FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to rotating equipment, and more specifically, to a monitoring/analysis system and method for non-intrusive damage detection for fluid film bearings and other rotating equipment.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

Non-intrusive methods for detecting damage and/or assessing performance of bearings are highly desirable, as such methods may allow personnel to collect crucial information regarding the bearing while the equipment is still operating. Avoiding expensive maintenance incidents and/or costly shutdowns to inspect or repair a bearing may result in many thousands of dollars saved each year at a single facility.

Regarding fluid film bearings, which are designed for unlimited life, fluid film bearing surface wear happens for reasons such as start-up/shut down, impact loading, misalignment, edge loading, debris, erosion, corrosion, etc. Pads, lobes, and faces (bearing surfaces) must be inspected visually for wear during scheduled or unscheduled maintenance. If fluid film bearing wear could be detected non-intrusively for customer's critical applications and machinery during operating, equipment reliability and uptime could be increased, maintenance cycle times could be extended, and surprises, such as unscheduled shut downs, loss of production, increased maintenance time and effort, could be avoided.

Acoustic emission is an elastic wave produced as a result of a swift discharge of energy from a source within a material that is compelled by an externally applied stimulus. Acoustic emission signals may correspond to elastic waves or signals in the range from 5 to 1000 kHz, and the frequency range may be higher than the vibration analysis range and lower than the ultrasonic testing range.

Acoustic emission monitoring and analysis has been applied in various fields to detect failure of certain types of equipment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,449; WO 2015178821; and WO 2013159840 all disclose using acoustic emission to detect failure of a rolling element bearing. However, acoustic emission monitoring and analysis has yet to be applied to fluid film bearings, a field in which the acoustic emission detection and analysis is extremely disparate to that of rolling element bearings due to the continual presence of fluid between rotating and stationary elements of fluid film bearings.

