Bearing, and management system and method for the same

• US 20060232425A1
• Filed: 05/13/2004
• Published: 10/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jtekt Corporation (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Jtekt Corporation (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Ueno, Hiroshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,659,818 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.800
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 19/184 in O-arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 19/52 with devices affected by abnormal or undesired conditions
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 2229/00 Setting preload
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 2233/00 Monitoring condition, e.g. temperature, load, vibration
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 2326/02 Wheel hubs or castors in general B60B
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 25/06 Ball or roller bearings
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 41/008 Identification means, e.g. markings, RFID-tags; Data transfer means
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 13/04 Bearings

Abstract

Installed in a ball bearing which supports a rotation axis (a supported part) freely rotatable are a control unit, a memory unit wherein specified bearing initial information proper to the ball bearing is stored, and a wireless tag equipped with a radio antenna and a transmission/reception unit which transmit/receive information between this memory unit and the exterior. Then, when the bearing motion information on the motion state of said ball bearing is input to the transmission/reception unit, the control unit has a memory unit which stores the motion information. By this, a bearing, its management system, and its management method wherein an appropriate information management is easy can be provided.

Claims

1. A bearing characterized by being a bearing which supports a supported part, And in which a wireless tag which transmits/receives information is attached.

2. The bearing described in claim 1 characterized by the fact that installed in said wireless tag is a memory unit which stores specified bearing initial information proper to the bearing to which said tag is attached.

3. The bearing described in claim 1 characterized by the fact that said wireless tag is attached to a surface side other than the bearing face which makes a contact including a rolling contact, sliding contact, or both to the support face of the supported part.

4. The bearing described in claim 1 characterized by the fact that said wireless tag is attached to the fixed-side member of the bearing.

8. The bearing described in claim 2 characterized by the fact that said wireless tag is attached to a surface side other than the bearing face which makes a contact including a rolling contact, sliding contact, or both to the support face of the supported part.

9. The bearing described in claim 2 characterized by the fact that said wireless tag is attached to the fixed-side member of the bearing.

10. The bearing described in claim 3 characterized by the fact that said wireless tag is attached to the fixed-side member of the bearing.

5. A bearing management system characterized by being a management system to manage a bearing, it is equipped with a measurement mechanism which obtains bearing motion information on the motion state of the bearing when said bearing moves, and a writer which writes the bearing motion information from said measurement mechanism to the memory unit of the wireless tag installed on said bearing.

6. A bearing management method characterized by being a management method to manage a bearing, by which bearing motion information on the motion state of said bearing is written to a memory unit of a wireless tag installed on said bearing when the bearing moves, and the written motion information is read out to analyze the motion of said bearing.

7. The bearing management method described in claim 6 characterized by the fact that when an abnormality is detected in said bearing, write operation of said bearing motion information in said memory unit is stopped.