Schaeffler Group has been named a top 30 prize winner in the NoAE Innovation Award 2009. NoAE stands for Network of Automotive Excellence, an initiative across companies with the objective of strengthening the competitiveness and future of the European automotive and supplier industry. The award ceremony was held during the Wuerzburg Automotive Summit. The innovation competition is held under the auspices of the Federal Minister for Economics and Technology, Dr. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. This year’s award is the third prize the Schaeffler Group has won since the beginning of the innovation competition in 2007.
The Schaeffler Group received the NoAE Innovation Award for the FAG wheel bearings with spur gear teeth. This new concept offers a reduction in weight by ten percent compared to components with conventional radial gear teeth and a significantly simplified mounting process.
The use of the orbitally formed shoulder as a carrier for clearance-free axial gear teeth enables this innovative wheel bearing module to be produced very economically.
Normally, the drive torque is transferred between the wheel bearing and the axle journal by means of radial gear teeth. These gear teeth have a certain amount of clearance to make mounting easier. Loads that occur during vehicle operation involve the risk that the assembly constantly loosens way beyond the normal mounting clearance, resulting in everything from losses in comfort and uncomfortable noises right up to the failure of the bearing. Up to now, the only solution was to reduce the radial clearance to zero in the design phase. This, however, necessitated the use of expensive and complex mounting technology.
In contrast, the new FAG wheel bearing module with spur gear teeth is appealing due to simple mounting methods: The self-centering axial gear teeth are placed on the axle journal and fixed in place by means of the central screw in the assembly. The bearing remains clearance-free in the gear teeth during operation, regardless of whether the vehicle travels 1,000 or 100,000 kilometers.
The reduction in weight in the individual wheel bearing amounts to a reduction of more than a kilogram overall for all four wheels. As this weight saving reduces the unsprung masses, it also benefits the driving dynamics.
This Schaeffler innovation has already been transferred to volume production. Due to their significant advantages, wheel bearings with spur gear teeth will successively replace conventional radial gear teeth.
The independent jury of the NoAE Innovation Award consists of innovation managers, specialists of major automotive manufacturers and large suppliers as well as experts in various fields. This year, the jury had to the best 30 ideas from over 380 submissions, which is more than twice the number of ideas submitted in the previous year. Submissions came from 20 countries worldwide.
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