Delaware Capital Formation, Inc.

Waukesha Bearings Corporation

Willis W Gardner

James H Ball

A bearing structure for damping shaft vibrations wherein a fixed support member has an axially extending opening defined by a circular surface having a predetermined radius of curvature. A shaft extends centrally through the opening to provide an annular space between the periphery of the shaft and said circular surface. A plurality of bearing elements are circumferentially spaced apart around the shaft. A curved spring beam is interposed between each of the bearing elements and said circular surface defining the opening. The radially outwardly presented side of each spring beam has a radius of curvature greater than that of the circular surface so with the beam in direct contact with the circular surface a crescent shaped oil containment cavity is formed. A small oil inlet hole through the support member at each crescent shaped cavity supplies oil to the cavity. The oil acts to dampen shaft vibrations as it is pressurized in response to deflection of the spring beam reducing the volume in the cavity.

Journal bearing having vibration damping elements

A journal bearing is lubricated with a disk on the shaft which sweeps through oil in a sump for picking up oil and transporting it upwardly in the direction of rotation of the disk to above an oil inlet for a bearing where it is scraped off the disk and caused to flow into the bearing. After a segment of a disk emerges from the oil sump, the disk enters a shroud which has a channel-shaped cross-section and whose back wall at least is curved with a decreasing radius as it extends away from the sump toward the scraper. The shroud captures the oil which would otherwise be spun off of the disk at high speeds so the maximum quantity of oil is retained on the disk when it reaches the scraper. A new scraper design is also disclosed.

Journal bearing using disk for transporting lubricant

In a tilting pad journal directly lubricated bearing the axially spaced apart sidewalls of the tilting pads are provided with extensions that have an axial space between them and contribute to defining the boundaries of a cool oil infeed well whose other boundaries are radially extending walls of adjacent pads or walls that are defined by slotting the leading ends of the pads. The pads are contained within the circular opening of a supporting ring member which has an oil infeed groove around its periphery. In line with each of the oil infeed wells there is an oil infeed passageway for delivering oil to the shaft surface exposed in the well by means of an interposed row of jets or orifices. Cool oil is fed into the wells, such that the interface between the bearing pad and the shaft, which only has oil from the well available to it, necessarily runs on cooler oil. The arrangement permits elimination of the conventional oil sealing rings which pre-existing bearings participate in defining a path or oil flow which results in all parts of the bearing assembly being totally immersed in oil with a consequence of increased power loss and heating due to shearing of the greater quantity of oil in the prior designs.

Tilting pad journal bearing using directed lubrication

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.

Method of making a low flow tilting pad thrust bearing

Low flow tilting pad thrust bearing

A tilting pad thrust bearing in which the sector-shaped pads are supported on individual disks. A runner runs on top of the pads. The disks have a spherical element projecting from their bottoms. The elements make tangential contact with a stationary support ring and the pads and disks tilt about an axis on which the point of tangency lies. The tilt axis of each pad is located at 70% to 80% of the length of an arc extending from the leading edge to the trailing edge of the pad midway between the radially outermost and innermost edge of the pad.

Tilting pad thrust bearing with optimized tilt axis location

A tilting pad thrust bearing wherein each bearing pad in a circular array of pads is held in a retainer and is provided with a radially extending rib on the side opposite of the side that receives the thrust load. There are disks that have a planar surface on one side and a spherical surface on an axially opposite side. The respective ribs of the pads bear on the planar surfaces of the disks. The spherical surfaces of the disks bear on angulated wings of two adjacent leveling links in a circular array of links. The links have radial holes and are supported for pivoting on pins that extend radially from the retainer. The periphery of each pin makes tangential line contact with a hole. An extrapolation of the angulated wing surfaces extends through the line contact so there is no moment arm for frictional forces at the point contact on the wings to act through and free pivoting of the leveling links is not impaired.

Tilting pad thrust bearing

A plurality of arcuate, vibration cushioning, spring beams are positioned in endwise relationship in the interior of an annular bearing housing to resiliently support an annular journal bearing therewithin which, in turn, rotatably supports a shaft. An annular clearance is provided between the bearing housing and the bearing elements, and oil is introduced to the clearance to provide viscous damping of vibrations.

Journal bearing assembly with flexible support and viscous damping

The bearing pads of a large tilting pad thrust bearing are extended laterally to project from both radial edges, the lateral extensions having faces which are offset inwardly relative to the faces of the pad and said extensions projecting into the spaces between the pads. Each lateral extension has a radially extending main oil duct, there being a row of oil jet ducts communicating with each main duct and opening at the surface of the lateral extension in a position to direct a row of oil jets against the runner in the space between pads, oil being pumped into the main oil duct from a circular oil manifold surrounding the pads and coupled to the main oil ducts through flexible conduits which permit the pads to tilt freely without interference.

Large thrust bearing with lubrication in the spaces between pads

An annular liquid collecting chamber is provided between the aft end of a stern tube bearing for a ship's propeller shaft and the forward end of the aft stern tube seal. A floating seal ring at the aft end of the stern tube bearing retains oil in the bearing but there is leakage of a small percentage of oil into the collecting chamber. A scavenge pump is coupled to the bottom of the collecting chamber to remove any fluids that collect therein. The oil in the output of the scavenge pump is coalesced and pumped to the stern tube oil sump tank to be recycled. The aft stern tube seal includes at least three seal rings whose lips are all directed outboard. Filtered sea water is pumped into a first annular space between two of the seal rings and circulates in an outboard direction to cool and lubricate the rings and wash away any dirt. Filtered sea water at a lower pressure is applied to an annular space which is forward of the first space to lubricate the rings and to lower the pressure drop across an intermediate ring. In certain installations where there is a projecting strut, there may be collecting from both ends of the bearing.

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Waukesha, WI, United States of America

Willis W Gardner