DEVICE AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING A BEARING PRELOAD

• US 20140216172A1
• Filed: 01/28/2014
• Published: 08/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABet SKF
• Original Assignee: ABet SKF
• Inventors: Katsaros, Padelis
• Granted Patent: US 9,442,040 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/862.59
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 1/255 using acoustic waves, or acoustic emission G01L1/10 and G01L1/16 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 13/045 Acoustic or vibration analysis

Abstract

A device for determining a bearing preload of a rolling-element bearing includes an exciter configured to be attachable to a component of the rolling-element bearing and to excite the component of the rolling-element bearing and cause it to vibrate when the rolling-element bearing is not rotating, at least one vibration sensor configured to be attachable to the component or to a further component of the rolling-element bearing and to record (capture) a mechanical reaction, in response to the excitation, of the component or the further component of the rolling-element bearing, and an evaluating circuit configured to receive the sensor signal and provide an evaluation signal based on the sensor signal, the evaluation signal including information about the bearing preload. An associated method and computer program are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A device for determining a bearing preload of a rolling-element bearing, the device comprising:

an exciter configured to be connectable to a component of the rolling-element bearing and to excite the component of the rolling-element bearing and cause the component of the rolling-element bearing to vibrate when the rolling-element bearing is not rotating;

at least one vibration sensor configured to be attachable to the component or to a further component of the rolling-element bearing and to record a mechanical reaction of the component or the further component of the rolling-element bearing in response to the exciting, and to provide a sensor signal which includes information concerning the reaction; and

an evaluating circuit configured to receive the sensor signal and provide an evaluation signal based on the sensor signal, evaluation signal including information concerning the bearing preload.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the exciter is configured to excite, in response to a trigger signal, the component of the rolling-element bearing by an impact excitation having an excitation frequency spectrum.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the exciter comprises a mass biased (urged) by a spring element wherein the mass effects the impact excitation of the component of the rolling-element bearing in response to the excitation signal.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the exciter is configured to effect an excitation of the component of the rolling-element bearing, which excitation is tunable with respect to a frequency and/or an amplitude.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at-least-one vibration sensor is configured to be magnetically attachable to the component or the further component of the rolling-element bearing.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at-least-one vibration sensor is configured such that the sensor signal includes information concerning a frequency spectrum of the reaction.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein the evaluating circuit is configured to provide information concerning the bearing preload, which information is based on a frequency value which corresponds to a position of a reaction maximum in the frequency spectrum of the reaction or to a portion of the frequency spectrum of the reaction.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein the evaluating circuit is configured to provide information concerning the bearing preload, which information is based on a comparison of the frequency value to a predetermined frequency value or to a predetermined frequency range.

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at-least-one vibration sensor is configured to be attachable to a rolling element.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at-least-one vibration sensor is configured to be directly attachable to the component or to the further component of the rolling-element bearing.

11. The device according to claim 9, wherein the at-least-one vibration sensor is configured to be directly attachable to a lateral (side) surface of the rolling element.

12. A method for determining a bearing preload of a rolling-element bearing, comprising:

exciting a component of the rolling-element bearing in order to produce a vibration of the rolling-element bearing when the rolling-element bearing is not rotating;

recording a mechanical reaction of the component or a further component of the rolling-element bearing in response to the excitation; and

providing an evaluation signal based on the mechanical reaction such that the evaluation signal includes information concerning the bearing preload.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising providing the rolling-element bearing, and attaching the at-least-one vibration sensor onto the further component, wherein the further component is a rolling element.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the attaching of the at-least-one vibration sensor comprises a direct attaching of the at-least-one vibration sensor to a lateral surface of the rolling element.

15. A non-transient computer readable medium containing program code that when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform the method of claim 12.