Load sensing thrust plate
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorJohn H. Vohr
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Pressure sensing ports opening through the fares of tapered land thrust bearing pads are sized and located to afford a pressure proportional to the average pressure of the load along such surfaces in the radial and circumferential directions. The pressure sensing ports are preferably located 5/8 the circumferential extent of the pad from its leading edge and approximately midway between the inner and outer diameters. The circumferential extent of the slot is sized to approximate 1/12 of the arc length of the pad while its radial extent approximates 1/4 the radial distance between the inner and outer diameters.
Claims16
Apparatus for sensing the average thrust load oil a tapered land thrust bearing when loaded by a thrust runner rotatable about an axis comprising:
- a thrust bearing plate having a plurality of thrust pads spaced from one another in a circumferential direction about said plate for disposition in opposition to the thrust runner, each thrust pad having a thrust bearing surface tapered in a circumferential direction toward the thrust runner and in the direction of rotation of the thrust runner;
- means carried by said thrust bearing plate for supplying lubricant to the tapered thrust bearing surfaces;
- and
- a port opening through the thrust bearing surface of at least one pad for communication with the lubricant along the thrust bearing surface thereof, said port being sized and located for measuring a pressure proportional to the average pressure of the lubricant along the tapered thrust bearing surface of said one pad in one of radial and circumferential directions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.