Ball Motion and Sliding Friction in an Arched Outer Race Ball Bearing

Abstract

The motion of the ball and sliding friction in an arched outer-race ball bearing under thrust load is determined. Fatigue life evaluations were made. The analysis is applied to a 150 millimeter bore ball bearing. The results indicated that for high speed-light load applications the arched bearing has significant improvement in fatigue life over that of a conventional bearing. An arching of 0.254 mm (0.01 in.) was found to be an optimal. For an arched bearing it was also found that a considerable amount of spinning occurs at the outer race contacts.