ServoFluid Control Bearing Revolutionizes Future of Rotating Machinery

Bently Nevada Corporation>, the leading worldwide supplier of machinery protection and management solutions, is expanding its focus from simply measuring and diagnosing machinery conditions to providing revolutionary new bearing technology designed to change how machinery is built, maintained, and operated. Bently Nevada owner and Chief Executive Officer, Donald Bently, is the inventor of the new ServoFluid Control Bearing. Bently explains the product's significance: "This is the most important thing to happen in bearing technology in the last 100 years. Competing bearing technologies – whether conventional fluid-film, rolling element, magnetic, or tilting pad – all have their disadvantages ranging from chronic problems with instabilities to insufficient stiffness to limited lifespans. Our design overcomes these problems." Unlike conventional fluid-film designs, ServoFluid technology embraces an approach that was previously thought to be inappropriate for high-speed, fluid-film bearings. Bently elaborates: "The rotating machinery community has long held to the erroneous notion that fluid-film bearings should never be fully lubricated or pressurized at more than a few dozen psi, and this practice of using partially lubricated, essentially unpressurized fluid-film bearings extends around the entire world. Conventional wisdom was that this led to instability in the bearing and this was perpetuated by several unfortunate technical papers. We've shown just the opposite. By adequately pressurizing our bearing and using full, 360 degree lubrication, we've created a product with better stability and load-carrying capacity than any other bearing ever developed."

Bently should know a thing or two about bearings. His company, Bently Nevada Corporation, pioneered the use of special shaft-observing transducers (proximity probes) that monitor the health of machinery. Today, the company sells over $200 million per year in products and services related to machinery health assessment. "Our field engineers and customers are constantly diagnosing machinery problems, and a large number of those problems stem from poor bearing designs. If our probes have taught me one thing, it is this: current bearing technology is far from being perfect, and the market is long overdue for superior bearing technology." That belief propelled Bently into the bearing arena, and his propensity to question conventional approaches to bearing designs led him to proceed counter to virtually everything currently published or recommended regarding the operation of fluid-film bearings. Says Bently, "People told me 40 years ago that I couldn't poke holes in machines and stick my probes in there to see what was happening. I'm glad they were wrong. Today, we're on a parallel course with bearings – we've done what everyone said couldn't, or shouldn't, be done. It's a bit like breaking the sound barrier."

The significance of this bearing technology could easily take Bently Nevada Corporation well beyond its present size. Marco Alcalde, ServoFluid Engineering Manager, provides insight: "This bearing is a perfect fit for the customers we are already calling on and selling to. They buy our products because we help them operate their machinery more safely and with better information about its condition. Until now, we really only measured that condition – rather than directly influenced it. With this bearing technology, we're changing that. They can actually influence how their machinery behaves and actively manage its rotor dynamic characteristics. It enables a whole new generation of machinery designs that can be smaller, more efficient, more stable, and can enjoy adjustable rotor dynamic characteristics. Unlike partially lubricated fluid-film bearings, ours is also applicable to vertical machines, not just horizontal machines, and we completely eliminate the instability problems that commonly plague vertically oriented machines. No other bearing can provides all the benefits that our bearing delivers." Alcalde continues, "Our biggest challenge now is getting the word out about this technology. Once customers discover its benefits and their ability to influence, rather than just live with, the rotor dynamic characteristics of their machinery, I think the dam will burst. This is truly breakthrough technology with immediate practical benefits."

Among its many advantages, the ServoFluid Control Bearing is designed to offer greater flexibility in lubricants, and works with incompressible fluids such as water or conventional hydrocarbon-based oils. It also works with compressible fluids such as air or nitrogen. Says Bently, "The Bearing's working fluid can be chosen based on its compatibility with what the machine is handling and the hazardous environment the machine may be in – in some cases, we can even use the machine's process media itself."

The Company's emphasis on advanced bearing technology also fits ideally with their competence in lubricant condition analysis and consulting. Chairman Bently clarifies: "Machinery condition and longevity is intimately related to lubricant condition including cleanliness, moisture content, and chemical content. Bently Nevada's expertise encompasses all these aspects. We understand the importance of lubricant selection and cleanliness, and whether our customers choose conventional lubricants with their existing bearings, or desire our assistance with lubricant system design in conjunction with our ServoFluid technology, we have the capabilities in our lubrication services group."

Bently Nevada maintains over 80 sales and service offices in the principal industrial centers of 40 countries around the globe. In addition to its revolutionary ServoFluid bearing technology, the company offers instrumentation, software, and engineering services, as well as fundamental rotor dynamic research – all with a common objective: helping customers protect and manage all their machinery