Hydrostatic bearing for supporting rotating equipment, a fluid handling system associated therewith, a control system therefore, method and apparatus

A method of abating shaft precession, the steps including:

• monitoring a shaft for precession,
• opposing shaft precession by fluid contact with the shaft including delivering the fluid in diametrically opposed streams to the shaft through portals,
• determining whether the opposing streams should have pressure differentials, and
• delivering the differential pressure to the portals.

A shaft support, comprising, in combination:

• a bearing block,
• a shaft passing through said bearing block,
• sensors to monitor shaft precession,
• means to compare sensor output versus a standard,
• means to deliver continuous quantities of fluid to said bearing block based on sensor data,
• and means to prevent swirl at an area between said shaft and bearing block.

A method for simulating differential shaft forces to identify operating parameters of a rotor shaft of an on-line machine, the steps including:

• inducing stimulus to a rotor shaft correlative of a system anomaly;
• monitoring a real time response signature of the rotor shaft;
• processing the real-time response signature to obtain machine characteristics;
• applying a correlative stimulus to the rotor shaft;
• and
• monitoring subsequent artifacts correlative of the anomaly being rectified.

A method for measuring internal machine forces acting on a rotating shaft of a running machine, the steps including:

• directing a fluidic force on the rotating shaft of the machine from at least one valve under the direction of a control signal;
• monitoring the shaft in response to the fluidic forces directed thereon;
• providing a corrective control signal to at least one valve;
• and
• controlling the fluidic force on the shaft until the shaft is repositioned.