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:
Aug. 08, 2000
Filed:
Nov. 24, 1998
Yefim Novoselsky, Old Bridge, NJ (US);
Samuel Hsieh, Marlboro, NJ (US);
Ratan Guha, Oakhurst, NJ (US);
Muthu Murugan, Howell, NJ (US);
Leon Kasdan, West Long Branch, NJ (US);
AlliedSignal Inc., Morristown, NJ (US);
Abstract
A bearing detection system for an electrical generator (10) includes auxiliary bearings (29) for supporting a rotating shaft (39) upon failure of main bearings (62). The auxiliary bearings (29) are mounted on the shaft and have a slight gap (64) between their outside diameters and bearing liners 33. The gap corresponds to the main bearing permissible wear. During normal functioning of the main bearing, the auxiliary bearing frame (34) rotates with the shaft and a magnet (35) with a small clearance between its face and auxiliary bearing outer ring (32) forces the synchronized rotation of inner (37) and outer (32) races. The auxiliary bearing outer ring or race (32) has a coaxial groove (31) on its outer diameter and a detection sensor (30), mounted on the bearing liner, gives a signal per rotation of the shaft to a control circuit (40). The control circuit (40) determines the rotational status of the auxiliary bearings outer ring (32) by counting the number of impulses generated by the circuit (40) when the groove crosses the sensor's magnetic fields. The circuit (40) detects the moment when any auxiliary bearing comes in contact with the bearing liner and results in no impulses being generated. The outer ring (32) stops rotating as the main bearing wear depth reaches the predetermined limit. In this case, the circuit (40) triggers the failure signal (71) to indicate that the main bearings need replacement.