MAINTENANCE-FREE BEARING WITH TOLERANCE COMPENSATION PROPERTIES AGAINST WEAR AND MISALIGNMENT

• US 20110176757A1
• Filed: 01/19/2011
• Published: 07/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Pampus GmbH (Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA)
• Original Assignee: Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Pampus GmbH (Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA)
• Inventors: Oehrlein, Alexander, Heldmann, Joerg, Jaeger, Hans-Juergen
• Granted Patent: US 9,599,158 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 384/29
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 17/02 for radial load only
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 2226/40 with adhesive
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 27/02 Sliding-contact bearings
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 33/046 divided or split, e.g. half-bearings or rolled sleeves
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 33/28 with embedded reinforcements shaped as frames or meshed materials

Abstract

A system for elastically compensating for wear, thermal expansion and misalignment comprises a ring located between a housing and a pin in the bore of the housing. The ring has a backing layer, an expanded grid structure having a plurality of openings, a low friction layer penetrated into the openings of the expanded grid structure, and adhesive for bonding the backing layer, expanded grid structure and low friction layer together to provide elastic deformation of the ring between the housing and pin.

Claims

1. A system for elastically compensating for wear and misalignment, comprising:

a housing having a bore;

a pin located in and coaxial with the bore of the housing;

a ring located between the housing and pin in the bore of the housing, the ring comprising;

a backing layer;

an expanded grid structure having a plurality of openings;

a low friction layer penetrated into the openings of the expanded grid structure; and

the backing layer, expanded grid structure and low friction layer are joined together to provide elastic deformation of the ring between the housing and pin.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the ring comprises one of a bushing, a bearing and a tolerance ring.

3. A system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one layer of adhesive that penetrates through the expanded grid structure and immerses sides of the expanded grid structure to both the backing layer and the low friction layer.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the backing layer comprises one of steel, stainless steel and a plain steel alloy, and has a thickness in a range of 0.01 mm to 5 mm, the expanded grid structure comprises one of stainless steel, spring steel, aluminum, bronze, thermoplastic and ceramic material, and has a thickness in a range of 0.05 mm to 2 mm, and the low friction layer comprises a plastic compound with organic, inorganic, metallic or plastic fillers, and has a thickness in a range of 0.01 mm to 1 mm.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein the expanded grid structure comprises at least one of a stretched metal, expanded metal, metal alloy, plastic material and woven or nonwoven mesh, and the low friction layer is laminated into the expanded grid structure.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the expanded grid structure comprises a cut raw material sheet having rows that are deformed with cut strands that are twisted and form bulges in every row, and the bulges protrude out of a plane defined by the expanded grid structure.

7. A system according to claim 1, wherein the expanded grid structure has a wave-like configuration with strands protruding as bulges out of a plane thereof to form a pattern of waves and bow springs to provide elastic deformation under load.

8. A system according to claim 1, wherein the elastic deformation comprises a percentage of a diameter of the ring, and the ring is a split ring.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein the ring has a 10 mm diameter, the low friction layer compensates for 5 to 20μ

of elastic deformation, and overall the ring compensate for 0.1 to 0.2 mm of elastic deformation.

10. A system according to claim 1, wherein the ring provides sliding properties and tolerance compensation for production tolerances, clearance tolerances, torque tolerances, material differences, temperature expansion and contraction, load variation, dynamic behavior, and wear between components.

11. A system according to claim 1, wherein the ring provides at least one of radial and axial elastic deformation.

12. A system according to claim 1, wherein, when a force is applied to the pin, the expanded grid structure compresses in some areas and expands in other areas to compensate for wear and misalignment around a complete circumference of the ring.

13. A system according to claim 1, wherein the expanded grid structure is partially embedded into the low friction layer and portions of the expanded grid structure protrude from the low friction layer and contact the pin.

14. A system according to claim 1, wherein a geometry of the expanded grid structure is selected and patterned by dimensions of the openings with long way of the diamond (LWD), short way of the diamond (SWD), thickness, horizontal and vertical in-plane distance between adjacent openings, mesh openings, knot width and strand width versus LWD/SWD, and selection of a direction in which the expanded grid structure is laminated and deployed.

15. A system according to claim 14, wherein the ring is made stiffer by reducing a relation of transverse mesh opening to LWD, longitudinal mesh opening to SWD, increasing a strand thickness or knot width, flattening the expanded grid structure, increasing a thickness of a raw material sheet, and increasing a hardness or tensile strength of the expanded grid structure.

16. A system according to claim 1, wherein the low friction layer has smooth surfaces with no additional structure, and the expanded grid structure comprises a plurality of concave features that are compressible under load.

17. A system according to claim 1, wherein the low friction layer has an undulated surface with recesses that align with and are complementary to concave elements of the expanded grid structure.

18. A system according to claim 17, wherein the recesses face away from or toward the backing layer, and both the expanded grid structure and the recesses are compressible under load to provide elastic behavior in operation and compensate for wear and misalignment.

19. A system according to claim 17, wherein the ring has an original thickness, the ring deforms under load causing the expanded grid structure and recesses in the low friction layer to deform, and the ring self-adjusts to elastically compensate for the deformation and return the ring to the original thickness.

20. A system according to claim 1, wherein the ring has an original thickness, the ring wears under load and sliding speed between the housing and pin to reduce a thickness of the low friction layer, and the expanded grid structure self-adjusts to elastically compensate for the wear to return the ring to the original thickness.

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