On the dynamic characteristics of ball bearing with cage broken

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the dynamic behavior of the ball bearing with cage broken. Design/methodology/approach By analyzing the complicated relationship and interactions among the ball bearing elements, the dynamic modelling of the ball bearing with broken cage was established, and the dynamic simulations were conducted by solving the ball bearing dynamic equations using varying-step Runge-Kutta integration. Findings The computational results show that there is considerable distinguishment in the dynamic characteristics between the normal cage and the broken cage of the bears. The broken cage makes the trajectory of the cage erratic, and the vibration amplitude is much bigger than that of the normal cage, which makes the motion of the cage unstable. When one of the cage lintels breaks up, the two adjacent balls will collide with each other; what is worse, this may make the balls crush because of the high amplitude of the collision force. The broken cage makes the cage-race interaction force much larger than that of the normal cage, which could promote the guiding ring and quicken the cage wear-failure. Originality/value This study can provide important ideas for the fault identification of the ball bearing with cage broken. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-01-2020-0042/