Effect of roller profile on characteristics of spherical roller bearing (Part 1) - Examination using a quasi-static analysis program

Spherical roller bearings can be put into two categories in terms of roller profile of the barrel shape; one is symmetrical and the other is asymmetrical. Both types of spherical roller bearings were examined to determine the effects of the roller profile on their bearing characteristics by using a developed quasi-static analysis program. This program considers six degrees of rollers, three degrees of inner ring and four degrees of guide ring in order to calculate contact pressure and energy consumption distributions as well as roller positions and orientations in detail. The numerical results showed that with respect to torque the symmetrical roller bearing is higher than the asymmetrical one under sufficiently lubricated condition, however lower than it under insufficiently lubricated condition.