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  Bearing monitoring methodThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080063330. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001]Applicant claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119(e) of provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60,842,718 filed on Sep. 7, 2006 which is incorporated by reference herein. FIELD OF INVENTION [0002]The present invention relates to both an improved bearing isolator that may be used alone or in combination with a conveyor roller type arrangement for improved contaminant exclusion in industrial applications and an improved monitoring method and system allowed by said apparatus. When the improved bearing isolator is used in combination with a conveyor roller, the exterior end face of the improved bearing isolator provides an indicator surface for monitoring. STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT [0003]No federal funds were used to develop or create the invention disclosed and described in the patent application. REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISK APPENDIX [0004]Not Applicable BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0005]Conveyors all over the world are in constant use handling a wide variety of usually solid materials that are in need of being transferred from one point to another. Materials include, but are not limited to, coal, sand, rocks, steeped corn, packages, and mined ores. Alternative means to conveyors for transporting solid materials include trucks or other vehicles, or conversion of the material to a slurry so that it may be pumped from one place to another. [0006]Conveyors handling bulk solids such as coal or ores can extend across mountainous terrain, over roads and streams for many miles. These conveyors are made up of belts that are normally supported by three rollers positioned at the bottom and sides of the belt. One roller is usually horizontal and the two side rollers are at an angle of approximately 35 degrees from the horizontal plane. [0007]Typically, the three rollers are supported by a frame that engages the shaft ends of the rollers (which shaft is generally concentric with the roller and of a slightly larger axial dimension than the roller) so as to keep the roller assemblies in line and in position for accommodating the belt and its load. The frames are normally positioned three feet or one meter from each other in a line, which equates to approximately 1,760 sets of three rollers per mile of conveyor run, or 1,100 sets per kilometer. Accounting for two bearing and bearing seals per roller, this approximation yields 10,560 bearings and bearing seals per mile of conveyor. Any one of the seals or bearings could severely degrade and cause the system to shut down. A stalled roller may put undue strain on the belt being used for holding the product, and when a bearing grinds to a halt, the resulting heat produced from the increased friction may initiate combustion of various combustible materials in and around the bearing location. [0008]Rollers of the prior art are normally fitted with sealed bearings at either end. Sealed bearings have integral rubber sealing components on either side of the inner and outer race that contact the inner race in a frictional manner, often with a lubricant packed between the inner and outer races. At the axial extremity of the roller, rubber or composite seals are applied so as to protect the sealed bearings from dust, dirt, silicon or other foreign matter that may contaminate the bearings and their lubricant. The seals, so described, are of the contacting type and frictionally engaged with the stationary component of the roller, which is usually the stationary shaft, or the stationary seal component. As soon as wear occurs, sealing efficiency degrades so as to be completely ineffective. Reliability of the system suffers because of the very large number (as calculated above) of wearing and vulnerable components. The prior art contacting seals are prone to wear and are energy consumptive because of the frictional drag inherent in their design. This frictional drag increases the operating costs through increased maintenance and electrical energy costs; therefore, reliability and energy consumption must be addressed and are two of the integral and useful subjects of this invention. FIG. 1A presents an exploded view of a conveyor roller bearing arrangement known to those practiced in the art. [0009]As taught by the prior art, conveyor rollers of this type are particularly suited to conveyors that operate in very difficult conditions. Typical environmentally difficult applications are mines, cement works, coal-fired electric utilities and dock installations, among others. The roller sealing system, as taught by the prior art, is designed to solve problems associated with the environmental challenges of dust, dirt, water, or other contaminants, low and high temperatures, or applications where a large temperature imbalance between day and night may be present. The principal task of the seals of the prior art used in conveyor rollers is to protect the primary bearing from harmful elements that may interfere with the primary bearing or impinge from the outside or the inside of the conveyor roller system and damage or shorten the useable life of the primary bearing. As found by applicant, the prior art fails to achieve the objective. [0010]Given the large numbers of conveyor rollers typically installed and used, it is difficult for operators to be alerted to a primary bearing failure until a secondary event occurs. Many times, this secondary event is initiation of a smoldering fire or smoke from conveyed materials deposited in close proximity to the conveyor due to the heat often generated from primary bearing failure. This heat generation that may cause a smoldering fire typically occurs from ferrous metal to ferrous metal contact, as does sparking, both of which are allowed by primary bearing failure. The typical bearing seal is hidden from external inspection/view and is made of plastic so that it does not only conduct heat poorly but is prone to fail upon rapid heating from either combustion or ferrous metal to ferrous metal contact. As is well known to those practiced in the art, ferrous metal to ferrous metal contact (rubbing) may be severe enough to raise the metal temperatures to 2500 degrees Fahrenheit (1370 degrees Celsius) and result in partial or full melting of the primary bearing and the destruction thereof. Furthermore, this source of heat may support ignition of conveyed materials, such as the carbon in coal, which has a temperature of ignition in the range of 765 degrees Fahrenheit (407 degrees Celsius), in contact with or exposed to the primary bearing. