Bearing assembly with inner ring and lubrication therefor

An inner ring of a bearing assembly comprising a ring body configured to be disposed radially inwardly of an outer ring of the bearing assembly and cooperating therewith to form a roller volume configured for receiving roller bearing elements allowing relative rotational motion between the outer ring and the inner ring, the inner ring having opposed axial faces and including axial slots formed in, extending axially along and circumferentially spaced around an inner circumferential surface of the ring body, each said axial slots extending axially to openings into the opposed axial faces of the inner ring and communicating with a respective partial circumferential slot defined in the inner circumferential surface and being in fluid communication with the roller volume through a respective passage in the inner ring, a first plurality of the axial slots having a radial depth increasing from a first of the axial faces to at least the respective partial circumferential slot, and a second plurality of the axial slots having a radial depth increasing from the second of the axial faces to at least the respective partial circumferential slot.

A method of lubricating a bearing assembly comprising:

• circulating a lubricating fluid axially and radially outwardly along a first plurality of axial slots in an inner surface of an inner ring of the bearing assembly to distally-located partial circumferential slots in the inner ring relative to an axial distance from a first axial face of the inner ring;
• and
• circulating the lubricating fluid axially and radially inwardly along a second plurality of axial slots in the inner surface of the inner ring of the bearing assembly to proximally-located partial circumferential slots in the inner ring.