General Electric Company
Method and system for elastic bearing support

Abstract:

A hybrid bearing support system includes a shaft extension fixedly coupled to a rotatable member at a radial inner end of the shaft extension, a radial outer end of the shaft extension fixedly coupled to a rotatable race of a bearing supporting the rotatable member, and a recoupler device formed of a shape memory alloy (SMA) material coupled in parallel with at least a portion of the shaft extension between the radial inner end and the radial outer end.