Sealing elements for anti-friction bearings

Abstract: A seal assembly for anti-friction bearings in which inner and outer bearing races have raceways for rolling bearings, comprises seal cases (23,27) carried by the two races (11,13) respectively, and supporting respective seal elements (23,25) providing a space (19) therebetween for retention of a body of lubricant in position to create a barrier for blocking the ingress of contaminants from the exterior. One (25) of the seals is positioned to be exposed to the outside to have a lip (26) operative on the other seal case (27) to preclude the ingress of contaminants, and the other (29) of the seals is exposed to the bearing interior to allow lubricant to pass into the cavity (19) between the seals and also to assure the presence of lubricant to the interior of the bearing assembly.

Description: This invention is directed to anti-friction bearings and has a particularly useful but not exclusive application in relation to roller bearings, e.g. tapered roller bearings. Anti-friction bearings incorporate seals of various kinds for the purpose of retaining the lubricant while excluding contaminants, whereby the useful life of such bearings can be can be extended. In considering the prior art there is a big problem of selecting a bearing size that will accommodate the most effective seal for excluding contaminants while retaining the lubricant. Heretofore, bearings have been sized to accommodate seals that will best perform the requirements of lubricant retention and contaminant exclusion. In certain instances where bearings need to be small or down-sized there are limitations which must not be exceeded because of the need for space to receive an effective seal at each end of the bearing assembly. JP-A-1-21219 discloses a seal arrangement for a bearing, comprising inner and outer angle-section annular seal cases each consisting of a cylindrical part and a radial flange. The cylindrical parts of the two seal cases are mounted on the inner and outer race members of the bearing so as to face each other radially and the radial flanges are in axially spaced, mutually facing relation. The radial flanges of the two seal cases carry respective sealing elements, one of which sealing elements has a portion forming an area seal with the cylindrical part of the other seal case, and the other of which sealing elements has two portions making respective area seals with the radial flange and cylindrical part of the seal case carrying the said one sealing element. The prior art includes a SAE Technical Paper Series 871982 on Specification and Seal Development for Passenger Vehicle Wheel Bearings by J.C.M. Bras, dated October 19-22 1987. According to this invention there is provided an annular seal assembly for a bearing having inner and outer races and rolling elements disposed radially between and in rolling engagement with the races, said assembly comprising a pair of annular seal cases having axially directed portions for mounting of the two cases in radially spaced relation on respective radially opposed surfaces on the two races, each of said cases further having a radially directed flange carrying a seal element with a lip which engages the axially directed portion of the other case, and the sealing lips of the two sealing elements being inclined substantially in the same axial direction as each other, characterized in that said annular seal assembly comprises only two seal elements each having a single lip with each of said lips engaging the axially directed portion of the other case in line contact and in that the two sealing elements define opposite ends of a single continuous cavity between the two seal cases. The arrangements described above permit the elimination of special provisions for supporting the seals in a bearing assembly, and avoid the need for separate assembly of the seals, so that the manufacturing costs can be reduced. The invention will now be described in more detail with reference by way of example to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional view of a roller bearing assembly according to this invention; Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a seal assembly adapted for the environment of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a sectional view of the seals and seal case of modified character for use in the environment of Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a sectional view of a further modified seal assembly having positive grease seal and grease pumping means. The environment of the present seal assembly 9 is illustrated in Figure 1 where a fragmentary view of a roller bearing 10 is shown which in this instance is a tapered roller bearing. That assembly includes an inner race 11 having a raceway 12, and an outer race 13 having a raceway 14. A tapered roller element 15 is shown in operative position between the raceways 12 and 14. Normally the tapered rollers 15 are guided by a cage assembly fragmentarily seen in dotted outline at 16. The races 11 and 13 present opposed outer axially directed surfaces 17 and 18 for the reception of the two-part seal assembly 9 which encloses a cavity 19 between the seal elements to be referred to presently, and that assembly is adapted to retain the lubricant in adjacent bearing cavity 20 while excluding contaminants. The inner race 11 has an outer axially directed surface 17 supporting a first seal case 23 formed with a flange 24 which carries an elastomeric seal element 25 bonded to the flange 24 and providing a lip 26 which rides on the inner surface of a second seal case 27 carried on the axially directed surface 18 of the outer race 13. The second seal case 27 has a projection 28 to which is bonded an elastomeric seal element 29 having a lip 30 engaged on the inner surface of the first seal case 23. It is also seen in Figure 1 that the first seal case 23 is formed with a slinger 31 that projects into the bearing cavity 20 for the purpose of centrifugally directing the lubricant upwardly so that it will migrate along the tapered rollers 15 so as to provide adequate lubrication for the rollers along the surface raceways 12 and 14. The seal arrangement shown in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings is a simple self-contained assembly using only two seals 25 and 29 which incorporate radial lips 26 and 30 that close off an internal cavity 19 which improves the exclusion of contaminants and allows the seal to be produced in small cross-sectional sizes. This means that for a given amount of space in an anti-friction