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What's the difference between Fluid Dynamic bearing and Rifled bearing?

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From what I can tell they both work based on the same principle, they both circulate oil through the "rifled veins.
 
They are similar, but fdb tends to have less noise associated, may last longer, and are more expensive to manufacture.
 
They are similar, but fdb tends to have less noise associated, may last longer, and are more expensive to manufacture.
Yeah, though from what I can find online they are 95% similar but they are called "Rifled Bearings" to prevent being sued by (Matsushita) which holds the FDB patent.
I don't know about you but I absolutely hate the patenting system which really hurts average consumers. >:(
 
That's an easy one, look at asetek if you want to talk about dicks with a patent.... Lol
 
Yeah, though from what I can find online they are 95% similar but they are called "Rifled Bearings" to prevent being sued by (Matsushita) which holds the FDB patent.
I don't know about you but I absolutely hate the patenting system which really hurts average consumers. :mad:
Some companies need the patent system to grow, some abuse it like hookers and blow.

The patent should expire after a number of years, and unused patents should expire sooner.
 
Yeah, though from what I can find online they are 95% similar but they are called "Rifled Bearings" to prevent being sued by (Matsushita) which holds the FDB patent.
I don't know about you but I absolutely hate the patenting system which really hurts average consumers. :mad:
Well you should look at the patent system from another aspect, without patents, everyone would just be stealing others' designs and eventually the overall development will slow down due to low profit
 
and eventually the overall development will slow down due to low profit
^^^This - but much more^^^ Low profit might be considered a good thing at that point - and that's a bad thing.

The bigger issue is inventions often take a great deal of "capital" investment before a single penny in return is ever seen. Companies have to take out loans. Individuals often get a second mortgage on their houses, and risk their entire retirement accounts just to develop (and market) their invention. They have to convince Walmart and consumers to buy it. Without patents, copyrights, and intellectual properly protection laws, no innovation would occur if everyone knew every good idea would be copies (counterfeited?) right away.

to prevent being sued by (Matsushita) which holds the FDB patent.
I don't know about you but I absolutely hate the patenting system which really hurts average consumers.

The system certainly is not perfect but for the most part, it is very good for business and consumers. As suggested, the problems happen when companies abuse them and create a monopoly. Since there are many fan bearing technologies, I don't see this as a problem. If you don't like what Matsushita is doing, don't buy their products. You have lots of choices out there.

The ones that really bother me is Big Pharma who monopolize a drug and jack up the prices knowing there is no alternative.
 
FDB as noted is bearing type specifically patented to Matsushita and has specific groove pattern in the bearing itself, intended to circulate the lubricant throughout as it spins.

Rifle bearings also tend to use various groove patterns inside, however they differ from Matsushita's one, to not infringe said pattent while attempting to achieve same kind of circulation, with varying, but mostly at least decent success.
 
Question: does rifled bearing include the concept of herringbone end plate?
 

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Yeah, though from what I can find online they are 95% similar but they are called "Rifled Bearings" to prevent being sued by (Matsushita) which holds the FDB patent.
I don't know about you but I absolutely hate the patenting system which really hurts average consumers. :mad:
Some companies need the patent system to grow, some abuse it like hookers and blow.

The patent should expire after a number of years, and unused patents should expire sooner.
I too think that patents should expire sooner, used or not, but they do expire, after 20 years at most. That's 20 years after they were filed, not after industrial/profitable use started, which can be several years later. Companies need to pay legal fees to maintain patent protection, and these fees rise every year (which probably is an issue if you're much smaller than Matsushita, so you give up after ten years).
Trademarks are a separate matter, they do not expire.

In the case of FDB though, it seems to be old tech with an old generic name which can't be trademarked (Wikipedia: "Foil bearings are a type of fluid dynamic air bearing that were introduced in high speed turbine applications in the 1960s by Garrett AiResearch."). Matsushita of course could have patented a slight variation.
 
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