| A fast temperature increment is anticipated between the rolling elements and the bearing cage, due to the sliding contact, against the pure rolling among the rolling elements and the races. The cage responds faster than other components due to its low mass. Thus, a wireless temperature sensor on the bearing cage to monitor the health of the bearing was proposed. The sensors employed a pair of miniaturized temperature sensitive capacitors in a simple inductor-capacitor (L-C) oscillator as sensing elements, and the oscillator serves as a telemeter circuit that transmits critical temperature data to a receiver for computer analysis. The sensor design was improved to select the best configuration, choosing a smaller arrangement against the larger and heavier commercial versions. The power for the sensor operation was supplied by a battery. Dupont Pyralux® thick film carrier, Surface Mount Devices (SMD), and photolithography techniques were used to fabricate the sensor. Sensors mounted onto the tapered roller bearing cage are proposed to monitor the bearing's health. A finite element analysis was performed, obtaining numerical results of the system under normal operation. |
