Experimental and theoretical investigations of heat generation in radial ball bearing

Abstract

The purpose of a radial ball bearing (RBB) is to support radial loads and to reduce the rotational friction. However, during its operating conditions, an unanticipated and vicious heating of balls in RBB takes place which results in the degradation of its performance as well as accuracy. For this reason, it is important to calculate the heat generation in the bearings because if generated heat is not dissipated from the bearing surface, it causes a temperature rise in the inner race and gives rise to premature failure. In the present work, experimentally, heat generation is calculated by varying the bearing failure parameters such as external load, load position, and rotational speed. Furthermore, a theoretical model is proposed for estimation of heat generation in the RBB. Later, a correlation between the experimental and theoretical model is carried out. Ultimately, the proposed model demonstrates better in estimating heat generation up to 0.45 m of load position without cooling condition. On the other hand, the predicted heat generation above 1.8 N of the external load has a minimal deviation with experimental values at with cooling condition. A better agreement is observed between experimental results and the theoretical model.