bearing, most of the space can be used for the bearing rollers since the cross-sectional area of the seals is substantially reduced. This results in higher bearing ratings, which is very important in anti-friction wheel bearing design. It is also pointed out that with bearing components of the smaller size, it is still possible to provide the load carrying needs that are encountered in miniaturized bearing designs. The bearing shown in the drawings having the simple two seals 25 and 29 maximizes the lubricant retention capability and contaminant exclusion with effective seals occupying only a very small space. It will be seen also that the positions of the two sealing lips 26 and 30 are inclined to the axial direction in corresponding senses so that in the event of relative movement of the cases to reduce the volume of the cavity sealing lip 26 allows lubricant to escape from the cavity while sealing lip 30 is forced into tighter sealing engagement with case 23. A particular advantage of the bearing assembly of Figure 1 is that the axial relative movement of either the race 11 or race 13 with respect to the other does not affect the seal as the seal lips 26 and 30 are able to slide while retaining the lubricant. Looking at Figure 2, the inner seal case body 23 is spaced radially inwardly of the outer seal case body 27 so that the projection 24 on the body 23 and projection 28 on the body 27 partially define a cavity 19 that is closed off by the seal elements 25 and 29 due to the lips 26 and 30 riding respectively on the inner surface of body 27 and the inner surface of body 23. The lips 26 and 30 form line contacts with the seal case bodies 27 and 23 to reduce the friction drag. Looking at Figure 3, the seal element 29 has been modified by the addition of an extension 29A, and the repositioning of the slinger 31A farther away from the projection 28 on seal case 27. Increasing the space allows the formation of the extension 29A and the further notching thereof at 32 to constitute the notches as grease pumping vanes. The seal assembly seen in Figure 4 illustrates a further modification for a bearing seal where the relative axial movement of the races 11 and 13 is expected to be greater than with the bearing seal assemblies of Figures 1 to 3. The seal case 33 provides a longer axial surface 34 to accommodate the line contact of seal lip 35 on the seal body 36 which is moulded into position on the radial portion 37 of the seal case 38. The second seal body 39 is moulded onto the portion 40 of the seal case 33. This seal body 39 has a lip seal 41 held in working relation to the seal case surface 42 by a garter spring 43 located in the chamber 44. The seal body 39 is formed with notches 45 presented to the space inside the slinger element 46 to function as pumping vanes. The constructions seen in Figures 3 and 4 have the pumping vanes 32 and 45 to assure lubricant retention in the bearing for increasing bearing life. In the arrangements of Figures 3 and 4, the provision of a grease pumping means associated with a flinger in the seal assembly improves retention of grease, and the flinger is disposed in a position to allow the seal to be located closer to the rolling elements so the bearing assembly can be reduced in overall dimension allowing more space for the rolling elements while adapting the bearing for miniaturization. Thus in some embodiments of the invention a cavity is defined in the bearing assembly by a pair of nested seal cases which form a cavity axially aligned with rolling elements, and seal elements are carried by the nested seal cases to serve as retainers for a body of grease or lubricant which keeps the seal elements pliable so that the seal life is extended beyond the current life expectancy of bearing seals. The cavity is filled with the lubricant at the time the seal assembly is made or it can be filled at the time the bearing assembly is initially used by overfilling the assembly so that a body of lubricant passes one seal element to enter the cavity. Once the cavity is filled, a back pressure can be created if a seal is employed which incorporates a suitable pumping means to prevent additional lubricant leakage, and the lubricant body in the cavity provides a significant barrier to ingress of contaminants. Over time the trapped lubricant becomes stiff and increases its resistance to ingress of contaminants. The cavity in the seal assembly can contain grease in service so that the outboard sealing lip can be kept lubricated, extending the life of the lip. The cavity may be filled with grease at the time the seal is manufactured. However, it may be preferred to lubricate this cavity by overlubricating the bearing assembly so that when the bearing begins operation, grease is forced past a slinger. While the bearing operating speed is slow and the slinger is ineffective due to the slow speed, lubricant passes through a radial sealing lip which is directed to open as internal bearing pressure is being developed in the bearing assembly due to the heat of operation. This all takes place in the first few revolutions of the bearing assembly the first time the bearing assembly is used. Once the cavity is filled with grease, the sealing lip is kept lubricated. The back pressure created by the grease fills the cavity and prevents additional grease leakage once the bearing assembly is no longer over-lubricated with grease. The grease-filled cavity provides a significant barrier to contaminant ingress and protects the sealing lip from any contaminants which manage to pass through the sealing lip. Over an extended period of time, as dirt enters the cavity, the ring of grease in the cavity becomes stiff in texture, increasing its resistance to further dirt ingress. As the ratio of dirt to grease in the cavity increases, the resistance to further dirt ingress increases and the ability of the grease to lubricate the sealing lip decreases. Eventually, in a very severe service environment, such as provided by wheel bearings on four wheel drive trucks, the seals may wear sufficiently to become loose relative to the seal cases. If this occurs, the seals may continue to function as a close clearance labyrinth and as a contaminant excluding slinger in constructions where the shape of the seal is angled to impel contaminants away from the interface between the seals and seal cases. If water enters the cavity after the seal becomes worn so that an interference fit is no longer provided with the seal cases, the water will flow out of the cavity under static conditions since the interface