Earth boring bit with tilted hydrodynamic thrust bearing
AssigneeBaker Hughes Incorporated
InventorsAaron J. Dick, Chih Lin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An earth boring bit has thrust faces with one of the thrust faces being at least partially tilted relative to the other. The bit has a cone rotatably mounted to a bearing pin of the bit body. The thrust faces are in the cone and on an end of the bearing pin. One of the thrust faces is completely flat and perpendicular to the axis of the bearing pin. The other thrust face has a tilted portion that is at a skewed angle relative to the axis. The tilted portion creates converging and diverging zones between the thrust faces.
Claims20
An earth boring bit, comprising:
- a bit body having a bit leg;
- a bearing pin having a cylindrical bearing surface concentric with a bearing pin axis;
- a cone mounted to the bearing pin member for rotation about the bearing pin about the axis;
- a thrust face in dynamic engagement with a thrust surface, the thrust surface being in a single plane nominally perpendicular to the axis, the thrust face and thrust surface being located between the bearing pin and the cone;
- and
- the thrust face having a tilted portion, defining between the tilted portion and the thrust surface a diverging clearance area rotationally followed by a converging clearance area for enhancing a lubricant film, the tilted portion being in a single plane tilted relative to a plane perpendicular to the axis.
An earth boring bit, comprising:
- a bit body having a bit leg with a depending bearing pin extending along a bearing pin axis;
- a cone rotationally mounted to the bearing pin;
- an annular first thrust bearing surface on a selected one of the cone and the bearing pin, the first thrust bearing surface being flat and nominally perpendicular to the axis;
- an annular second thrust bearing surface on the other of the cone and the bearing pin in dynamic engagement with the first thrust bearing surface;
- the second thrust bearing surface having a tilted portion that is inclined on a single plane relative to the first thrust bearing surface, the tilted portion extending from an inner diameter to an outer diameter of the second thrust bearing surface for a selected circumferential distance;
- and
- the second thrust bearing surface having a parallel portion that is a parallel to the first thrust bearing surface.
An earth boring bit, comprising:
- a bit body having a bit leg with a depending bearing pin;
- a cone mounted to the bearing pin for rotation relative to the bearing pin about a bearing pin axis;
- an annular bearing pin thrust face on the bearing pin, the bearing pin thrust face having a parallel portion that is flat, nominally perpendicular to the axis, and extends partially around a circumference of the bearing pin thrust face, the bearing pin thrust face having a tilted portion that is flat, at an angle relative to the axis, and extends around a remaining portion of the circumference;
- and
- an annular cone thrust face in the cone in dynamic engagement with the bearing pin thrust face, the cone thrust face being flat and nominally perpendicular to the axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.