Abstract: The spinning occurs in angle-contact ball bearings. The elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) with spinning affects the mechanical characteristics of rolling bearings. The EHL model considering spinning is built, and the influence on load distribution and oil film shape is investigated. The coupling model of the EHL with spinning and the bearing mechanics is set up based on the relationship between contact force and mutual approach. The mechanical characteristics based on the proposed method are compared with the conventional method based on Hertz theory. The calculation results show that the contact forces and contact angles are relatively close, but the bearing deformation, contact displacement and film distribution are significantly different. The bearing deformation considering EHL is smaller than that using Hertz hypothesis, and the difference increases with bearing speed. The minimum film thickness considering spinning no longer increases with bearing speed, the minimum film thickness begins to decrease when the bearing speed increases to a certain value.

Key words: Ball bearing, Elastohydrodynamic lubrication, Mechanical characteristics, Spinning