A novel method for bearing lubrication enhancement via the inner ring groove structure

As the bearing rotation speed increases, the efficiency of the jet lubrication is drastically reduced due to the air curtain effect inside bearing cavity. Regarding this, by adding groove structures to the non-contact area of bearing inner ring surface, a novel method which can guide more oil flowing into the bearing raceway was proposed. By numerical simulation, the flow behavior of oil on the bearing inner ring surface was investigated. The results indicate that, compared with the traditional structure, the axial oil flow on grooved inner ring surface was enhanced, and more oil accumulated in the key lubrication area inside bearing cavity. Finally, by lubrication performance experiments, it was proved that the bearing lubrication performance had been improved by adding groove structures on its inner ring surface.