DESCRIPTION

Technical Field

This invention is related to a grinding system to grind the side faces of inner and outer rings of roller bearings. The invention is more particularly related to a grinding system which allows the grinding of the side faces of inner and outer rings of roller bearings, having the same width, together.

Prior Art

Nowadays roller bearings are used in many mechanical devices. The roller bearings primarily comprise inner and outer rings and roller means.

The grinding of the inner and outer rings is an important process and this process comprises steps that need attention such as transferring the rings to the grinding unit, the production speed and shape of the ground rings.

Generally a unilateral grinding system is present in the methods used. The transferring of the rings into the unit for grinding having a grinding stone, is carried out by means of a mobile system or by the aid of gravity. In other inventions this transfer system has been designed differently in order to save time and to shorten travel distances.

Similarly grinding systems also have different designs. In some inventions two grinding stones or discs are used and in other inventions the grinding stones or discs are used horizontally.

Various methods are known in the art regarding the grinding and transfer of rings to the grinding system. In the Japanese patent document with the application number JPS5851060A of the known state of the art, two grinding machines which grind inner or outer rings or rings from both sides, conveying a spinning motion in the same direction and a source (race or circular object that is to be grinded) transfer system which feeds said grinding system is described.

In the Japanese patent document with the application number JPH0631621A of the known state of the art, two grinding machines which grind inner or outer rings or rings from both sides, conveying a spinning motion in the same direction and a source (race or circular object that is to be grinded) transfer system which feeds said grinding system is described.

In the United Nations patent document with the application number US2657504A of the known state of the art, a machine which feeds the unilateral grinding disk, and the grinding of straight or ring discs or the side faces of rings is described.

In the United Nations patent document with the application number US2015140908 Al of the known state of the art, a machine which carries out vertical grinding having two discs, and the grinding of the side faces of straight or rings discs or rings is described.

In the French Patent document with the application number WO2008074174A1 of the known state of the art, a system which delivers the inner or outer rings into a grinding machine, which grinds the corners of said rings rather than their side faces is described.

It is both time consuming and expensive to deliver inner and outer rings to a grinding system and to grind rings separately especially when said inner and outer rings have different diameters. When the inner and outer rings have different diameters, they necessitate the usage of carrier discs having different sizes and conveyors having different sizes. This situation also necessitates the adjustment of the carrier discs and the conveyor for each race. Besides this, the separate grinding of the inner and outer rings also extends the operation time.

Moreover problems are faced during the side face grinding operation of the inner race. The difference of the outer race from the inner race that whose side face is being grinded is that while the rolling path of the inner race is located in the outer diameter, the rolling path of the outer race is located inside the inner diameter. The outer diameters of the rings during side face grinding operations comes into contact with the centering bushing located in the carrier disc. While the planar outer surface of the race is in contact with the centering bushing when the outer race is being grinded, the shoulders of the race are in contact with the centering bushing when the inner race is being grinded. As the surface of the outer race which is in contact with the centering bushing is planar, any kind of problem is not faced during the grinding process, but as the shoulders of the inner race contacts the centering bushing, the centering bushing is worn down in time during grinding. The centering bushing which wears down in time causes the rings to grind incorrectly and therefore the worn down centering bushing needs to be taken out and needs to be replaced with a new centering bushing. This leads to loss of time in terms of production and to extra costs. Moreover in order to reduce the wearing down that occurs during the grinding of the inner race, it is mandatory to use cylindrical rigid metal parts in the centering bushing. The usage of said rigid metal parts also leads to extra cost. Said rigid metal parts are not used during the grinding of the outer race.

Due to these reasons a grinding system needed to be developed which can transfer the inner and outer rings having the same width to the grinding system on the same conveyor, enables to grind the side faces at the same time, which prevents the wearing out of the centering bushing, which eliminates the mandatory usage of cylindrically shaped rigid metal parts in the grinding system and which separates the rings following the grinding procedure.

Objects and Brief Description of the Invention The object of this invention is to provide a grinding system which grinds the side faces of the inner and outer rings of roller bearings.

Another object of this invention is to provide a grinding system which enables faster production by grinding together, the side faces of the inner and outer rings having the same width.

Another object of this invention is to provide a grinding system which does not necessitate different adjustments of carrier discs and conveyors for each race, during the grinding of inner and outer rings.

Another object of this invention is to provide a grinding system where the wearing out of the centering bushing is prevented and the obligation to use cylindrical rigid metal parts within the grinding system is eliminated.

The grinding system provided in order to reach the object of this invention, comprises conveyors which transfer the rings that have been placed one within the other onto the carrier disc, a carrier disc which carries the rings to the grinding stone with radial motion and a race separator which separates the rings from each other.

In the grinding system subject to the invention, the inner and outer rings having the same width, are fed into the side face grinding system at the same time. Before the process, the inner and outer rings travel on two different conveyors. The conveyor on which the inner race is driven is at a higher level than the conveyor which delivers the outer race and the inner race located on the conveyor which is at a higher level is pushed and inserted into the outer race located on the other conveyor when they are aligned with each other. The inner race falls into the outer race and both rings are transferred onto the carrier disc in order to be fed into the grinding system.

The inner and outer rings that are delivered one within the other to the carrier disc are entrained in a radial motion between the two grinding stones that move circularly. Grinding process is carried out by two grinding stones which are located below and above the rings, which are in contact with the side faces of both rings.

