Sensor Bearing Cable Guide for Stress Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Sensor bearings face reliability and robustness issues due to cable stresses during handling, transport, and mechanical stresses, leading to potential failures in hostile environments like high temperatures or oils, which existing solutions inadequately address.
Innovation Solution
A sensor bearing assembly with a cable guide that is fixed to the bearing rings, providing a secure and precise entry for data transfer cables, featuring a 90° bend and differentiated internal geometry for insulation and conductor parts, and using adhesion and resin for secure attachment, made from metallic materials via 3D printing for enhanced durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If cables are connected to sensors in sensor bearings, then data transfer capability is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to cable stresses during handling, transport, and mechanical operations
Solution Approach 1:
The cable is inserted through a cable guide that is integrated into the bearing structure, nesting the cable pathway within the bearing's own geometry rather than using external mounting. This eliminates additional interfaces and reduces vulnerability to mechanical stresses during handling and operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The cable guide provides a bent pathway (80°-100° angle) that changes the dimensional trajectory of the cable from a straight external connection to a curved internal route. This dimensional change allows the cable to enter the bearing at an optimized angle, reducing tensile stresses and improving robustness while maintaining data transfer capability.
2Reliability
If additional interfaces are introduced on mechanical components to manage cable stresses, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cable guide is merged with the bearing structure itself, combining the cable management function with the mechanical support structure. This integration eliminates the need for separate cable management components and additional interfaces, reducing overall device complexity while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The bearing structure serves multiple functions: mechanical support and cable guidance. The cable guide is designed as part of the bearing assembly, allowing the same structural components to fulfill both mechanical and cable management roles, thereby avoiding additional complexity.
3Reliability
If sensors are placed on parts other than bearings to avoid cable stresses, then reliability is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor and cable connection are nested within the bearing structure through the integrated cable guide, allowing sensors to remain on the bearing components where they provide accurate measurements while the cable pathway is protected from external stresses.
Data Source
AI summary
A sensor bearing assembly provides a bearing having at least one inner ring, at least one outer ring, at least one sensor installed in the bearing, at least one cable connecting the sensor to an external device, and a cable guide fixed to the bearing, into which the cable is inserted. The cable guide provides a flat part fixed to and resting on a flat housing of one of the rings of the bearing. The cable is fixed by adhesion in the cable guide, the cable guide is adhesively locked in rotation relative to the ring of the bearing to which it is fixed.