Rotordynamic Performance of a Shaft With Large Overhung Mass Supported by Foil Bearings

Author(s):  
Nguyen LaTray ◽  
Daejong Kim

This work presents the theoretical and experimental rotordynamic evaluations of a rotor–air foil bearing (AFB) system supporting a large overhung mass for high-speed application. The proposed system highlights the compact design of a single shaft rotor configuration with turbomachine components arranged on one side of the bearing span. In this work, low-speed tests up to 45 krpm are performed to measure lift-off speed and to check bearing manufacturing quality. Rotordynamic performance at high speeds is evaluated both analytically and experimentally. In the analytical approach, simulated imbalance responses are studied using both rigid and flexible shaft models with bearing forces calculated from the transient Reynolds equation along with the rotor motion. The simulation predicts that the system experiences small synchronous rigid mode vibration at 20 krpm and bending mode at 200 krpm. A high-speed test rig is designed to experimentally evaluate the rotor–air foil bearing system. The high-speed tests are operated up to 160 krpm. The vibration spectrum indicates that the rotor–air foil bearing system operates under stable conditions. The experimental waterfall plots also show very small subsynchronous vibrations with frequency locked to the system natural frequency. Overall, this work demonstrates potential capability of the air foil bearings in supporting a shaft with a large overhung mass at high speed.

Author(s):  
Nguyen LaTray ◽  
Daejong Kim

This work presents the theoretical and experimental rotordynamic evaluations of a rotor-air foil bearing system supporting a large overhung mass for high speed application. The proposed system highlights the compact design of a single shaft rotor configuration with turbomachine components arranged on one side of the bearing span. In this work, low speed tests up to 45krpm are performed to measure the lift off speed and to check the bearing manufacturing quality. Rotordynamic performance at high speeds is evaluated both analytically and experimentally. In the analytical approach, simulated imbalance responses are studied using both rigid and flexible shaft models with bearing forces calculated from transient Reynolds equation along with rotor motion. The simulation predicts that the system experiences small synchronous rigid mode vibration at 20krpm and bending mode at 200krpm. A high speed test rig is designed to experimentally evaluate the rotor-air foil bearings system. The high speed tests are operated up to 160krpm. The vibration spectrum indicates that the rotor-air foil bearing system operates under stable conditions. The experimental waterfall plots also show very small sub-synchronous vibrations with frequency locked to the system natural frequency. Overall, this work demonstrates the potential capability of air foil bearings in supporting a shaft with a large overhung mass at high speed.


Author(s):  
Sadanand Kulkarni ◽  
Soumendu Jana

High-speed rotating system development has drawn considerable attention of the researchers, in the recent past. Foil bearings are one of the major contenders for such applications, particularly for high speed and low load rotating systems. In foil bearings, process fluid or air is used as the working medium and no additional lubricant is required. It is known from the published literature that the load capacity of foil bearings depend on the operating speed, viscosity of the medium, clearance, and stiffness of the foil apart from the geometric dimensions of the bearing. In case of foil bearing with given dimensions, clearance governs the magnitude of pressure developed, whereas stiffness dictates the change in radial clearance under the generated pressure. This article deals with the effect of stiffness, clearance, and its interaction on the bump foil bearings load-carrying capacity. For this study, four sets of foil bearings of the same geometry with two levels of stiffness and clearance values are fabricated. Experiments are carried out following two factor-two level factorial design approach under constant load and in each case, the lift-off speed is measured. The experimental output is analyzed using statistical techniques to evaluate the influence of parameters under consideration. The results indicate that clearance has the maximum influence on the lift-off speed/ load-carrying capacity, followed by interaction effect and stiffness. A regression model is developed based on the experimental values and model is validated using error analysis technique.


