Material wear indication system
AssigneeROLLS-ROYCE plc
InventorsAndrew D. Copeland, Joel Rubel, Molly Harrison
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A material wear indication system is provided that includes a friction plate capable of engaging a moving surface and a wear indicator. The friction plate includes a wearable portion and a non-wearable portion. In one embodiment the wear indicator is embedded in the non-wearable portion and is prevented from contacting the moving surface until the wearable surface has been sufficiently eroded. When the wear indicator contacts the moving surface it emits a particulate matter that can be detected by a sensor. The sensor is operable to generate an electrical signal that is transmitted to a control unit when the wearable surface has eroded thereby exposing the wear indicator to the moving surface.
Claims19
An apparatus comprising:
- a friction plate having a wear surface, and a wear indicator that emits the particulate matter to provide a wear indication when the wear surface of the friction plate has been eroded to an emission level;
- and
- a sensor operable to detect the particulate matter.
An apparatus comprising:
- a friction plate;
- a wear indicator coupled with the friction plate and emits a particulate matter to provide a wear indication;
- and
- a control device configured to receive a wear indication signal based upon a presence of the particulate matter.
An apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of friction plates;
- a wear indicator embedded in the plurality of friction plates and emits particulate matter;
- and
- wherein the particulate matter provides a wear indication via a sensor operable to detect the particulate matter.
A method, comprising:
- engaging a wear surface with a friction surface of a friction plate device;
- emitting a particulate matter as a result of the engaging;
- and
- generating a wear signal due to the emission of particulate matter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.