Optimal design of self-retaining full complement cylindrical roller bearings

Abstract

Due to the presence of the ribs on both sides of the outer ring, the self-retaining full complement (cageless) cylindrical roller bearings have a very interesting particularity: the outer ring must be heated to create enough room between the already mounted rollers to allow the last roller to be inserted in the row. In addition, after cooling down, the rollers must support each other with a certain small clearance. For this reason, the internal geometry of the bearing as well as the precision of execution are more than critical. On the other hand, one of the most important problem in rolling bearing design is to establish the optimal set of internal dimensions in order to obtain the maximum value of the basic radial dynamic load rating. Pursuing this goal, in this paper, the optimal design of certain self-retaining cylindrical roller bearing is performed by means of the PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) algorithm. In this approach two design variables were considered (the roller diameter and the diameter of the inner ring raceway) and both geometrical and thermal constraints were taken into account. A study referring to the sensitivity of the design to the small variation of the geometrical parameters is also presented.