The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 25, 1982
Filed:
Jan. 02, 1980
William H Miller, Jr, Albany, NY (US);
Mechanical Technology Incorporated, Latham, NY (US);
Abstract
A compliant hydrodynamic fluid thrust bearing includes a resilient support system having a two-stage spring arrangement for supporting a flexible bearing sheet. The spring arrangement includes a bundle of nested Belleville springs arranged in parallel and a corrugated spring member arranged in series with the Belleville spring bundle. This arrangement provides an overall spring characteristic of relatively low stiffness under light load, an increased stiffness under the loads normally encountered during operation of the bearing, and a decreased stiffness under loads in excess of the rated capacity of the bearing. This spring characteristic enables the bearing sheet to deflect early under light hydrodynamic loads to assure the correct filt with respect to the thrust runner to establish supporting fluid films; to support the axial load during normal operating conditions; and to deflect under extreme transient loads to share misalignment or gross vibration loads with adjacent bearing areas.