Bearing assembly

Claim 1

In a bearing assembly comprising: a bearing mounting member: a bearing mounted to said bearing mounting member and including an inner raceway ring having first and second end surfaces, at least one of said inner and outer raceway rings having a linear expansion coefficient different from that of said bearing mounting member, and having an inclined surface formed on at least one of said end surfaces inclined with respect to a vertical bearing center line; a distance piece abutting against said inclined end surface of said at least one raceway ring and secured to said bearing mounting member, said distance piece having a linear expansion coefficient substantially equivalent to that of said bearing mounting member; the improvement in which: said at least one raceway ring, having a linear expansion coefficient different from that of said bearing mounting member, has inclined surfaces formed on both of said end surfaces, and angles of inclination, θ 1 and θ 2 of said inclined surfaces, with respect to the vertical bearing center line, are determined to satisfy the following relationship between an axial length Wp and a diameter Dp of said at least one raceway ring measured at the center of a thickness thereof: tan θ 1 +θ 2 =2Wp/Dp said angles θ 1 , θ 2 being assigned with a positive sign when the angle is extending outwardly with respect to the vertical bearing center line, and with a negative sign when the angle is extending inwardly; and said at least one raceway ring mounted to said bearing mounting member with a predetermined fit in accordance with a relation in magnitude between the linear expansion coefficients of said at least one raceway ring and said bearing mounting member, and working temperature conditions of the bearing assembly, such that said inner raceway ring is loose fitted when the linear expansion coefficient of said inner raceway ring is smaller than that of said bearing mounting member and said bearing assembly is used at a temperature higher than that during mounting and when the linear expansion coefficient of said inner raceway ring is larger that of said bearing mounting member and said bearing assembly is used at a temperature lower than that during mounting, and said inner raceway ring is interference fitted when the linear expansion coefficient of said inner raceway ring is smaller than that of said bearing mounting member and said bearing assembly is used at a temperature lower than that during mounting and when the linear expansion coefficient of said inner raceway ring is larger than that of said bearing mounting member and said bearing assembly is used at a temperature higher than that during mounting.