Author(s):  
Behzad Zamanian Yazdi ◽  
Daejong Kim

Air foil bearing (AFB) technology has made substantial advancement during the past decades and found its applications in various small turbomachinery. However, rotordynamic instability, friction and drag during the start/stop, and thermal management are still challenges for further application of the technology. Hybrid air foil bearing (HAFB), utilizing hydrostatic injection of externally pressurized air into the bearing clearance, is one of the technology advancements to the conventional AFB. Previous studies on HAFBs demonstrate the enhancement in the load capacity at low speeds, reduction or elimination of the friction and wear during starts/stops, and enhanced heat dissipation capability. In this paper, the benefit of the HAFB is further explored to enhance the rotordynamic stability by employing a controlled hydrostatic injection. This paper presents the analytical and experimental evaluation of the rotordynamic performance of a rotor supported by two three-pad HAFBs with the controlled hydrostatic injection, which utilizes the injections at particular locations to control eccentricity and attitude angle. The simulations in both time domain orbit simulations and frequency-domain modal analyses indicate a substantial improvement of the rotor-bearing performance. The simulation results were verified in a high-speed test rig (maximum speed of 70,000 rpm). Experimental results agree with simulations in suppressing the subsynchronous vibrations but with a large discrepancy in the magnitude of the subsynchronous vibrations, which is a result of the limitation of the current modeling approach. However, both simulations and experiments clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the controlled hydrostatic injection on improving the rotordynamic performance of AFB.


Author(s):  
Hooshang Heshmat ◽  
James F. Walton ◽  
Crystal A. Heshmat

The expanded application of high-speed rotor systems operating on compliant foil bearings will be greatly enhanced with the ability to adequately couple multiple shaft systems with differing bearing systems and dynamic performance. In this paper the results of an analytical tradeoff study assessing coupling dynamic characteristics and their impact on coupled rotor-bearing system dynamics are presented. This analysis effort was completed in an effort to establish the form of characteristics needed to couple foil bearing supported rotors to ball bearing supported rotors, other foil bearing supported rotors as well as coupling rigid and flexible rotors both supported on foil bearings. The conclusions from this study indicate that with appropriate coupling design, a wide array of foil bearing supported rotor systems may be successfully coupled.


Author(s):  
Jiale Tian ◽  
Baisong Yang ◽  
Sheng Feng ◽  
Lie Yu ◽  
Jian Zhou

In this study, an ultra-high-speed rotor–gas foil-bearing system is designed and applied to a permanent magnet synchronous motor. Gas foil journal bearings and gas foil thrust bearings are used to provide journal and axial support to the rotor, respectively. The bearings are analyzed theoretically considering the nonlinear deflection of the top foil, and the static and dynamic characteristics are obtained with which the rotor dynamic performances of the tested rotor are calculated using the finite element method. During the experiment, the permanent magnet synchronous motor can operate stably at 94,000 r/min, which demonstrates a great dynamic performance of the gas foil bearings and the stability that it provides to the entire system. The sub-synchronous vibration also occurs when the rotating speed reaches 60,000 r/min and as the speed keeps rising, the amplitude of such vibration increases, which will contribute to the destabilization of the rotor–gas foil-bearing system. Finally, the axial force of the rotor is calculated theoretically as well as measured directly by four micro force sensors mounted in the thrust end cover of the permanent magnet synchronous motor. The experimental results presented in this article are expected to provide a useful guide to the design and analysis of the rotor–gas foil-bearing system and high-speed permanent magnet synchronous motor.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianwei Lai ◽  
Yu Guo ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
Yu Hou

Foil bearing provides compliant support and moderate Coulomb friction for rotor-bearing system, which is conducive to stability and reliability of high speed rotating machinery. In this paper, both hydrodynamic lubricated foil journal and foil thrust bearings are applied in a 150 m3·h−1 turboexpander for air separation. In the bearings, protuberant foil is chosen as the supporting subfoil due to its merits of easy fabrication and assembly. Static loading and deflection of the bearings are tested, respectively, before integration into the turboexpander. Afterwards, the loading and deflection curves of the journal and thrust bearings are polynomial fitted using least-square method. Then, performance tests are carried out on the rotor-bearing system, including transient speed-up, high speed, and speed-down processes. In the tests, the turboexpander supported by the hydrodynamic foil bearings operates smoothly with repeatability. Maximal rotor speed of the turboexpander reaches 52000 rpm with hydrodynamic lubricated protuberant foil bearings.


