Combined insulator and conductor assembly for bearings with clip-mounted conductor

A combined electrical insulator and conductor assembly for a bearing disposable between a shaft and a housing, the bearing having an inner ring, an outer ring having an outer circumferential surface and opposing first and second axial ends, and a plurality of rolling elements disposed between the rings, the shaft having an outer circumferential surface and the housing having an inner circumferential surface, the assembly comprising:

• an annular insulator disposeable about the outer ring and configured to prevent electric current flow between the outer ring and the housing;
• an electrically conductive disk having an outer radial end, an inner radial end defining a central opening for receiving a portion of the shaft, and at least one retainer disposed at the outer radial end and releasably engaged with the insulator so as to couple the disk with the bearing, at least one of the outer radial end and a portion of the disk between the outer and inner ends being conductively engageable with the housing;
• and
• an annular conductive brush subassembly coupled with the conductive disk and including a centerline and a plurality of electrically conductive fibers, the conductive fibers being spaced circumferentially about the centerline and extending radially inwardly from the inner end of the conductive disk, each conductive fiber having an inner end contactable with the shaft outer surface so as to provide a conductive path between the shaft and the disk.

A combined electrical insulator and conductor assembly for a bearing disposable between a shaft and a housing, the bearing having an inner ring, an outer ring having an outer circumferential surface and opposing first and second axial ends, and a plurality of rolling elements disposed between the rings, the shaft having an outer circumferential surface and the housing having an inner circumferential surface, the assembly comprising:

• an insulative ring coupled with the first axial end of the bearing outer ring and formed of an electrically insulative material;
• a tubular insulator body having an inner circumferential surface disposeable about the outer surface of the bearing outer ring and an outer circumferential surface engageable with the housing inner surface, a first axial end coupled with the insulative ring and an opposing second axial end, the insulator body being formed of an electrically insulative material or provided with an insulative layer on at least one of the inner and outer surfaces;
• and
• an electrical conductor having at least one retainer releasably engaged with the tubular insulator body so as to couple the conductor with the bearing, an outer radial end and an inner radial end, at least one of the outer radial end and a portion of the conductor between the outer and inner ends being conductively engageable with the housing and the inner radial end being conductively engageable with the shaft so as to provide an electrically conductive path between the shaft and the housing.