Spherical Journal Bearing for a Wind Turbine Drivetrain

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, March 28 -- GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, Schenectady, New York has been assigned a patent (No. US 11614078 B2, initially filed Oct. 26, 2020) developed by Luke Frank Moughon, Simpsonville, South Carolina, for "Spherical journal bearing for a wind turbine drivetrain."

A hydrodynamic journal bearing assembly for a drivetrain of a wind turbine includes a shaft and a semispherical convex surface provided on an outer surface of the shaft, the convex surface extending circumferentially around the shaft and having a convex cross-sectional profile oriented along a longitudinal axis of the shaft. A bearing housing is arranged circumferentially around the semispherical convex surface, the bearing housing having s a reservoir in a bottom portion thereof for a bearing fluid. A static semispherical concave bearing surface in the bearing housing defines a bearing interface with the semispherical convex surface on the shaft, wherein a layer of the fluid is provided in the bearing interface as the shaft and rotates through the reservoir.