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:
Sep. 14, 1999
Filed:
Aug. 06, 1998
John H Rhodes, Torrington, CT (US);
Richard L Lemoine, Collinsville, CT (US);
Richard W Browner, Waterbury, CT (US);
Mark A Fuller, Torrington, CT (US);
Mark I Jurras, III, Canton Center, CT (US);
David Nguyen, Farmington, CT (US);
The Torrington Company, Torrington, CT (US);
Abstract
A system senses real-time rolling element loads in a rolling element bearing having a plurality of rolling elements disposed between an inner race and an outer race. A plurality of sensors are disposed about one of the inner race and the outer race of the bearing to output sensor data corresponding to detected loads. A control unit predicts bearing life from the sensor data and determines a load zone of the bearing in real time from the sensor data. Before operation of the system in real-time, the sensors are calibrated to model a relationship of roller load and measured strain. The bearing is then rotated and sensor data is output from each the sensors. The sensor data is cyclical, and peaks and valleys are extracted from the sensor data to determine rolling element loads and measured bearing speed. Load components from a plurality of bearings are then summed to obtain total applied system load in real time.