Patent ID: 9442026
Filing Date: 2016-09-13
CPC Classification: F16C,G01L,Y02B

Claim Text:
1. A machine comprising: a rolling element bearing, a sensor system, and a load determining system, wherein the rolling element bearing includes an inner ring, an outer ring and a plurality of rolling elements accommodated between the inner ring and the outer ring; wherein the sensor system being configured for sensing a local deformation of at least a particular one of the inner ring and the outer ring at at least a specific location on the particular one of the inner ring and the outer ring, and for supplying a sensor output representative of the sensing; wherein the load determining system being configured for: receiving the sensor output from the sensor system; and determining a mechanical load on the rolling element bearing in dependence on the sensor output, when the inner ring and the outer ring are coaxially rotating relative to one another; wherein the load determining system comprises: a first signal path configured for processing the sensor output for determining an average contribution to the mechanical load; a second signal path configured for processing the sensor output for determining a dynamic contribution to the mechanical load; and a combiner for linearly combining the average contribution and the dynamic contribution; the first signal path being configured for: low-pass filtering the sensor output with a first cut-off frequency; and processing the low-pass filtered sensor output as representative of the local deformation induced by a passing of the rolling elements past the specific location so as to determine the average contribution indicative of a low-frequency variation in the local deformation; the second signal path being configured for: band-pass filtering the sensor output with a second cut-off frequency, substantially equal to the first cut-off frequency, and with a third cut-off frequency higher than the second cut-off frequency; and processing the band-pass filtered sensor output as representative of a global deformation of the rolling element bearing indicative of the dynamic contribution; and the first cut-off frequency, the second cut-off frequency and the third cut-off frequency are substantially lower than a ball-pass frequency.