This paper presents a result of the stiffness analysis on tapered roller bearings with respect to roller profile. To this end, a five degree-of-freedom (DOF) model for tapered roller bearing is developed that can provide the stiffness matrix. | Journal of Automation and Control Engineering Vol. 3, No. 2, April 2015 Effects of Roller Profile on the Stiffness of Tapered Roller Bearings Van-Canh Tong and Seong Wook Hong Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Daehak-ro 61, Gumi, Gyeongbuk, South Korea, 730-701 Email: swhong@ Abstract—This paper presents a result of the stiffness analysis on tapered roller bearings with respect to roller profile. To this end, a five degree-of-freedom (DOF) model for tapered roller bearing is developed that can provide the stiffness matrix. The effects of axial preload and rotational speed on the bearing stiffness matrix are investigated and validated. Then, a rigorous analysis is made regarding the effects of roller profile on the bearing stiffness so as to investigate the performance of tapered roller bearing. A. Coordinate Systems Consider a TRB as shown in Fig. 1. In this paper, three different kinds of coordinate systems are defined for establishing the bearing model. The first one is the Cartesian coordinate system of x, y and z . Here, z axis is along the center line of the bearing, x is the vertical axis with positive direction downward. The origin of the coordinate system is chosen at the intersection between the bearing rotational axis and the line perpendicular to the bearing rotational axis that passes through the roller center. The cylindrical coordinate system of r , and z is introduced which shares the same origin with the Cartesian coordinate system. The r z plane passes through the center of roller and the r axis is inclined by an angle of with positive x direction. This coordinate system is employed for the inner ring cross-section at a particular roller as demonstrated in Fig. 1. Index Terms—tapered roller bearing, roller profile, dynamic characteristics, stiffness matrix, preload I. INTRODUCTION Tapered roller bearings (TRBs) have a noticeable advantage of high load-carrying capacity both in axial and radial loads. They have been .
