General Electric Company

Richard K Keck

Blake Weldon Wilson

Thomas R Byrne

Steve Hendricks

The bearing pedestal for the rotating shaft 12 includes journal and axial thrust bearings 16 and 26, respectively. Both of the journal and thrust bearings have passages 70 and 80, respectively, and recesses 74 and 82 in the respective pad faces for flowing high pressure lubricant between the pads and the shaft to displace the shaft and pads relative to one another to minimize the required breakaway torque and metal-to-metal contact. Each thrust bearing includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced pads 26 and lubricant directors 30 between the pads. The lubricant director includes a rib 34 extending generally tangentially and radially outwardly to channel lubricant from a preceding pad to a succeeding pad in the direction of shaft rotation and to channel the lubricant for flow tangentially from the thrust bearing into an annular cavity 39 for return to sump 42. An end seal assembly 40 includes an element 44 having internal and external labyrinth seals 54 and 55 straddling an annular groove 50 opening onto the shaft. An annular recess 48 is provided along the inner surface of element 44 to receive lubricant splashed from the tangential flow and direct it into the cavity. Drain back openings 56 and 59 flow lubricant from the labyrinth seals into the cavity 39.

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Clifton Park, NY, United States of America

Richard K Keck