Imbedded bearing life and load monitor

A system for sensing individual rolling element loads in a rolling element bearing having a plurality of rolling elements disposed between an inner race and an outer race, comprising:

• a plurality of sensors disposed about one of the inner race and the outer race of the bearing to output sensor data corresponding to detected loads from the rolling elements;
• a plurality of connecting members respectively connected to each of said plurality of sensors to transmit the sensor data;
• and
• a control unit to receive the sensor data from said plurality of connecting members, wherein said control unit calculates load components corresponding to each of the sensors in the rolling element bearing from the received sensor data, and determine a load zone of the bearing from the calculated load components.

A system for sensing individual rolling element loads in a rolling element bearing having a plurality of rolling elements disposed between an inner race and an outer race, comprising:

• means for sensing individual loads corresponding to the plurality of rolling elements;
• means for calculating load components corresponding to each of the sensed individual loads in the rolling element bearing;
• means for measuring bearing speed during rotation of the bearing;
• and
• means for calculating bearing life from the individually calculated load components and the measured bearing speed in real time.

A method of predicting bearing life in a rolling element bearing, comprising the steps of:

• sensing individual loads caused by a plurality of rolling elements in the rolling element bearing;
• calculating individual load components corresponding to each of the sensed individual loads in the rolling element bearing;
• measuring bearing speed during rotation of the bearing;
• and
• calculating bearing life from the calculated individual load components and the measured bearing speed.

A method of determining a load zone in a rolling element bearing, comprising the steps of:

• sensing individual loads of a plurality of rolling elements in the rolling element bearing;
• calculating individual load components corresponding to each of the sensed individual loads in the rolling element bearing;
• and
• calculating a load zone from the calculated individual load components.

A method of calculating load components in a rolling element bearing, comprising the steps of:

• calibrating a plurality of sensors disposed about one of an inner race and outer race of the bearing to establish a relationship between roller load and measured strain;
• measuring sensor data from the plurality of sensors during rotation of the bearing;
• and
• calculating load components corresponding to each of the sensors in the bearing, to thereby characterize a load zone of the bearing.

A method of calculating total applied system load in a system including a plurality of rolling element bearings, comprising the steps of:

• calibrating a plurality of sensors disposed about each rolling element bearing to model a relationship of roller load and measured strain;
• measuring sensor data from the plurality of sensors for each of the rolling element bearings during rotation of the bearings;
• extracting peaks and valleys from the sensor data for each of the sensors corresponding to each of the rolling element bearings;
• calculating bearing speed for each of the rolling element bearings from the passage of rolling elements by the sensors;
• determining perpendicular force components for each of the bearings from the extracted peaks and valleys and calculated bearing speed;
• and
• summing each of the respective Cartesian force components for each of the bearings to obtain total applied system load.