This paper describes recent developments of a practical, low cost embedded plastic optical fiber (POF) wear sensor system for the condition based maintenance of external outboard water lubricated bearings aboard U.S. Navy Ships. The benefit of this measurement system over the status quo is the ability to remotely monitor bearing wear. The Embedded Wear Sensor system (Navy invention disclosure #78,570) features a sacrificial wear fiber embedded into the nitrile rubber bearing. This fiber may also act as a conduit for the transmission of pressure and temperature data that may be resolved into alignment data. The authors selected a commercially-off-the- shelf plastic fiber for the sensor because of its material compatibility with the nitrile rubber bearing staves in terms of flexural modulus and wear properties. Presented herein is a description of the system concept, the results of non-linear finite element analysis, market survey of POF, mold studies, small scale prototyping and abrasive wear testing. A description of the sensor concept and the results of the preliminary finite element analysis of the bearing stave geometry are presented. Preliminary results of molding and glue bonding POF in nitrile rubber and then abrasive wear testing indicate that this is a viable concept.
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