Collar Having End-Side Teeth For a Drivable Wheel Hub

• US 20080148893A1
• Filed: 03/09/2006
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co.KG (INA-Holding Schaeffler GmbH & Co. KG)
• Original Assignee: Schaeffler KG (INA-Holding Schaeffler GmbH & Co. KG)
• Inventors: Niebling, Peter, Masur, Ernst, Fueller, Benno, Heiss, Ralf, Langer, Roland
• Granted Patent: US 7,857,520 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 74/434
• CPC Class Codes: B60B 27/0005 with ball bearings
• CPC Class Codes: B60B 27/0031 of the axial type, e.g. front teeth
• CPC Class Codes: B60B 27/0084 caulking to fix inner race
• CPC Class Codes: B60B 27/0094 one or more of the bearing races are formed by the hub
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 19/186 with three raceways provided integrally on parts other than race rings, e.g. third generation hubs
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 2326/02 Wheel hubs or castors
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 43/04 Assembling rolling-contact bearings
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 1/072 involving plastic deformation plastic welding F16D1/068
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 1/076 by clamping together two faces perpendicular to the axis of rotation, e.g. with bolted flanges
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/1987 Rotary bodies

Abstract

The invention relates to a collar, made form plastically deformed material, of a hub, said collar holding at least one inner ring of a wheel bearing unit on the hub in an axially fixed mariner, and end-side teeth, for engaging in a mating toothing, being formed in said collar.

Claims

1. A collar made from plastically shaped material of a hub, with which at least one inner ring of a wheel bearing unit is secured axially in a fixed manner on the hub and in which teeth for engagement in a mating toothing are formed at the end, the collar comprising:

the collar is formed from a hollow end piece, shaped radially outward over an edge of the inner ring, on the hub,

the end piece is formed in one piece with the hub,

the end piece points in the axial direction in its initial state before the collar is formed, and protrudes axially beyond the edge at the same time,

the end piece has, at least at the section at which it protrudes axially beyond the edge, an accumulation of the material of the end piece in the form of a radially thickened portion on the end piece.

2. The collar as claimed in claim 1, in which, before the collar is formed, the thickened portion protrudes radially inward from the end piece in the direction of the rotational axis of the hub and extends about the rotational axis.

3. The collar as claimed in claim 1, in which the thickened portion is formed on a free, axial end of the end piece which projects from the hub.

4. The collar as claimed in claim 3, in which the outer contour of the thickened portion drops away toward the end side of the end piece in the direction of the rotational axis.

5. The collar as claimed in claim 1, in which the collar is formed at least partially from the plastically widened material of the thickened portion which is placed over the edge and processed in a shaping fashion.

6. A collar made from material of a hub which is subjected to cold plastic shaping and with which at least one inner ring of a wheel bearing unit is secured axially in a fixed fashion on the hub, and in which teeth for engagement in a mating toothing are formed at the end, comprising:

the teeth are adjacent to one another at the circumference around the rotational axis and are aligned radially lengthwise,

the contour of the teeth is represented in respective sections, extending through the tooth head along the rotational axis, as a line segment, wherein the line segment delineates the respective tooth head at the end,

the shortest radial distance between the end points of the line segment is at least of precisely the same size, when viewed in an axial projection of the line segment, as half the maximum length of the respective tooth in the radial direction when viewed in an axial projection.

7. The collar as claimed in claim 6, in which the contour in the longitudinal sections:

is firstly described by a run-in contour, wherein the run-in contour extends radially from the tooth base outward toward the line segment rising over the rotational axis,

the run-in contour then merges with the line segment at a radially inner end point of the end points,

and finally the line segment merges with a run-out contour from a radially outer end point of the end points toward the tooth base, wherein the run-out contour extends from the end point rising over the rotational axis,

wherein the run-in contour and the run-out contour each end at the tooth base side at a sectional point at which the tooth merges with the hub.

8. The collar as claimed in claim 7, in which the radial distance between the radially outer end point and the radially outermost of the sectional points is at maximum as large, in the axial projection, as a third of the maximum length, considered in axial projection, of the respective tooth in the radial direction, wherein the length of the respective tooth is described by the distance between the sectional points.

9. The collar as claimed in claim 6, in which the teeth are of wedge-shaped design such that the geometric lines of an end toothing meet centrally at a common point on the rotational axis.

10. The collar as claimed in claim 9, in which the edges of the teeth (7) which are provided for engagement in a mating toothing are inclined at an edge angle greater than 20°

and less than 30°

with respect to a virtual pitch plane starting from the rotational axis.