Edith Cowan University

School of Engineering

Design and Development

Assessed Problem
Bearing Selection and Design
Due Date: 9:00am 17th October 2016
Submission: Hardcopy (in assignment box at engineering office), with ECU coversheet
Consider the following final drive assembly for the rear of a car that comprises of a helical gear,
differential assembly and bearings. The following notes accompany the final drive assembly shown in
the illustration below:
Radial Gear load [kN]
Axial Gear load [kN]
Bearing, B
Bearing, A

Differential
Assembly
Minimum
Diameter: 50mm

150mm

100mm
300mm

Time Fraction
50%
25%
25%
Notes:

Speed [RPM]
800
400
1200

Radial [kN]
3
4
2

Axial [kN]
1
2
0.5

Both bearings are deep groove ball bearings

The reliability of the bearing assembly must be 99%
The outer ring of the bearings is stationary
Select bearings from SKF, where 1 million reference cycles are applied to test bearings
Assume there is no preload on either bearing
The outer races of the bearings are constrained axially within the housing
Loading table represents worst case gear radial and axial load for each time fraction and speed
In this assessed problem, the minimum inside diameter of the bearings is 50mm

Answer the following questions in the space provided:

1. Select a single suitable bearing size for bearing B that can operate for at least 1500 hours with
the desired assembly reliability.

2. For the given assembly reliability, select a single suitable bearing size for bearing A that is
designed to fail at the same time as bearing B.

3. Given the loading assumes a worst case gear radial load is the life obtained expected to be an
under or over-estimate of life and why

Dr. Ferdinando Guzzomi

Email: f.guzzomi@ecu.edu.au