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US 6,318,899 B1Granted
Non-lubricated rolling element ball bearing
AssigneeCeramic Engineering Consulting, Inc.
InventorGary Lewis Boyd
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An all-ceramic rolling element ball bearing assembly utilizes the superior compressive strength and hardness of ceramic materials over bearing steels to provide a point contact load bearing interface between the bearing balls and races that has no relative motion in the ball/race contact zone. Without the frictional heating of a curved-line contact bearing design, the all-ceramic bearing does not require the use of a friction reducing lubricant.
Claims10
A non-metallic high temperature ball bearing assembly comprising:
- a plurality of spherical ball bearings of uniform radius, the ball bearing being completely formed of a ceramic material;
- an outer race formed completely from a ceramic material and having a ball receiving groove formed therein, said groove being arcuate and having a radius greater than the radius of the ball bearings such that each ball bearing contacts the outer race at no more than two points, with the two points being positioned such that a plane intersecting the two points is parallel with an axis of the bearing assembly;
- and
- an inner race formed completely from a ceramic material and having a ball receiving groove formed therein, said groove being arcuate and having a radius greater than the radius of the ball bearings such that each ball bearing contacts the inner race at no more than two points, with the two points being positioned such that a plane intersecting the two points is parallel with an axis of the bearing assembly.
1 more element
A non-metallic high temperature ball bearing assembly comprising:
- a plurality of spherical ceramic ball bearings of uniform radius;
- a ceramic outer race having a ball receiving groove formed therein, said groove having a dimension such that each ball bearing contacts the outer race at no more than two points;
- a ceramic inner race having a ball receiving groove formed therein, said groove having a dimension such that each ball bearing contacts the inner race at no more than two points;
- and
- at least one of said inner and outer races being subjected to an axially directed pre-loading such that said pre-loaded race assumes single point contact with each ball bearing whereby each bearing contacts said inner and outer races at only three points.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.