Patent ID: 7488111

Claim:
A method for providing damping to a bearing, comprising: a) providing a composite resilient mount; and b) disposing said composite resilient mount between an outer raceway and a housing of said bearing, wherein said composite resilient mount comprises: a hoop portion having an axial height H, a radial thickness t hoop , a hoop internal surface and a hoop external surface, a plurality of inner pads dispersed circumferentially on said hoop internal surface of said composite resilient mount, each of said inner pads having a pad length l pad circumferentially disposed about the hoop internal surface and a pad thickness t pad radilly aligned with the hoop, and a plurality of outer pads dispersed circumferentially on said hoop external surface of said composite resilient mount, each of said outer pads having a pad length l pad circumferentially disposed about the hoop outer surface and a pad thickness t pad radilly aligned with the hoop, wherein: the total number of said inner pads equals the total number of said outer pads, each of said outer pads is interspersed between an adjacent pair of said inner pads to define a plurality of arcuate beam portions, said beam portions circumferentially disposed between said outer pads and said inner pads and having a circumferential distance l beam about the hoop external surface between a centerline of proximate inner and outer pads, and said composite resilient mount being characterized by a parameter selected from the group consisting of having a ratio of height, H, to pad length, l pad (H:l pad ) in the range of from about 1.0 to 3.0; having a ratio of l pad to l beam (l pad :l beam ) in the range of from about 0.25 to 0.60; having a ratio of (t hoop +t pad ) to t hoop ((t hoop +t pad ):t hoop ) in the range of from about 1.04 to 1.25; and combinations thereof; and said composite resilient mount comprises circumferentially wound fibers impregnated with a resin.