Donald E Bently

57695458, Jun 23, 1998

Dec 4, 1996

8/759415

Donald E. Bently - Minden NV
John W. Grant - Minden NV

Bently Nevada Corporation - Minden NV

F16C 3206

384118

A bearing for supporting rotating equipment, a fluid handling system associated therewith, a control system therefore, method and apparatus is disclosed in which a rotating shaft is suspended in a fluid. Shaft precession is monitored to provide a compensatory feed back loop to maintain proper shaft registry in the face of loads.

61426725, Nov 7, 2000

Jun 22, 1998

9/102498

Donald E. Bently - Minden NV
John W. Grant - Minden NV

Bently Nevada Corporation - Minden NV

F16C 3206

384118

A fluid flow control system for a bearing supporting rotating equipment, method and apparatus is disclosed in which a rotating shaft is suspended in a fluid. Shaft precession is monitored to provide a compensatory feed back loop to maintain proper shaft registry in the face of loads.

40330427, Jul 5, 1977

Feb 17, 1976

5/658293

Donald E. Bently - Minden NV

Bently Nevada Corporation - Minden NV

G01B 731

33181R

Alignment apparatus and method for aligning a pair of machines having first and second rotating shafts in a machine train with at least one flexible coupling interconnecting the first and second shafts. The flexible coupling has at least one member connected to one of the shafts and is capable of accommodating at least some misalignment of the first and second shafts. One of the first and second shafts is considered as a reference shaft and the other of said first and second shafts is considered as a movable shaft. Means is carried by the shafts having surfaces spaced apart circumferentially with respect to the axis of rotation of the shafts which represent the orientation of one of said shafts and serve as reference surfaces. Paddle means is carried by the flexible coupling and has surfaces spaced apart circumferentially with respect to the axis of rotation of the shafts and representing the orientation of the one member of the flexible coupling. Probe means is provided for sensing the position of the reference surfaces and the last named surfaces to provide information on the gap or spacing between the probe means and the surfaces.

60920297, Jul 18, 2000

Feb 19, 1998

9/025801

Donald E. Bently - Minden NV

Bently Nevada Corporation - Minden NV

G05B 1300

702 56

A method and apparatus is provided for diagnosing and correcting rotating stall and surge in rotating machines by monitoring dynamic shaft precession and comparing this precession with a standard and altering the precession as the machine approaches a destabilizing condition when indicated by the comparison step. Axial vibration monitoring means is also provided for monitoring and comparing a dynamic axial vibration of the machine with a standard and altering the axial vibration as the machine approaches a destabilizing condition. Furthermore, the instant invention measures the complex dynamic stiffness of the machine and computes the direct dynamic stiffness and the quadrature dynamic stiffness for use as a destabilizing warning device by monitoring for a drop in direct dynamic stiffness and/or a coincidence of zero crossing of both the direct dynamic stiffness and the quadrature dynamic stiffness components. One embodiment for altering the rotating stall and/or surge is by a controlled active servobearing.