US 12,140,185 B2
Method and system for lubricating one or more rotary bearings
Haris Trobradovic, Zagreb (HR); and Charles Machado, Chaulnes (FR)
Assigned to SDT INTERNATIONAL SA-NV, Brussels (BE)
Appl. No. 17/905,936
Filed by SDT INTERNATIONAL SA-NV, Brussels (BE)
PCT Filed Feb. 25, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/054738
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 8, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/180485, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 16, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 20162123 (EP), filed on Mar. 10, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0143292 A1, May 11, 2023
Int. Cl. F16C 19/52 (2006.01); F16C 33/66 (2006.01); F16C 41/00 (2006.01); F16N 29/02 (2006.01)
CPC F16C 33/6659 (2013.01) [F16C 19/52 (2013.01); F16C 33/6625 (2013.01); F16C 41/00 (2013.01); F16N 29/02 (2013.01); F16C 2233/00 (2013.01); F16N 2210/14 (2013.01); G01N 2291/101 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for monitoring and lubricating at least one rotary bearing of a machine, by incrementally supplying a lubricant to the bearing in one or several consecutive supply steps in a lubrication sequence, comprising:
determining a prescribed lubricant amount,
measuring an ultrasound signal before a first lubricant supply step using a transducer mounted in connection with the bearing, and obtaining an initial value of a scalar indicator extracted from the signal that is representative of the lubrication condition of the bearing, and said measurement and value extraction is repeated after each subsequent lubricant supply step,
wherein each measurement is performed after a stabilization period following the lubricant supply, wherein the duration of the stabilization period being such that it allows the supplied lubricant to be fully operational,
the amounts of lubricant supplied in the consecutive steps are smaller than the prescribed lubricant amount,
starting with a second extracted value, each value of the scalar indicator is evaluated, with respect to the initial value, and, starting from a third measurement, with respect to one or more of the previously extracted values,
based on each of the evaluations, a decision is made about stopping or continuing the lubrication sequence.