Patent ID: 8146358

Claim:
A method for monitoring the wear of a bearing of a turbocharger, wherein the turbocharger has a housing containing a wheel rotating with respect to the housing, the wheel including a plurality of blades, comprising: operating a blade sensor to detect blade proximity information for the plurality of blades on the rotating wheel as they pass by the blade sensor, the blade proximity information being indicative of a blade distance between passing blades and the blade sensor; calculating a bearing condition using a control system configured to monitor the wear of a bearing by establishing the bearing condition based on a variation range over a series of passing blades between the blade proximity information of the minimum blade distance and the blade proximity information of the maximum blade distance, and comparing that variation range to a previously established variation range representing a healthy bearing condition; and when the calculated bearing condition exceeds a preestablished level, activating one or more preestablished control system actions that protect against turbocharger failure due to worn bearings.