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US 9,488,221 B2Granted
Bearing assemblies including enhanced selected support for nonuniform loads, bearing apparatuses, and methods of use
AssigneeUS Synthetic Corporation
InventorJair Jahaziel Gonzalez
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments of the invention are directed to bearing assemblies configured to effectively carry nonuniform loads, bearing apparatuses including such bearing assemblies, and methods of operating such bearing assemblies and apparatuses. In an embodiment, under some operational conditions, one or more portions of the bearing assemblies and bearing apparatus may be preferentially loaded, such as to carry preferentially higher loads (e.g., radial and/or axial loads) than other portion(s) of the bearing assemblies and bearing apparatus.
Claims24
A bearing assembly, comprising:
- a support ring;
- and
- a plurality of superhard bearing elements mounted to the support ring, the plurality of superhard bearing elements being distributed about an axis, each of the plurality of superhard bearing elements having a superhard material including a superhard bearing surface;
- a reinforced portion that has a span angle defined by two reference lines intersecting at the axis, wherein the reinforced portion includes each superhard bearing surface entirely within the span angle and/or any portion of any other superhard bearing surface partially within the span angle;
- and
- an unreinforced portion defined by a vertical angle of the span angle, wherein the unreinforced portion includes each superhard bearing surface entirely within the vertical angle and/or any portion of any other superhard bearing surface partially within the vertical angle;
- wherein a collective superhard bearing surface area of the reinforced portion is at least 15% greater than a collective superhard bearing surface area of the unreinforced portion.
4 more elements
A bearing apparatus, comprising:
- a first bearing assembly including:
- a plurality of first superhard bearing elements, each of the plurality of first superhard bearing elements including a superhard material having a first superhard bearing surface;
- and
- a second bearing assembly including:
- a plurality of second superhard bearing elements distributed about an axis, each of the plurality of second superhard bearing elements including a superhard material having a second superhard bearing surface, the second superhard bearing surfaces positioned to slidingly engage the first bearing surfaces during operation;
- a reinforced portion that has a span angle of less than 72° defined by two reference lines intersecting at the axis, wherein the reinforced portion includes each second superhard bearing surface entirely within the span angle and/or any portion of any other second superhard bearing surface partially within the span angle;
- and
- an unreinforced portion defined by a vertical angle of the span angle, wherein the unreinforced portions includes each second superhard bearing surface entirely within the vertical angle and/or any portion of any other second superhard bearing surface partially within the vertical angle;
- and
- a support ring secured to the plurality of second superhard bearing elements;
- wherein a collective superhard bearing surface area of the reinforced portion is at least 15% greater than a collective superhard bearing surface area of the unreinforced portion.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.