between the seals and seal cases is at the lowest point in the cavity. Under dynamic conditions the slinger effect of the seals will impel water out of the cavity. The seals are kept lubricated throughout the life of the application by lubricant passing the slinger each time the bearing assembly is stopped and started. Therefore, the final barrier to contaminant ingress is held in reserve in new condition until the seals have worn loose relative to the seal case. The foregoing disclosure also relates to a method of retaining lubricant in a bearing assembly and employing that lubricant as a barrier to the passage or propagation of contaminants from the exterior to the interior where it can accelerate wear on the rollers and roller raceways. Such a method embodies the provision of a pair of seal elements carried by respective seal cases to form a cavity between the seal elements, and the step of initially supplying the lubricant in such quantity that it pushes past one seal element and substantially fills the cavity between the seal elements in sufficient quantity to form a barrier in the cavity to intercept the propagation of contaminants into the bearing from the exterior. The pumping vanes 32 or 45 assure retention of lubricant entering the space between the cup and cone to lubricate the rolling elements. The foregoing details of construction and operation have set forth a preferred embodiment where two-seal components can be incorporated in an extremely limited space in anti-friction bearings without sacrificing lubricant retention and contaminant exclusion. In the assembly shown, distribution of the lubricant can easily be controlled by means of a slinger element embodied in the seal assembly. The characteristics of the present two-seal bearing assembly may be modified in the manner seen in Figures 3 and 4 without sacrificing the desirable characteristics illustrated in the drawings. For example, one of the seals has a lip in working line contact on a seal case in position to resist passage of contaminants from the outside to the interior. The other one of the seals has a lip in working line contact on a seal case in position to allow passage of lubricant from the interior of the bearing assembly to the space between the seals and resist reverse passage of lubricant back to the interior of the bearing. The seal cases 23 and 27 each carry a seal such as seal 25 on case 23, and seal 29 on case 27. The positioning of the seal lips 26 and 30 is such that each has an effective angular position to resist passage of material in one direction and to yield to the passage of material in an opposite direction. For example, seal 29 is angularly sloped relative to the seal case 23 so it can elevate to allow lubricant to pass into the cavity 19, but any reverse movement tends to press the seal lip 30 against the seal case. The same reaction is evident for the seal 25 as the angular slope of lip 26 can allow it to lift off the seal case 27 under pressure of lubricant from the cavity 19 to escape to the exterior. But reverse movement of contaminants tends to press the seal lip 26 against the seal case 27.

Claims: An annular seal assembly for a bearing having inner and outer races and rolling elements disposed radially between and in rolling engagement with the races, said assembly comprising a pair of annular seal cases (23, 27; 38, 33) having axially directed portions for mounting of the two cases in radially spaced relation on respective radially opposed surfaces on the two races, each of said cases further having a radially directed flange (24, 28; 37, 40) carrying a seal element (25, 29; 36, 39) with a lip which engages the axially directed portion of the other case, and the sealing lips (26, 30; 35, 41) of the two sealing elements being inclined substantially in the same axial direction as each other, characterized in that said annular seal assembly comprises only two seal elements (25,29;36,39) each having a single lip with each of said lips (26, 30; 35, 41) engaging the axially directed portion of the other case in line contact and in that the two sealing elements (25, 29; 36, 39) define opposite ends of a single continuous cavity between the two seal cases (23, 27; 38, 33). A seal assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein one (25; 36) of said seal elements has its lip (26; 35) in a position to cause the line contact position of said seal element to present a barrier to the entrance of external contaminants to said cavity. A seal assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sealing lip (26; 35) of said one of the seal elements is positioned at an angle effective to exclude contaminants from said cavity and to allow escape of lubricant on relative movement of said seal cases (23, 27; 38, 33) to reduce the volume of said single continuous cavity. A seal assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the seal element on the radially outer of the two seal cases incorporates lubricant pumping vanes (45) for retaining lubricant in communication with the rolling elements. A seal assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein garter spring means (43) is engaged on the sealing lip (41) on the radially outer of the two cases to retain said lip in said line contact. A seal assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the axially directed portions of the two seal cases are in radially-spaced axially overlapping relation and the radially-directed flanges are mutually facing radially overlapping relation whereby the two cases jointly define an annulus of generally rectangular radial section within which said single continuous cavity is defined by the cases and the seal elements jointly. A seal assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the axially directed portion of the inner case has said flange portion formed on one axial end thereof and has at its opposite axial end a radially-outwardly directed slinger (31; 31A; 46) disposed beyond the radial flange of the outer seal case. A seal assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the seal element on the radial flange of said outer seal case incorporates lubricant pumping vanes (32) disposed axially beyond the radially-directed flange of the outer seal case. A seal assembly as claimed in claims 7 and 8, wherein the pumping vanes (32; 45) face towards but are axially spaced from the slinger (31A; 46).

Inventors: OTTO DENNIS L, OTTO, DENNIS L.
Applicants: TIMKEN CO, THE TIMKEN COMPANY
Application year: 1991
Main classification: F16C33
IPC codes: F16J15, F16C19, F16C33