Stiffness Optimization of Hollow Cylindrical Rolling Element Bearing Available to Purchase

Since being originally introduced, cylindrical rolling element bearings have been significantly improved, in terms of their performance and working life. A major objective has been to decrease the Hertz contact stresses at the roller–raceway interfaces, because these are the most heavily stressed areas in a bearing. It has been shown that bearing life is inversely proportional to the stress raised to the ninth power (even higher). Investigators have proposed that under large normal loads a hollow element with a sufficiently thin wall thickness will deflect appreciably more than a solid element of the same size. An improvement in load distribution and thus load capacity may be realized, as well as contact stress is also reduced considerably by using a bearing with hollow rolling elements. Since for hollow rolling element no method is available for the calculation of contact stresses and deformation. The contact stresses in hollow members are often calculated by using the same equations and procedures as for solid specimens. This approach seems to be incorrect. Recently, the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) has been successfully used to evaluate contact problems for the roller bearings. Investigations have been made for hollow rollers in pure normal loading. Different hollowness percentages ranging from 0% to 90% have been analysed in FEA software to find the optimum percentage hollowness which gives minimum stress and finally longest fatigue life.