Vibration Analysis of Ball Bearing caused by Outer Ring Waviness

This paper describes an investigation of radial vibration caused by the outer ring waviness of a ball bearing. The analytical model is constructed with the following assumptions: Inner rotor is a single-degree-of-freedom vibrating system. The outer ring of bearing is supported by a soft rubber to insulate it from noise. A radial gap between the inner and outer races and a constant force caused by gravity (shaft and inner race) are assumed. The waviness function that generates a vibration is calculated. Each ball is assumed to move along this waviness function. From the analysis, the following results are obtained. The frequency of vibration is dependent on the rotational speed of a cage and the number of balls. The spectrum of each frequency is related with the number of waviness. The calculated results relatively well agree with the experiments.