Experimental and Analytical Studies on Flexure Pivot Tilting Pad Gas Bearings With Dampers Applied to Radially Compliant Pads

Author(s):  
Daejong Kim ◽  
Aaron Rimpel

Hydrodynamic flexure pivot tilting pad gas bearings (FPTPGBs) can enable successful operation of oil-free microturbomachinery, and FPTPGBs with radially compliant pads (FPTPGB-Cs) permit rotor centrifugal and/or thermal growth to exceed original bearing clearances and achieve higher speeds. This work presents the experimental and analytical study of such bearings and the application of dampers behind the pad radial compliance structure. A time domain orbit simulation method was implemented as the primary analysis tool to predict rotor-bearing response to imbalance, the presence and location of critical speeds, etc., and compare with test results. Experiments demonstrate the stable hydrodynamic operation of FPTPGBs with a ∼28.6 mm, 0.8 kg rotor above 120 krpm for the first time. The rotor-bearing system was intentionally destabilized in tests by increasing bearing clearances, and viscoelastic dampers added behind the FPTPGB pads delayed the onset of subsynchronous vibrations (from 43 krpm without damper to above 50 krpm with damper). Midrange subsynchronous vibrations of the destabilized system initiated at ∼20 krpm were suppressed by ∼25 krpm due to the stabilizing effect of rotor centrifugal growth. The viscoelastic dampers had a negligible effect on suppressing these midrange subsynchronous vibrations in experiments, but this was not demonstrated in simulations, presumed to be due to much lower stiffness contribution of the damper at lower frequencies.

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Rimpel ◽  
Daejong Kim

Hydrodynamic flexure pivot tilting pad gas bearings (FPTPGBs) can enable successful operation of oil-free microturbomachinery and FPTPGBs with radially compliant pads permit rotor centrifugal and/or thermal growth to exceed original bearing clearances and achieve higher speeds. This work presents the experimental and analytical study of such bearings and the application of dampers behind the pad radial compliance structure. A time domain orbit simulation method was implemented as the primary analysis tool to predict the rotor-bearing response to imbalance, the presence and location of critical speeds, etc., and to compare with test results. Experiments demonstrate the stable hydrodynamic operation of FPTPGBs with an ∼28.6 mm, 0.8 kg rotor above 120 krpm, for the first time. The rotor-bearing system was intentionally destabilized in tests by increasing bearing clearances and the viscoelastic dampers added behind the FPTPGB pads delayed the onset of subsynchronous vibrations (from 43 krpm without damper to above 50 krpm with damper). Midrange subsynchronous vibrations of the destabilized system initiated at ∼20 krpm were suppressed by ∼25 krpm due to the stabilizing effect of rotor centrifugal growth. The viscoelastic dampers had a negligible effect on suppressing these midrange subsynchronous vibrations in experiments, but this was not demonstrated in simulations, presumed to be due to much lower stiffness contribution of the damper at lower frequencies.


Author(s):  
Kyuho Sim ◽  
Daejong Kim

A new thermohydrodynamic (THD) analysis for compliant flexure pivot tilting pad gas bearings is presented. Unlike many previous THD analyses on oil-lubricated bearings and gas bearings, the new THD analysis solves the rotor and bearing pad temperatures as well as the gas film temperature simultaneously upon adequate thermal boundary conditions on the bearing shell and rotor ends are given. All the previous studies assume that the rotor and bearing temperatures are given as thermal boundary conditions to solve 2D or 3D energy equation in the bearing film. The developed computational method is unique because these boundary conditions are found internally through global energy balance around the bearing. A numerical procedure involves solving the generalized Reynolds equation, 3D energy equation, and heat flux equations around the bearings simultaneously through iterative process. Furthermore, rotor thermal and centrifugal expansions are also considered during the iteration. Parametric studies were performed for the various temperature fields, i.e., rotor temperature, gas film temperature, and pad temperature as a function of nominal clearance, external load, and various thermal boundary conditions. Nominal clearance showed the most significant influence on overall THD behavior. The analyses also show that the rotor-bearing system can go to thermal runaway if adequate cooling mechanism does not exist. Linear perturbation analysis was also performed to investigate the thermal effects on the rotordynamic performance. Rotor thermal growth and increased viscosity increased direct stiffness and damping coefficients compared to the isothermal case.


