thrust direction is required, and the rotational torque is smaller than that of the thrust roller bearing. In addition, the advantages of low rotational torque and low manufacturing costs can be utilized effectively.

  In the above case, by setting the contact angle to the front combination etc. so that the raceway groove of at least one race is an angular type, the load bearing capacity in the radial direction (rigidity in the radial direction) is improved and the radial direction is increased. Positioning accuracy can be improved.

In the above case, since the two races in the axial direction can be shared for forming the multi-row raceway grooves, they can be manufactured at a low cost regardless of the multi-row.
In the above case, the manufacturing cost can be further reduced by holding the multiple rows of balls in one holder.

  In the above case, the load capacity of the thrust load and the radial load can be set as the front combination, the back combination, and the parallel combination by setting the contact angles in the inner and outer radial grooves.

  According to the present invention, since the load bearing capacity in the thrust direction can be improved in the thrust ball bearing, the thrust roller bearing can be utilized by taking advantage of low rotational torque and low production cost compared to the thrust roller bearing. Instead of this, it can be used for a portion requiring a load bearing capacity in the thrust direction.

  Hereinafter, a thrust ball bearing according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a thrust ball bearing according to the embodiment, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the thrust ball bearing. In FIG. 3, the balls are not shown. In these drawings, for convenience of explanation, the upper direction is referred to as one axial direction and the lower direction is referred to as the other axial direction in the drawings.

  The thrust ball bearing 10 shown in these drawings includes two first and second races 12 and 14 made of an annular flat plate. The first race 12 is located on one side in the axial direction, the second race 14 is located on the other side in the axial direction, and both the first and second races 12 and 14 are parallel to each other in the radial direction. Oppositely arranged at a predetermined interval in the axial direction. The first race 12 includes deep groove type track grooves 12b and 12c in two rows in the radial direction inside and outside in the surface 12a facing the second race 14 in the radial direction. The second race 14 includes track grooves 14b and 14c in two rows in the radial direction on the surface 14a facing the first race 12 in the radial direction inside and outside. In addition, it can be set as the structure which made the shoulder part 14d between both the track grooves 14b and 14c of the 2nd race 14 like a virtual line.

  The plurality of balls 16a and 16b are disposed between the radially inner raceway grooves 12b and 14b and between the radially outer raceway grooves 12c and 14c of the first and second races 12 and 14, respectively.

Balls 16 a and 16 b arranged in two rows in the radial direction between the first and second races 12 and 14 are held by a cage 18. The cage 18 includes a plurality of pocket holes 18a and 18b in the circumferential direction in two rows in the radial direction. The cage 18 is composed of a single annular flat plate. In addition, although it is 2 rows in radial direction in embodiment, it can comprise in multiple rows beyond it.
Referring to FIG. 2, in the thrust ball bearing 10 described above, the raceways 12 b and 12 c of the first race are arranged so that the balls 16 a and 16 b are in angular contact over the entire circumference of the raceway at a constant nominal contact angle α. The raceways 14b and 14c of the second race 14 are formed. As a result, each track is an angular type and has load-bearing capacity in both the axial and radial directions, so it can be used in place of thrust roller bearings even in parts that require load-bearing capacity in the radial direction. This makes it possible to effectively utilize the low rotational torque and the low manufacturing cost, which are the advantages of thrust ball bearings. In addition, the radially inward and outer action lines La and Lb forming the contact angle α are a front combination (DF) in which the front faces of each other are opposed to each other in the axial direction opposite to each other, and the rigidity in the radial direction is improved. The positioning accuracy in the radial direction (centering accuracy in the radial direction) is improved.

  In the embodiment described above, since the balls are arranged in multiple rows in the radial direction, the load bearing capacity in the thrust direction, which is inferior to that of the thrust roller bearing, by setting the multiple rows of balls, It can be increased to the same level or more, and it can be used in place of thrust roller bearings where thrust loads are required. As a result, low rotational torque and low cost production are the advantages of thrust ball bearings. Costs can be used effectively.

  A thrust ball bearing according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the case of this embodiment, the raceway grooves 12b and 12c of the first race 12 and the raceway grooves 14b and 14c of the second race 14 are both deep groove types. In this embodiment, similarly to the above embodiment, the load bearing capacity in the thrust direction can be set to be equal to or higher than that of the thrust roller bearing by setting the number of balls.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and includes various changes or modifications within the scope described in the claims.

It is sectional drawing of the thrust ball bearing which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is an expanded sectional view of the principal part of FIG. It is a top view of the holder | retainer of FIG. It is sectional drawing of the thrust ball bearing which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Thrust ball bearing 12 First race 12b, 12c Deep groove type raceway groove 14 Second race 14b, 14c Angular type raceway groove 16a, 16b Ball 18 Cage

Claims (2)

  The raceway grooves are provided in multiple rows in the radial direction on the mutually facing surfaces of the two annular races arranged opposite to each other in the axial direction, and a plurality of balls held by the cage are provided with a contact angle between the multiple rows of raceway grooves. A thrust ball bearing characterized by being arranged.   The thrust ball bearing according to claim 1, wherein the raceway groove of at least one race is set to an angular type.

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