Friction loss optimized rolling bearing for the substitution of heavy- duty taper roller bearings

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Bernd Sauer
• Subject Area: Engineering Design, Machine Elements, Product Development
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 314523572

Rolling bearings belong among the most reliable and most used machine elements. They are used wherever relatively moved parts need to be supported or guided. Not only in the attempts of reducing the fuel-consumption and the CO2-output of any kind of vehicle, each rolling bearing system is thought over and optimized. Up to now for many applications rolling bearings with high frictional losses, e.g. tapered roller bearing, could be replaced by bearing designs with significantly lower frictional losses. Partly this could be handled with new types of bearings, which do show appropriate performance characteristics. As an example the standardly used tapered roller bearings in axle-gearboxes of passenger cars could be replaced by a new design of a double rowed ball bearing. However, for other applications there are no such solutions for reducing the frictional losses available. Among these belong e.g. axle-gearboxes for heavy-duty trucks (the named double rowed ball bearings cannot be used due to insufficient load bearing capabilities). As a possible concept for reducing the friction in such systems the Kegeltonnenlager can be named. This bearing design has been experimentally tested at the Institute for Machine Elements, Gears and Transmission and proven its functionality. The project aims to develop a new kind of bearing in a three-part project leading to reduced friction losses in heavy duty applications. At first theoretical basics will be settled. Then a simulation-based optimization of the geometry will be acquired. The final design then will be tested experimentally to prove the works performed.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants