Bearing Modules

Obstacles in Rolling Bearing Design and Selection

Bearings are the most frequently used machine element in power transmission. A poorly designed rolling bearing can quickly lead to damage of the bearing itself and the drive train. In the worst case, a chain reaction induces the total loss of your complete system. Detailed basic research works (for example PALMGREN, LUNDBERG, GAERTNER, see [1], [3] and [4]), introduced standardized formulas. These formulas enable engineers to properly design and select bearings in terms of carrying capacity by means of the bearings load spectrum. To calculate a reliable lifetime expectancy, the load spectrum must be as realistic as possible. However, due to unknown operational loads and complex interactions between the bearing and the system, the required representational bearing loads are hard to estimate. In addition, the demand on decreasing acoustic emission and detailed transfer path analysis is growing, which raises questions regarding the detailed rolling bearing dynamics and its influence on the system dynamics. To cover all these highly involved design topics confronting engineers required powerful tools for the dynamic roller bearing and system analysis.

To address the mentioned obstacles in Rolling Bearing analysis, Simpack offers the Force Element “Rolling Bearing”. This Force Element efficiently simulates all common types of rolling bearings by resolving the rolling element contacts under consideration of the inner geometry. On one hand, this approach takes the detailed transmitting behavior of a bearing into account, because it considers the non-linear stiffness characteristics, clearance and cross-coupling. The approach also covers the excitations generated by the bearing (for example due to rolling elements passing through the loaded zone). The high efficiency of this Force Element and the consideration of the transmitting and excitation effects of a bearing enable the engineer to generate realistic load spectra, which take the interaction of the rolling bearing with the complete system into account. In terms of carrying capacity, lightweight construction, and acoustic emission, this element makes the design and selection of the best bearing solution easier.