Bearings – Linear bearing – Recirculating
Patent
1994-04-29
1995-08-29
Hannon, Thomas R.
Bearings
Linear bearing
Recirculating
384 13, F16C 2906, F16C 3366
Patent
active
054454557
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns a rolling bearing for linear movement of a carrier along a guide rail, said rolling bearing comprising pairs of rolling element circuits supported on raceways on the carrier and the guide rail, a head piece comprising a region for deflecting the rolling elements being arranged at each front end of the carrier, and at least one of said head pieces comprising a canal for feeding lubricant to the rolling elements.
Such a rolling bearing is known from DE-PS 0 120 093.
This document also shows a rolling bearing for linear movement comprising a carrier mounted longitudinally displaceably on a rail on four pairs of recirculating rolling element rows. The front ends of this generic type of rolling bearing are closed by head pieces. A canal for feeding lubricant to the rolling elements is provided in at least one of these head pieces. This canal is supplied with lubricant by a feed duct and a lubricating nipple.
The disadvantage of the pre-cited rolling bearing is that the lubricant feed canal in the head piece has no valve-like closures or apertures at its exit openings, and moreover, due to unevennesses in the head piece, this canal cannot bear in an absolutely leak-tight manner against the carrier so that undesired lubricant losses can occur. Such lubricant losses necessitate higher minimum amounts of re-lubrication of the rolling bearing, and in the most unfavorable of cases, they can cause discontinuities in the lubricant film so that higher wear and premature failure of the described rolling bearing is to be expected.
Moreover, the arrangement and the configuration of the lubricant canals concerned do not assure a uniform and reliable supply of lubricant to the intended points of lubrication of the rolling bearing in the different installed positions, i.e. a deficiency of lubricant would occur at first in the parts of the lubricant canals which are either furthest away from a central lubricant feed canal or situated in a region located in opposition to the direction of gravity.
The object of the invention is therefore to provide a rolling bearing of the type initially described in which the above-mentioned disadvantages are eliminated and in which particularly, independent of the installed position of the rolling bearing, only minimum amounts of re-lubrication are required to assure a uniform and reliable lubricant supply to the rolling bearing.
The invention achieves this object according to the characterizing part of claim 1 by the fact that a separate lubricant duct comprising radial openings for lubricant exit is inserted into the canal of the head piece.
By means of this separate lubricant duct, the head piece is sealed on the carrier with respect to escaping lubricant. Due to the valve-like configuration of the openings, the amount of re-lubrication required can be considerably reduced because lubricant is transferred through the openings only under pressure and thus an exit of lubricant under the action of gravity is prevented. Moreover, the lubricant feed according to the invention is independent of the installed position of the roller bearing even when low-viscosity oil is used as a lubricant.
Further developments of the invention are described more closely below.
The lubricant duct has a substantially U-shaped cross-section and its lengthwise end which forms an opening bears against the carrier via contact surfaces.
Such a U-shaped lubricant duct is easy to manufacture and its mounting on the head piece also does not present any problems.
The lubricant duct can be made of an elastic polymeric material or any other elastic material.
These materials are readily available and their shaping can be accomplished relatively simply.
It is likewise advantageous to make the lubricant duct out of a light-weight material.
By virtue of this material, and this can also apply to the other materials mentioned above, the total mass of the rolling bearing of the invention is only minimally increased.
The contact surfaces of the lubricant duct bearing against the carrier are configured as double
REFERENCES:
patent: 4730945 (1988-03-01), Luther et al.
patent: 4743124 (1988-05-01), Blaurock
patent: 4850720 (1989-07-01), Osawa
patent: 4886374 (1989-12-01), Osawa
patent: 4988215 (1991-01-01), Osawa
Hannon Thomas R.
INA Walzlager Schaeffler KG
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