The inner race and the outer race are separated from each other easily following the grinding process, by means of the race carrier outlet piece. The inner and outer race is delivered together to the outlet piece and an orifice large enough to allow the passage of the inner race but not the outer race is provided in the outlet piece. The inner rings fall through this orifice and are collected into a basket. The outer rings which do not pass through the orifice passes the race carrier outlet piece and are collected into a different basket which accommodates ground outer rings.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The grinding system provided in order to reach the object of the invention has been shown in the attached figures.

Said figures illustrate the following;

Figure 1, is the schematic view of the grinding system subject to the invention. Figure 2, is the perspective view of the conveyors of the grinding system where the race inserter has not inserted the inner race into the outer race.

Figure 3, is the perspective view of the conveyors of the grinding system subject to the invention where the race inserter has inserted the inner race into the outer race.

Figure 4,is the view of the inner race together with rigid metal parts located inside the centering bushing within the grinding system subject to the invention. Figure 5, is the view of the inner race and the outer race placed one within the other into the centering bushing within the grinding system subject to the invention. Figure 6, is the side view of the grinding stones carrying out the grinding process within the grinding system subject to the invention.

Figure 7,is the top view of the race separator which separates the inner and outer rings within the grinding system subject to the invention.

Figure 8, is the partial view of the race separator together with the carrier disc which separates the inner and outer rings within the grinding system subject to the invention. Figure 9, is the section view of the outer race in the grinding system subject to the invention.

Figure 10, is the section view of the inner race in the grinding system subject to the invention.

The parts in the figures are numbered individually and the references corresponding to the related part are listed below. 1. Outer race

2. Inner race

3. Carrier disc

4. Race separator

5. Grinding stone

6. Race inserter

7. Conveyor 8. Orifice

9. Centering bushing

10. Outlet conveyor

11. Rigid metal parts

12. Inner race shoulders

The grinding system subject to the invention comprises;

a carrier disc (3) which carries with a radial motion, the inner rings (2) and the outer rings (1) to the grinding stones (5) performing the grinding process,

- two grinding stones (5) positioned on top of each other in order to grind the side faces of the inner (2) and outer rings (1),

a centering bushing (9) which centres the inner (2) and outer rings (1) that have been placed one within the other located on the carrier disc (3), conveyors (7) which delivers rings thereon and which ensures that the inner rings (2) are at a higher level and the outer rings (1) are at a lower level,

a race inserter (6) which pushes the inner rings (2) located on the top conveyor (7) into the outer rings (1) located on the bottom conveyor (7), therefore enabling the inner rings (2) into the outer rings (1),

a race separator (4) located fixedly beneath the carrier disc (3) used in order to separate the rings exiting out of the grinding system having an orifice (8) at the section after the grinding stones (5), whose diameter is smaller than the diameter of the outer race (1) but larger than the diameter of the inner race (2) in order to drop the inner rings into a basket and which also has an opening after the orifice (8) in order to enable the outer rings (1) to also be dropped into another basket.

The grinding system subject to the invention comprises outlet conveyors (10) located beneath the orifice (8) through which the inner rings (2) are dropped and beneath the opening through which the outer rings (1) are dropped by means of the race separator (4).

The inner rings (2) and the outer rings (1) that need to be inserted into the system in order to be grinded, are initially placed on two conveyors (7) having different heights from each other. (Figure - 3)

The inner rings, (2) placed on the higher conveyor (7) are pushed inside the outer rings (1) placed on the lower conveyor (7) by means of the rings inserter (6). By this means the inner rings (2) are inserted into the outer rings (1). (Figure - 3)

The rings that have been inserted into each other at the lower conveyor (7) are delivered into the centering bushing located on the carrier disc (3) from said lower conveyor (7). (Figure - 1)

As a result of the insertion of the inner rings (2) into the outer rings (1) the usage, of rigid metal parts (11) in order to prevent the wearing down of the inner surface of the centering bushing (9) by the shoulders (12) of the inner rings is no longer required. (Figure -4 and Figure-5)

The rings that have been placed one in the other are entrained to be delivered between the grinding stones (5) that shall carry out the grinding process via the carrier disc (3) which exhibits a smooth radial motion. (Figure - 1)

The rings whose side faces are being grinded between the grinding stones (5) are separated by the race separator (4) comprising an orifice whose diameter is larger than the diameter of the inner rings (2) but smaller than the diameter of the outer rings (1) are passed over the orifice (8) and then over the opening which allows the outer rings (1) to be dropped there through. (Figure - 1) The rings reach the orifice (8) located on the race separator (4) and the inner rings (2) which have a smaller diameter compared to the outer rings (1) drop down into the outlet conveyor (10) through the orifice (8) while they are passing over the orifice (8) which has a diameter suitable to the outer diameter of the inner rings. At this moment, as the diameter of the outer race (1) is larger than the diameter of the orifice (8), the outer rings (1) continue to move over the orifice (8). (Figure -7 and Figure-8)

An opening is provided after the orifice (8) of the race separator (4). (Figure 7) The outer rings (1) that do not drop through the orifice (8), then drop through this opening. The outer rings (1) drop onto the outlet conveyor (10) located below this opening.