Experimental Investigation and Thermal Analysis of Coupler-Rocker Ball Bearing

Ball bearings are widely used in many machineries and industrial applications. Thermal behaviour of oscillating ball bearings is unknown due to its complex pendulum-like motion and is discussed in this research. In this research, the effect of operating conditions of the oscillating bearing performing coupler-rocker motion on the heat generation is experimentally investigated and verified using mathematical model. For this purpose, a coupler-rocker bearing testing rig was designed and fabricated and the test bearing is splash-lubricated in an oil sump. The loading of test bearing was done using two extension springs. The applied load on the bearing was varied from 0 to 750 N while the crank rpm was varied from 1200 rpm to 1800 rpm. Three lubricant grades were used namely, SAE30, SAE40, and SAE50. Experimental results showed that the temperature of coupler-rocker bearing approaches steady-state at about 12 minutes for all cases. The steady-state temperatures at variable conditions are observed to follow a linear trend.