2020 Volume 65 Issue 9 Pages 537-542
If the amount of lubricating oil in the rolling bearings can be reduced, the agitating resistance of the rolling bearing can be reduced, contributing to energy savings. However, reducing the amount of lubricating oil in rolling bearings reduces the EHL oil film thickness. As a result, the lubricating film may break, resulting in a short life due to heat generation. Therefore, it is important to measure the oil film thickness distribution under the starved condition. This paper introduces three methods that can measure the oil film thickness distribution using optical interferometry. The first is a single-wavelength measurement method, in which the brightness of the interference fringes is visually counted and the oil film distribution is measured. The second is a measurement method using hue, which measures the oil film distribution using the fact that the hue changes periodically as the oil film thickness increases. The third is a measurement method using three wavelengths, which is measured by using the difference in luminance value of the interference light of red, green, and blue. In addition, an example of measuring oil film thickness distribution of texturing surfaces by using three wavelength method will be shown.
