Bearing assembly with electric power generator

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In view of the foregoing, the present invention is intended to provide a bearing assembly having an electric power generating capability, that can be assembled compact in size and easily incorporated in a drive transmission system of an internal combustion engine.
In order to accomplish the foregoing object of the present invention, a bearing assembly having an electric power generating capability is provided which includes a rolling bearing adapted to be disposed in a drive transmission system of an internal combustion engine and having a non-rotatable raceway member and a rotatable raceway member rotatable relative to the non-rotatable raceway, and an electric power generator interposed between the non-rotatable and rotatable raceway members for generating an electric power by a rotation of the rotatable raceway member relative to the non-rotatable raceway member.
According to the present invention, since the electric power generator is integrated together with the rolling bearing, assemblage can advantageously be improved as compared with the separate disposition of the bearing and the electric power generator.
Also, considering that the electric power generator is incorporated in the rolling bearing, the assembly as a whole can be manufactured compact in size.
The bearing assembly having the electric power generating capability according to the present invention may be used concurrently for the support of the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine.
The use of the bearing assembly of the present invention for the support of the crankshaft makes it possible to integrate the support bearing and the electric power generator together, resulting in saving of the limited peripheral space in the internal combustion engine.
The electric power generator employed in the bearing assembly in accordance with the present invention may be used concurrently for detecting the number of revolutions and also for providing the electric power.
By extracting a rotation signal indicative of the number of revolutions from an alternating current signal generated by the electric power generator, the electric power generator can also have a capability of detecting the number of revolutions