ROTARY CAPACITOR FOR SHUNTING HIGH FREQUENCY BEARING CURRENTS AND REDUCING EMI IN ELECTRIC MACHINERY

摘要

Rotary capacitor assemblies divert or mitigate high-frequency electrical currents and voltages in bearings of electric machinery (e.g., motors and generators) without direct contact with the bearings. The assemblies include rotating capacitors, in which surfaces in close proximity are free to rotate with respect to another while maintaining relative surface area and separation distance. A lubricant (such as air or oil) facilitates capacitive surfaces hydrodynamically “floating” on each other. A shunt body is connected electrically in parallel with the bearings of the machine, providing a non-contact or nearly non-contact electrical pathway for damaging high-frequency currents an voltages to be shunted around the mechanical load carrying bearings.

主权项

1. A rotary capacitor assembly for electric machinery,
a. the assembly including a conducting shunt body sized to be received within or about a shaft of a rotor of an electric machine; b. wherein when the rotor is activated, the shunt body shunts high-frequency bearing current in an electric machine when the shunt body is positioned about or within the shaft of the rotor such that:
i. the shaft is received through a central opening of the shunt body or the shunt body is at least partly inserted into the shaft;ii. the shunt body is electrically connected in parallel with a bearing of the electric machine, the bearing being situated about the shaft; andiii. the shunt body floats on a lubricant separating the shunt body from at least one of the shaft and the bearing.