Effects of oil film properties on roller bearing with light loads under various slip factors

In this paper, ideal and general kinematics and models of roller bearing were built, and the oil film thickness for a roller bearing under a light load was analyzed with different slip factors. And then a new method to calculate the oil film thickness by considering a double slip ratio was developed, and the effects of different slip factors such as the slip ratio, inner ring speed, and radial load on the oil film thickness were investigated systematically. Under a zero slip ratio, the results showed that the film thickness increases with the inner ring speed. The radial load shows the reverse trend, and different slip factors affect the oil film properties differently. In the case with double slip ratio, the results showed that the film thickness slightly decreases as the roller slip ratio increases, whereas the cage slip ratio shows the reverse trend. The roller and cage slip ratios have different effects on the oil film thickness. The oil film distribution is affected by the combined action of the two slip ratios, the inner ring speed, and the radial load. The cage slip ratio can often be considered to be the main factor for calculating the oil film thickness.