Delaware Capital Formation, Inc.

Orion Corporation

James H Ball

Willis W Gardner

Thomas R Byrne

A tilting pad bearing for a rotatable surface includes a plurality of circumferentially-arranged tilting pads, each of the tilting pads having a working surface and a trailing surface. A lubrication device for lubricating fluid is detachably affixed to the tilt pad leading surface or is formed integral with the tilting pad. The lubrication device has a fluid conduit and a cavity that provide the cool lubricating fluid to those portions of the rotating collar which need the most cooling. The conduit has a ninety degree turn so that the cooling fluid has a velocity vector normal to the boundary layer of the hot carryover fluid. The outlet of the conduit is positioned, and the cavity is designed, to provide the greatest amount of cooling fluid where the rotating surface is the hottest. The lubrication device also has a wiper to wipe hot carryover fluid off of the rotating surface. The amount of lubricating fluid and bearing power losses are substantially reduced. In the thrust embodiment, the bearing has a smaller axial height because loads imposed by the rotating surface are borne by the bearing elements, not by the bearing retainer. A hydraulically actuated feed piston closes the gap between the pad and retainer to convey lubricating fluid to the pad working surface. Equalizing link contact stresses are reduced by using conformal cylindrical surfaces and line versus point contact.

Tilt pad hydrodynamic bearing for rotating machinery

A tilting pad bearing for a rotatable surface includes a plurality of circumferentially-arranged tilting pads, each of the tilting pads having a working surface, a leading surface and a trailing surface. A lubrication device for lubricating fluid is detachably affixed to the tilt pad leading surface. The lubrication device may have an integrally-formed lubricant flow director with a radial or herringbone shape. The lubrication device has a pair of spaced ridges extending from the base of the device, the ridges being disposed at less than 180.degree. to each other. The ridges may also be parallel to the adjacent pad trailing surface. The ridges have wiper surfaces that wipe hot carryover lubricating fluid from the rotating surface. The hot lubricating fluid is directed by the ridges into an exit annulus or outlet apertures on opposite sides of the lubrication device.

The bearing pads of a hydrodynamic tilting pad thrust bearing are cut from a ring and arranged in a circle within a retainer for bearing the load of a collar fastened to a rotating shaft. The leading and trailing edges of respective adjacent pads contain open edge grooves which together form a pocket for receiving and dispensing lubricating and cooling oil under controlled conditions. Semicircular grooves in the edges of the adjacent pads together form generally circular ducts through which the oil is conducted to the pockets.

Growing community of inventors

New Berlin, WI, United States of America

James H Ball