Abstract: “Tapered roller bearing (TRB) has been widely used in rotating machinery because of its high-load-carrying capacity. However, occurrence of high temperature inside TRB, due to the long contact lines between rollers and races and the large sliding friction between roller ends and guide flanges, often becomes a great challenge to utilization of TRB. This paper investigates the thermal behavior of a spindle-TRB system with consideration of rotational speed and radial load. To this end, first, a thermo-mechanical model of rotor-bearing system is developed to provide the frictional heat generation, heat transfer procedure, thermal expansion and transient temperature of the system components. Then, the spindle system thermal behavior is evaluated systematically. Simulation results show the high dependence of temperature on bearing loads, rotational speed. Finally, the steady-state temperature of the system is validated with existing experimental data.”

Keywords: tapered roller bearings, thermal expansion, heat generation, induced preload