Separator for rolling element bearings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12429091-B2
Application number	US-202318457473-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2023
Priority date	Aug 29, 2023
Publication date	Sep 30, 2025
Grant date	Sep 30, 2025

Abstract

A separator for rolling elements of a bearing includes a body formed of a composite material and having a central pocket sized to receive one of a plurality of rolling elements, a first contact end to contact one adjacent rolling element and an opposing, second contact end to contact another adjacent rolling element. The composite material includes a mixture of a polymer base, reinforcing fibers and a lubricant, preferably, polyetherimide, short strand carbon fibers and molybdenum disulfide. The separator body is sized such that a first distance between a pocket centerline and the first contact end establishes a desired spacing distance between the rolling element within the pocket and the one adjacent one rolling element and a second distance between the centerline and the second contact end establishes a desired spacing distance between the rolling element within the pocket and the other adjacent rolling element.

First claim

I claim:

1. A separator for a rolling element of a bearing, the bearing including inner and outer rings and a plurality of rolling elements disposed between the inner and outer rings, the separator comprising:
a body formed of a composite material and having a central pocket sized to receive one of the plurality of rolling elements, a first contact end configured to contact an adjacent one of the rolling elements and an opposing, second contact end configured to contact another adjacent one of the rolling elements, the composite material including a mixture of a polymer base, reinforcing fibers and a lubricant;
wherein an amount of the reinforcing fibers in the composite material is between ten percent by weight and thirty percent by weight and an amount of the lubricant in the composite material is between one-half percent by weight and ten percent by weight.

2. The separator as recited in claim 1 , wherein the separator body has a centerline extending centrally through the pocket and the body is sized such that a first distance between the centerline and the first contact end establishes a desired spacing distance between the one rolling element disposed within the pocket and the adjacent one of the rolling elements and a second distance between the centerline and the second contact end establishes a desired spacing distance between the one rolling element disposed within the pocket and the another adjacent one of the rolling elements.

3. The separator as recited in claim 1 , wherein the separator body has a first surface and an opposing, second surface, the pocket extending between the first and second surfaces, the first surface being configured to be slidably disposed upon an outer circumferential surface of the bearing inner ring and/or the second surface being configured to be slidably disposed against an inner circumferential surface of the bearing outer ring so as to retain the separator disposed centrally about the rolling element disposed within the pocket.

4. The separator as recited in claim 1 , wherein the separator body has an outer perimeter providing the first and second contact ends, the outer perimeter being circular, rectangular or complex-shaped.

5. The separator as recited in claim 1 , wherein the separator body is a circular cylinder and includes an inner circumferential surface defining the pocket and an outer circumferential surface providing the first and second contact ends.

6. The separator as recited in claim 1 , wherein the separator body has a centerline extending centrally through the pocket, is complex-shaped and includes at least one of:
a first pair of contact arms extending outwardly from the first contact end, each arm of the first pair of arms being configured to be disposed against a separate axial end of the one adjacent rolling element such that the first pair of arms are configured to prevent rotation of the separator body about the centerline; and
a second pair of contact arms extending outwardly from the second contact end, each arm of the second pair of arms being configured to be disposed against a separate one of two opposing axial sides of the other adjacent rolling element such that the second pair of arms are configured to prevent rotation of the separator body about the centerline.

7. The separator as recited in claim 1 , wherein an amount of the reinforcing fibers in the composite material is about thirty percent by weight and an amount of the lubricant in the composite material is about five percent by weight.

8. The separator as recited in claim 7 , wherein the reinforcing fibers include short strand carbon fibers, the lubricant includes molybdenum disulfide and the polymer base includes polyetherimide.

9. The separator as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the reinforcing fibers include short strand carbon fibers; and
the lubricant includes molybdenum disulfide.

10. The separator as recited in claim 1 , wherein the polymer base includes polyetherimide.

11. The separator as recited in claim 10 , wherein the separator is configured to operate at a temperature of up to two hundred degrees Celsius without softening of the composite material.

12. The separator as recited in claim 1 , wherein the pocket is defined by an inner circumferential surface of the separator body and the separator has at least one cavity and/or at least one groove formed in the inner circumferential surface of the separator body, each cavity and/or groove being configured to contain a lubricant.

13. The separator as recited in claim 1 , wherein the annular body is formed from a tube formed of the composite material which has an outer surface machined to a desired outside diameter, an inner surface machined to a desired inside diameter and then cut to a desire axial length.

14. A method of forming a separator for a bearing having an inner ring, an outer ring and a plurality of rolling elements disposed between the inner and outer rings, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a tube of a composite material, the composite material including a mix of a base polymer, reinforcing fibers and lubricant;
machining the outer surface of the tube to a desired outside diameter of the separator and the inner surface of the tube to a desired inside diameter of a central pocket; and
cutting the tube to provide at least one annular body having a desired thickness of the separator.

15. The method as recited in claim 14 , further comprising the step of machining at least one cavity and/or at least one groove in the inner surface of the pocket.

16. The method as recited in claim 14 , wherein:
an amount of the reinforcing fibers in the composite material is between ten percent by weight and thirty percent by weight; and
an amount of the lubricant in the composite material is between one-half percent by weight and ten percent by weight.

17. The method as recited in claim 16 , wherein at least one of:
the reinforcing fibers include short strand carbon fibers and the lubricant includes molybdenum disulfide; and
the polymer base includes polyetherimide.

18. A bearing assembly comprising:
an inner ring having a centerline;
an outer ring disposed about the inner ring;
a number N of rolling elements disposed between the inner and outer rings and spaced circumferentially about the centerline so as to define a pitch circle; and
a number X of separators, the number X being equal to one half a value of N, each separator including a body formed of a composite material and having a central pocket sized to receive one of the number N of rolling elements and the number X of separators being disposed about every other rolling element around the pitch circle, each separator body having a first contact end configured to contact an adjacent one of the rolling elements and an opposing, second contact end configured to contact another adjacent one of the rolling elements, the composite material including a mixture of a polymer base, reinforcing fibers and a lubricant;
wherein the polymer base includes polyetherimide, the reinforcing fibers include short strand carbon fibers in an amount of between ten percent by weight and thirty percent by weight, and the lubricant includes molybdenum disulfide in an amount of between one-half percent by weight and ten percent by weight.

19. A separator for a rolling element of a bearing, the bearing including inner and outer rings and a plurality of rolling elements disposed between the inner and outer rings, the separator comprising:
a body formed of a composite material and having a cent

Assignees

• Skf Ab

Inventors

• Allison Bryan D

Classifications

• F16C33/6696 Primary

  with solids as lubricant, e.g. dry coatings, powder · CPC title

• F16C33/6614

  in recesses or cavities provided in retainers, races or rolling elements · CPC title

• F16C2208/02

  comprising fillers, fibres · CPC title

• F16C19/06

  with a single row or balls · CPC title

• F16C19/20

  with loose spacing bodies, e.g. balls, between the bearing balls · CPC title