Patent ID: 8801365

Claim:
A hydraulic machine comprising: a wheel supported by a shaft, the wheel and the shaft being mounted to move in rotation about an axis, a radial hydrostatic or hydrodynamic water bearing is formed between a radially peripheral surface of the shaft and a radially inside surface of a stationary member that is stationary relative to the axis, the bearing extending between two opposite gap limits that, when the bearing is operating normally, constitute outlet zones for discharging a film of water that is formed in the bearing, at least one liquid receiving cavity is provided in the stationary member and opens to the inner radial surface of the stationary member adjacent to a first one of the two opposite gap limits of the bearing, and the stationary member is provided with flow communication means for putting the cavity into fluid communication with a volume situated outside the bearing adjacent the second of the two opposite gap limits of the bearing, the cavity and the flow communication means removing a portion of a flow forming the film of water when removal of the film of water is obstructed at the first of the two opposite gap limits, wherein an expansion seal is disposed adjacent one of the two opposite gap limits of the bearing.