On the Behaviour of Rollers in a Cylindrical Roller Bearing

Abstract

It has been considered that each roller in a cylindrical roller bearing performs both 2-dimensional planetary motion (i.e. rotation and revolution), and 3-dimensional skewing action. This behaviour, along with many other factors, affect the bearing characteristics such as running noise, friction and etc. To study the relations between roller motion and such characteristics, rotation and revolution of rollers are observed and photographed by stroboscope. In case of comparatively large radial clearance, a roller in the unloaded zone travels being guided by the raceway of outer race and retainer pocket and continues to decrease its rotational speed until it comes into the loaded zone. This behaviour of the roller can be explained by the theory introduced in this paper. For a small or negative radial clearance, rotation and revolution of each roller is always in good agreement with the conventional theory since there is no slip between rollers and races.