Abstract
The heat generation of the angular contact and the deep groove ball bearing is studied experimentally and numerically. The temperature variation of the inner and outer races and the temperature increase distribution are measured for the shaft rotational speeds, preloads, viscosities of the lubricant and lubrication methods. The measured temperature distributions are used as the input data of the numerical simulation to estimate the heat generation rate at the bearing. The temperatures of the inner and outer race increase more rapidly and approach faster to their steady values as the rotational speed increases. The optimal viscosity of the oil to minimize the heat generation is 8~10 cSt at 4$0^{\circ}C$ when the oil-air lubrication method is adopted. The heat generation of the bearing increases with the rotational speed and depends more on the lubrication method than on the preload variation.
