Apparatus and method for bearing condition monitoring
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsAyman Mohamed Fawzi El-Refaie, Robert Dean King, Christof Martin Sihler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electrical motor bearing condition monitoring system includes an assembly that includes a shaft, a first bearing race coupled to the shaft, a plurality of bearing balls, and a second bearing race coupled to the first bearing race via the plurality of bearing balls. A portion of the assembly has a magnetic field encoded thereon. The monitoring system includes a magnetic field sensor positioned proximately to the magnetized assembly and configured to measure the magnetic field, and a processing unit configured to detect changes in the magnetic field via the magnetic field sensor.
Claims25
An electrical motor bearing condition monitoring system comprising:
- bearing components comprising:
- a shaft;
- a first bearing race coupled to the shaft;
- a plurality of bearing balls;
- a second bearing race coupled to the first bearing race via the plurality of bearing balls;
- wherein a material of one of the shaft, the first bearing race, and the second bearing race is magnetically encoded having a retained magnetization;
- a magnetic field sensor positioned proximately to the magnetically encoded component and configured to measure the magnetic field;
- and
- a processing unit configured to detect changes in the magnetically encoded component via the magnetic field sensor to predict a failure of the electrical motor bearing based on the changes in the magnetically encoded component.
A method comprising:
- providing components of a bearing assembly, the components comprising at least one of a first bearing race, a second bearing race, and a bearing shaft;
- magnetically encoding at least a portion of one of the components, wherein magnetically encoding the portion of the component comprises attaching a first electrode and a second electrode to the portion and passing an electrical current through the portion via the first and second electrodes;
- assembling the components of the bearing assembly together;
- and
- configuring a controller to:
- monitor a magnetic field for disturbances in the magnetization that result from bearing currents proximate to the magnetically encoded portion during operation of the bearing assembly;
- and
- predict a failure of the bearing assembly based on the monitored magnetic field.
An apparatus comprising:
- a shaft;
- a first bearing race coupled to the shaft;
- a second bearing race coupled to the shaft;
- and
- a plurality of bearing balls positioned between the first bearing race and the second bearing race;
- wherein one of the shaft, a portion of the first bearing race, and a portion of the second bearing race is magnetically encoded having essentially a single direction of magnetic polarization.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.