光ファイバセンサによる転がり軸受の転動体荷重測定法 : 第1報,静的測定(機械要素,潤滑,設計,生産加工,生産システムなど)

Abstract

An external load applied to a rolling bearing is distributed among the rolling elements. The conventional calculation of load distribution among rolling element already established assumes that the bearing races, shaft and housing are rigid except for elastic contact deformations at the individual contacts between rolling elements and raceways. In many applications, the bearing rings as well as the supporting structures can not be considered rigid, so that the load distribution is different from that predicted on the above assumption. It is known that a bearing fatigue life is affected by a load distribution. Thus accurate prediction of the bearing life requires the precise determination of actual load distributions. Several experimental methods to determine the load distribution of rolling bearings have been proposed so far. Their methods, however, can not provide dynamic load distributions while rolling elements make one revolution along the raceway. The objective of this study is to establish a more direct method than the other ones for determining rolling element load distributions not only statically but also dynamically. The method herein proposed provides the measurement of strains of rollers developed under an applied load by using an optical fiber strain sensor mounted on a roller of a measuring cylindrical roller bearing. The obtained strain data provides rolling element load distributions. This paper presents the method for determination of static load distributions.