OPTIMIZING MANUFACTURING TOLERANCES IN ROLLING BEARING FOR CRITICAL DOD APPLICATIONS

A REALISTIC DETERMINATION OF THE MANUFACTURING TOLERANCES ON THE DIMENSIONS OF THE VARIOUS ELEMENTS IN A ROLLING BEARING IS PROPOSED THROUGH COMPUTER MODELING OF THE DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE OF THE BEARING AS FUNCTION OF THE GEOMETRICAL ANAMOLIES. THE BEARING MODEL CONSISTS OF A REAL TIME SIMULATION OF THE BEARING PERFORMANCE ASA OBTAINED BY INTEGRATING THE DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS OF MOTION OF EACH BEARING ELEMENT UNDER A ARBITRARY OPERATING CONDITIONS. THE VARIATION IN THE GEOMETRY OF EACH ELEMENT CAN BE INVESTIGATING THE EFFORTS OF ROLLING ELEMENT SIZE VARIATION, RACE WAVINESS OR OUT-OF ROUNDNESS, RACE GROOVE CURVATURE VARIATION IN BALL BEARINGS, CENTRALITY OF FLAT LAND AND LAND TAPER IN ROLLER BEARINGS.