Author(s):  
Hooshang Heshmat ◽  
James F. Walton ◽  
Christopher Della Corte ◽  
Mark Valco

An oil-free, 150 Hp turbocharger was successfully operated to 100% speed (95,000 rpm), with turbine inlet temperatures to 650°C on a turbocharger gas test stand. Development of this high speed turbomachine included bearing and lubricant component development tests, rotor-bearing dynamic simulator qualification and gas stand tests of the assembled turbocharger. Self acting, compliant foil hydrodynamic air bearings capable of sustained operation at 650°C and maximum loads to 750 N were used in conjunction with a newly designed shaft and system center housing. Gas stand and simulator test results revealed stable bearing temperatures, low rotor vibrations, good shock tolerance and the ability of the rotor bearing system to sustain overspeed conditions to 121,500 rpm. Bearing component development tests demonstrated 100,000 start stop cycles at 650°C with a newly developed solid film lubricant coating. In a separate demonstration of a 100 mm compliant foil bearing, loads approaching 4,500 N were supported by a compliant foil bearing. This combination of component and integrated rotor-bearing system technology demonstrations addresses many of the issues associated with application of compliant foil bearings to gas turbine engines.


Author(s):  
K. Shalash ◽  
J. Schiffmann

Potential geometrical deviations in bump foil bearings due to manufacturing uncertainty can have significant effects on both the local stiffness and clearance, and hence, affecting the overall bearing performance. The manufacturing uncertainty of bump type foil bearings was investigated, showing large geometrical deviations, using a developed measurement tool for the formed bump foils. A reduced order foil bearing model was used in a Monte Carlo simulation studying the effect of manufacturing noise on the onset of instability, highlighting the sensitivity of the rotor-bearing system to such manufacturing deviations. It was found that 30% of the simulated cases resulted improvements in stability, the remaining cases underperformed. Attempting to increase the robustness of the bearing, two other compliant structures replacing the classical gen-II bump foils were investigated from a manufacturing perspective. The first is a modified bump type Sinusoidal foil, and the second is the Cantilever beam foil. Consequently, quasi-static load-displacement tests were executed showing deviations in local clearance and stiffness for the classical bump type compliant structure compared to the other designs. It was found that the Cantilever beam foils yield more robustness compared to the bump type foils. Finally, an analytical model for the sequential engagement of the compliant structure is presented and validated with experimental measurements for both bump type and Cantilever structures.


Author(s):  
Daejong Kim ◽  
Brian Nicholson ◽  
Lewis Rosado ◽  
Garry Givan

Foil bearings are one type of hydrodynamic air/gas bearings but with a compliant bearing surface supported by structural material that provides stiffness and damping to the bearing. The hybrid foil bearing (HFB) in this paper is a combination of a traditional hydrodynamic foil bearing with externally-pressurized air/gas supply system to enhance load capacity during the start and to improve thermal stability of the bearing. The HFB is more suitable for relatively large and heavy rotors where rotor weight is comparable to the load capacity of the bearing at full speed and extra air/gas supply system is not a major added cost. With 4,448N∼22,240N thrust class turbine aircraft engines in mind, the test rotor is supported by HFB in one end and duplex rolling element bearings in the other end. This paper presents experimental work on HFB with diameter of 102mm performed at the US Air force Research Laboratory. Experimental works include: measurement of impulse response of the bearing to the external load corresponding to rotor’s lateral acceleration of 5.55g, forced response to external subsynchronous excitation, and high speed imbalance response. A non-linear rotordynamic simulation model was also applied to predict the impulse response and forced subsynchronous response. The simulation results agree well with experimental results. Based on the experimental results and subsequent simulations, an improved HFB design is also suggested for higher impulse load capability up to 10g and rotordynamics stability up to 30,000rpm under subsynchronous excitation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 168781401987536
Author(s):  
Wenjie Cheng ◽  
Zhikai Deng ◽  
Ling Xiao ◽  
Bin Zhong ◽  
Wenbo Duan

With a 10-kW, 120,000-r/min, ultra-high-speed permanent magnet synchronous motor taken as a prototype, experimental research is conducted on the rotor dynamic behaviours of a three-pad bidirectional gas foil bearing high-speed motor rotor system. Load-carrying properties of the three-pad bidirectional gas foil bearing are analysed, and natural frequencies of conical and parallel whirling modes of the elastically supported rotor are calculated based on an appropriate simplification to the stiffness and damping coefficients of the gas foil bearings. The prototype passes through a 90,000-r/min coast-down experiment. Experiments show that there are violent subsynchronous whirling motions that are evoked by the gas foil bearing–rotor system itself. The cause of shaft orbit drift is analysed, and the corresponding solution is put forward. The theoretical analysis and experimental results can offer a useful reference to the bearing–rotor system design of ultra-high-speed permanent magnet motors and its subsequent dynamic analysis.


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