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0011]It is an objective of the present art to claim and disclose an improvement on the prior art and present viable solutions to the disadvantages of the prior art, including increased reliability of and reduction of energy consumed by roller assemblies and conveyor systems of the prior art. [0012]It is a further objective of the present art to claim and disclose a method of monitoring the improved bearing isolator in all its embodiments. In this method, the improved bearing isolator may be used as an indicator in connection with a detector system that collects operational data useful in operating the equipment associated with the improved bearing isolator and cooperatively engaged with the improved bearing isolator. The disclosed method may also be used for predictive and preventative maintenance of the improved bearing isolator and any equipment associated or systematically engaged therewith. [0013]One embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4A-4C, 6, and 7 is a non-contacting, non-wearing, and non-energy consumptive sealing system that provides adequate protection for primary bearings as may be found in the prior art and particularly those primary bearings used in combination with conveyor roller bearings as found in the prior art. In a first embodiment of the present invention, the bearing seals of the conveyor rollers of the prior art may be replaced with the present art. In this first embodiment, the improved bearing isolator is a substitute for lube containment shields, and the improved bearing isolator will not wear or degrade in use. Since the roller housing rotates around a stationary shaft, high quality and long lasting grease lubricant centrifugates (i.e., migrates through and by centrifugal acceleration) during rotation to the inner track of the outer race of the primary bearing and interacts with the rolling components of the primary bearings. In the embodiments disclosed, at all times there will be no frictional engagement with the sealing components or the improved bearing isolator assemblies. [0014]The new conveyor roller and improved bearing isolator have numerous advantages over the prior art, including substantially lower friction operation. This reduction in friction lowers energy required to operate a conveyor. Another advantage is improved contaminant exclusion. The improved bearing isolator portion of the conveyor roller has a massive intermediate annular chamber that accumulates granular material (or other external contaminants) attempting to infiltrate the primary bearing of the conveyor roller. This internal intermediate chamber limits the passage of the granular material that is present in the conveyed loads into the primary bearing. The design as disclosed is not limited to a single intermediate annular chamber, but extends to conveyor rollers and improved bearing isolators with a plurality of intermediate annular chambers since it is possible to position more than one of the intermediate annular chambers within the improved bearing isolator. The intermediate annular chamber(s) interrupt the interface passage between the stationary and rotating elements of the improved bearing isolator and have specifically designed entrance and exit locations for contaminants. In one embodiment, the interface passage entrance to the intermediate annular chamber is at the upper quartile of the intermediate annular chamber. The interface passage may exit the intermediate annular chamber at the lower quartile of the intermediate annular chamber. As a result, passage of the contaminants into the primary bearing will be counter to the flow of possible contaminants (which is inward to outward) because of the centrifugal force due to the orientation of increasing diameters in the improved bearing isolator. When handling dry powders, the intermediate chambers will not have a hydraulic ram effect as would be the case with liquids. Other embodiments exist in which the interface passage may exit the intermediate annular chamber in another area of the intermediate annular chamber, and the specific orientation of the interface passage with respect to the intermediate annular chamber in no way limits the scope of the present invention. [0015]The improved bearing isolator portion of the conveyor roller is designed with a long and tortuous passage in the interface between the stationary (stator) and rotating (rotor) components of the bearing isolation seal, which is the subject of this disclosure. FIGS. 3A-3D provide simple illustrations of various orientations of entrance and exit locations to and from the intermediate chamber that may be employed in the present invention without departure from the spirit and intent of the invention. Further variations and modifications on the entrance and exit locations to and from the intermediate chamber and to the passage in the interface between the stator and rotor will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention. [0016]As shown in the accompanying figures, the interface between the stator and the rotor may be selected so that various portions of the interface between the stator and rotor form a circumferential annular channel transverse the axial direction of the shaft and other portions of the interface form a circumferential annular channel parallel the axial direction of the shaft. [0017]The passage between the stator and the rotor will include a series of ninety degree turns that will prohibit free flow of the possible contaminants into the bearing environment. The embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4A-4C, 6, and 7 has nine of the prescribed ninety degree turns. It is contemplated more or less turns may be incorporated in the design as disclosed as necessitated by operating conditions without departing from the spirit or intent of the present art. During operation, the intermediate annular chamber may be filled with long-lasting, preferably synthetic, grease, as known to those practiced in the art. As is known to those skilled in the art, the grease may be filled at the time of initial assembly or after initial assembly by an external zerk fitting employing a passage from the external surface of the stator into the intermediate annular chamber. [0018]In most embodiments, the passage between the rotor and stator will have constantly increasing diameters from the inside of the improved bearing isolator to the outside of the improved bearing isolator to discourage flow of granular material or contaminants in the direction towards the primary bearing. That is, the design as disclosed promotes outward contaminant flow as previously described. As disclosed, the end face angle relative to the horizontal may be steeper and more severe than the angle of repose that exists with the conveyed material. Continue reading... Full patent description for Bearing monitoring method Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Bearing monitoring method patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Bearing monitoring method or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Bearing fixing structures Next Patent Application: Lubricating structure of rolling bearing Industry Class: Bearings ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Bearing monitoring method patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 1.42494 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Novartis , Pfizer , Philips , Polaroid , Procter & Gamble , |
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