Stiffness characteristics and experimental study of angular contact ball bearings considering the influence of rotational speed

Abstract

The angular contact ball bearings are widely used in various high-speed and precision rotating equipment because of support performance. The contact load of the inner and outer rings is changed because of the centrifugal force of rolling elements caused by high speed in the spindle system of high-speed and precision machine tools. The bearing stiffness changes due to changes in contact load the influence of centrifugal force and gyroscopic moment on the stiffness of angular contact ball bearings under high speed is considered in this paper. Based on the internal load distribution within the bearing and the force analysis of a single rolling element, the relationship between the forces on the bearing and the deformation of each rolling element is analyzed. Then the stiffness model for angular contact ball bearings is established. The stiffness tests were conducted under variable load and speed conditions. The correctness of the stiffness model is preliminarily verified, as the maximum error between experimental and theoretical results was less than 3%.