Patent ID: 11873064
Assignee: WAVETAMER LLC
Field: Mechanical elements (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  F  G | IPC B  F

Claim 9:
10. A method of operating a gyroscopic roll stabilizer for a boat, the method comprising:
maintaining a below ambient pressure within an enclosure surrounding a flywheel assembly, the flywheel assembly including a flywheel shaft and a spinning flywheel; wherein the flywheel shaft has a cavity that is open-ended formed in an end of the flywheel shaft; wherein an inner wall bounds the cavity;
supporting the spinning flywheel for rotation about a flywheel axis via a bearing, the bearing comprising an inner race and an outer race, the inner race affixed to the flywheel shaft;
dissipating heat from the inner race by transferring the heat to a bearing cooling circuit configured to transfer heat by recirculating a cooling fluid along a closed fluid pathway;
cooling the cooling fluid by removing heat from the cooling fluid external to a portion of the enclosure maintained at the below-ambient pressure; and
recirculating the cooling fluid through the closed fluid pathway;
wherein the dissipating heat comprises internally cooling, by the cooling fluid, a heat transfer shaft assembly rotationally fixed relative to the flywheel axis and extending into the cavity by routing the cooling fluid through the heat transfer shaft assembly; wherein the closed fluid pathway extends into the cavity inside the heat transfer shaft assembly; wherein the heat transfer shaft assembly is spaced from the inner wall bounding the cavity by a gap;
wherein heat is transferred away from the inner race of the bearing to the flywheel shaft, and from the flywheel shaft across the gap to the heat transfer shaft assembly, and from the heat transfer shaft assembly to the cooling fluid.