Ball bearing cage

• US 20180335085A1
• Filed: 10/19/2016
• Published: 11/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co.KG (INA-Holding Schaeffler GmbH & Co. KG)
• Original Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co.KG (INA-Holding Schaeffler GmbH & Co. KG)
• Inventors: Neukirchner, Jorg, Pausch, Michael, Hock, Tobias
• Granted Patent: US 10,451,112 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 19/06 with a single row or balls
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 19/163 with angular contact
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 2322/39 General build up of machine tools, e.g. spindles, slides, actuators in general B23Q
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 33/3843 formed as one-piece cages, i.e. monoblock cages
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 33/3856 made from plastic, e.g. injection moulded window cages
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 33/3887 Details of individual pockets, e.g. shape or ball retaining means
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/86 Optimisation of rolling resistance, e.g. weight reduction

Abstract

Cages for ball bearings are disclosed. In one example, a ball bearing cage includes two side rings interconnected by webs. Rolling element pockets, each of which may have a square basic shape with rounded corners, may be formed in a circumferential direction between the webs. The side rings, together with the webs, may form a guide contour of each rolling element pocket. The pockets may have four convex side contours between the corners thereof, and the side contours may point in a direction opposite to rounded portions in the corners.

Claims

1. A ball bearing cage, comprising:

two side rings interconnected by webs; and

rolling element pockets, each of which has a square basic shape with rounded corners, are formed in a circumferential direction between the webs;

wherein the side rings, together with the webs, form a guide contour of each rolling element pocket, which has four convex side contours between the corners thereof, the side contours pointing in a direction opposite to rounded portions in the corners.

2. The ball bearing cage as claimed in claim 1, wherein the webs extend radially further inward than the side rings.

3. The ball bearing cage as claimed in claim 2, wherein each rolling element pocket tapers radially inward.

4. The ball bearing cage as claimed in claim 3, wherein a height of the web, measured in a radial direction of the side rings, is at least 1.5 times and at most 2.5 times a side ring height, measured in a same direction.

5. The ball bearing cage as claimed in claim 3, wherein a width of the web, measured in an axial direction of the side rings, decreases from the outside inward.

6. The ball bearing cage as claimed in claim 5, wherein the width of the web at an inner edge thereof is no more than one quarter of a total cage width.

7. The ball bearing cage as claimed in claim 6, wherein the inner edge of the cage describes a rounded portion.

8. The ball bearing cage as claimed in claim 1, wherein surfaces of the web which face the rolling element pockets each describe a saddle surface.

9. The ball bearing cage as claimed in claim 3, wherein retaining projections of a rolling element pocket, which are arranged further in than the guide contour of the rolling element pocket in a radial direction of the side rings, are formed by two webs adjacent to one another in the circumferential direction.

10. The use of a ball bearing cage as claimed in claim 1 in a spindle bearing.