Bearing Measurement, Modeling and Diagnosis

Carrier arresting gear is a mission-critical piece of equipment, failure of which could render the Navy’s most-useful assets unable to carry out their primary mission. Maintenance of the arresting gear bearings is a substantial undertaking, with a team of sailors needing to spend 6-8 hours every 20 arrestments. In the event of conflict requiring high-cadence air combat missions, this maintenance interval will likely stretch, increasing the risk of system failure. The Navy needs a method to monitor arresting gear bearing health during operation, so sailors can reduce maintenance and identify impending bearing failure before it becomes a critical issue.PSI proposes to develop the Bearing Measurement, Modeling and Diagnosis system to perform in situ measurement of arresting gear bearings on the Mk-7 and Mk-15 (Advanced Arresting Gear) systems. Our development will include a test platform for rapid life testing of bearings under simulated operating conditions, as well as a life modeling tool that predicts bearing life as a function of stop/start cycles, acceleration, and loads. PSI’s novel solution measures bearing performance and transmits the data to a centralized processor.