The effect of angular misalignment on the running torques of tapered roller bearings

The occurrence of angular misalignment can considerably change bearing characteristics. However, the angular misalignment effect on the running torques for tapered roller bearings (TRBs) has not been thoroughly investigated. This paper presents a comprehensive formula to provide the running torques for TRBs with angular misalignment between inner and outer races. Simulations were performed to investigate the effects of angular misalignment on TRB torques for two representative preloading methods, constant force preload and constant displacement preload. Angular misalignment under the constant displacement preload was found to increase the running torques under mild preload and to slightly decrease the running torques under heavy preload. Under the constant force preload, the running toques consistently decrease with an increase in angular misalignment. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.