An enhanced estimation on heat generation of angular contact ball bearings with vibration effect

Abstract Power loss impacting the thermal performances, operating precision and even service life of angular contact ball bearings has not been thoroughly addressed so far. Evidently, ignoring the effect of vibration on heat generation may be partly responsible for the difference. This paper devotes to the thermal estimation on angular contact ball bearings with vibration effect. The experiments about vibration effect on bearing temperature were first implemented. To explore the causes, the energy exchange in vibration was discussed and then the shaft-bearing system was simplified to a forced vibration model to analyze the bearing loads in vibration. Considering the contact stiffness and damping between balls and rings, the instantaneous force balance equations were built. Next, the vibratory-induced additional load and additional spin power loss of balls was proposed successively. The vibration-induced heat was integrated into a novel forecasting model of bearing power loss. For validation, the muti-node model for angular contact ball bearings was referred to create the thermal network of spindle front bearing, and then the contrast and discussion were done. The excitation force and vibration response, meanwhile, were also measured to validate the developed model further. With the help of improved heat generation model, the bearing temperature rise can be better forecasted.