Development of an Innovative Wear indicating Spherical Lined Bearing Navy SBIR FY2012.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2012.1 Topic No.: N121-016 Topic Title: Development of an Innovative Wear indicating Spherical Lined Bearing Proposal No.: N121-016-1455 Firm: Mainstream Engineering Corporation 200 Yellow Place Pines Industrial Center Rockledge, Florida 32955-5327 Contact: Brian Tews Phone: (321) 631-3550 Web Site: www.mainstream-engr.com Abstract: Spherical-lined bearings play a crucial role in the operation of many aerospace applications. They provide connections between structural components experiencing rotating and/or misaligning motion. The inability to accurately measure liner wear on these bearings leads to premature or overdue bearing replacement, and occasionally costly catastrophic failures. A simple yet accurate and reliable bearing wear measurements device will provide much needed time and cost savings. Mainstream's proposal addresses this need with an innovative detection technique that will provide technicians with a time saving, simple and accurate bearing wear indicator for critical spherical-lined bearings. A simple, reliable, passive system indicates bearing liner wear by use of an electrical continuity measurement. The technique can identify when a spherical lined bearing has reached the maximum acceptable wear and is due for replacement. Service technicians can perform the check, more accurately and faster, in deployed operations without specialty tools or gauges. Benefits: Mainstream's innovative spherical bearing wear detection design will reduce inspecting time while providing more accurate results for failure prediction. This method will save time and money involved in inspections, premature replacements, and more accurate failure prevention. A huge market exists in both the commercial and military industry for a simplified and more accurate technique in inspecting aerospace spherical lined bearings. Return