Investigation of Oil-air Two-Phase Flow Inside Angular Contact Ball Bearing with Textured Cage

Surface texture technology is a method to improve the tribological properties of friction pairs. In this study, a cylindrical texture is designed in cage pocket, and then the volume of fluid model and the multi-reference frame method are used to investigate the oil volume fraction inside the bearing cavity, the pressure and oil distribution on the ball surface, and the oil distribution on the inner/outer raceway. The results show that the cylindrical texture in cage pocket is helpful to increase the oil volume fraction inside the bearing cavity, improve the pressure distribution on the ball surface, and increase the oil content on the ball surface. The cage pocket texture helps the ball to carry more lubrication oil in the high-speed rotation process, which increases the oil content of the outer raceway and improves the oil-air lubrication effect of the ball. This study proposes a new texture arrangement in cage pocket of angular contact ball bearings, and introduces the mixed mesh method to divide the fluid domain of bearing. Through comparative study, the cage pocket texture is helpful to improve the oil-air lubrication efficiency.