Schaeffler Technologies Ag & Co .kg

Michael Turner

Brian Thomas Lee

Guihui Zhong

Marion Jack Ince

James Brown

Charles Schwab

Jesse Myers

Seth Claus

Richard Baker

William Carter

Lutz Kirbach

Mark D Sullivan

Robert Southam

James Westbrook

Jordan Miles

Benjamin McAuley

A bearing race encapsulation apparatus, which has a spring assembly integrated into a hearing that allows the hearing to compensate for varying expansions and contractions caused by differences in temperature. The bearing race encapsulation apparatus includes an outer bearing ring with an end face and an outer face with a indent formed in the outer face. An encapsulation ring, which has a retention element that is snapped into the indent of the outer bearing ring, a first segment that extends axially outwardly from the retention element, and a second segment that extends radially inwardly from the first segment. A spring is arranged axially between the second segment of the encapsulation ring and the outer bearing ring to compensate for the expansion and contraction.

Bearing race with integrated spring

A thermal compensation element which has an inner ring, an outer ring, and a washer. The washer is arranged within the inner ring and the outer ring is mounted over the inner ring, encapsulating the washer, which can be a split wave spring. The inner ring and the outer ring each have retention features to ensure they are retained relative to each other. The thermal compensation, which is positioned between a housing or a shaft, can account for variations in loading and/or temperature that may occur to a bearing and a shaft system when the shaft and an associated component are made of different materials and have different coefficients of thermal expansion by ensuring a proper axial preload is maintained on the bearing.

Thermal compensation element with wave spring

A rocker arm assembly which has an anti-inversion part that prevents a support pin from inverting and, thus, ensuring proper orientation of the support pin, on which a rocker arm is rotatably mounted, is maintained. The anti-inversion part can be incorporated on the support pin, the inner sleeve or the outer sleeve and/or a combination of the support pin, the inner sleeve and/or the outer sleeve.

Rocker arm assembly with integrated support pin anti-inversion feature

The bearing cage has a first flange, a second flange, and a plurality of cage bars extending between the first flange and the second flange so as to form and define outer boundaries for a plurality of pockets. The first flange and the second flange are each bent inward toward the pocket and then extend parallel in a vertical direction, forming a contact surfaces. The contact surfaces are in contact at each end of the rollers arranged in the pocket. The contact surfaces of the bearing cage present a large contact area between the ends of the rollers and the ends of the pockets where there is a lubricant film. Also, the surface of the contact surfaces is smooth.

Radial bearing cage with contact feature

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Fort Mill, SC, United States of America

Michael Turner