Design and Performance Verification of Marine Intelligent Water-lubricated Stern Bearings with Temperature Sensing

An innovative design of marine intelligent water-lubricated stern bearings was proposed to assist the tail shaft system for improving operating state monitoring and performance prediction in harsh environments. Based on the micro embedded self-powered monitoring systems and the water-lubricated bearing structures and material designs, some critical performance parameters of water-lubricated bearings in ship sailing were measured and analyzed in real-time, which were used for operating state identification, evaluation, and life prediction. As an example, the internal temperature of bearings was chosen for feasibility verification of the above intelligent water-lubricated tail bearings by CBZ-1 friction and wear tester. The results show that the internal temperature of the bearings may effectively reflect their lubrication and working conditions. Under water lubrication conditions, the initial period heating rate is as 0.1~0.4 ℃/min, the final period heating rate is as 0~0.01 ℃/min, and the temperature during the steady operations is as 29~33 ℃. Under dry friction conditions, the three data are 0.6~1.4 ℃/min, 0.03~0.25 ℃/min and 36~45 ℃, respectively. The huge temperature differences in different lubrication states make it possible to determine the bearing lubrication conditions, which means that temperature monitoring will greatly improve the reliability of water-lubricated bearings. © 2022 China Mechanical Engineering Magazine Office. All rights reserved.