2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Rimpel ◽  
Daejong Kim

Recently, gas-lubricated bearings have drawn enormous attention for clean energy conversion/process systems such as fuel cells, micro-gas-turbines, gas compressors, etc. Among many different types of gas bearings, tilting pad gas bearings have many attractive features such as high rotor-bearing stability and less severe thermal issues (due to multipad configurations) than foil gas bearings. However, extension of the application of the tilting pad gas bearings to flexible rotors and harsh environments with external vibrations/impacts poses significant design challenges. The design problem addressed in this paper is the vibration damper to be integrated with the flexure pivot tilting pad gas bearing (FPTPGB) with and without pad radial compliance. Linear and nonlinear dynamic models of the FPTPGB with vibration damper were developed, and rotordynamic performance was evaluated to prescribe design guidelines for the selection of bearing shell mass and damper properties. Direct numerical integration (time-domain orbit simulations) and linear analyses were employed to predict rotordynamic responses and other interesting behaviors relevant of rotor-bearing systems with the vibration damper. Rotor-bearing systems showed better performance with larger damper stiffness for both with and without radial compliance. However, bearing shell mass showed different tendencies; lower bearing shell mass was shown to be ideal for bearings with radial compliance, while the opposite trend was observed for bearings without radial compliance. Although increasing the degrees of freedom of the system by allowing the bearing shell to move introduces additional natural frequencies, careful design considerations could allow the placement of the natural frequencies outside of the operating range.


Author(s):  
Kyuho Sim ◽  
Daejong Kim

This paper introduces new flexural pivot tilting pad gas bearings for high speed oil-free micro turbomachinery. The new flexural pivot tilting pad gas bearings have a special web geometry that provides a radial stiffness to accommodate rotor growths and high vibrations at critical speed, a pitching stiffness to accommodate rotor-bearing misalignments or rotor bending vibrations, and a very small tilting stiffness for rotor stability. Comprehensive numerical simulations involving orbit simulations and coast-down simulations were performed to investigate the effects of preloads and pivot offsets on the critical speeds and onset speeds of instability. Higher preload and pivot offset increased both critical speeds of the rotor-bearing system and onset speeds of instability due to the increased wedge effect. Design procedures of radial stiffness were presented considering both rotor centrifugal and thermal growths. From simple adiabatic solution of temperature distribution of gas film under pure hydrodynamic mode, enough bearing clearance at pivot was found to be a very important design aspect for high speed hydrodynamic gas bearings. Asymmetric radial stiffness was chosen as a final design to meet the target design speed of 180 krpm for bearing diameter of 28.52mm. Suggested tilting pad gas bearing with asymmetric radial stiffness was predicted to be very stable even under high external destabilizing forces.


Author(s):  
Keun Ryu ◽  
Zachary Ashton

Oil-free turbochargers require gas bearings in compact units of enhanced rotordynamic stability, mechanical efficiency, and improved reliability with reduced maintenance costs compared with oil-lubricated bearings. Implementation of gas bearings into automotive turbochargers requires careful thermal management with accurate measurements verifying model predictions. Foil bearings are customarily used in oil-free microturbomachinery because of their distinct advantages including tolerance to shaft misalignment and centrifugal/thermal growth, and large damping and load capacity compared with rigid surface gas bearings. Flexure pivot tilting pad bearings are widely used in high performance turbomachinery since they offer little or no cross-coupled stiffnesses with enhanced rotordynamic stability. The paper details the rotordynamic performance and temperature characteristics of two prototype oil-free turbochargers; one supported on foil journal and thrust bearings and the other one is supported on flexure pivot tilting pad journal bearings and foil thrust bearings of identical sizes (OD and ID) with the same aerodynamic components. The tests of the oil-free turbochargers, each consisting of a hollow rotor (∼0.4 kg and ∼23 mm in outer diameter at the bearing locations), are performed for various imbalances in NVH (i.e, cold air driven rotordynamics rig) and gas stand test facilities up to 130 krpm. No forced cooling air flow streams are supplied to the test bearings and rotor. The measurements demonstrate the stable performance of the rotor-gas bearing systems in an ambient NVH test cell with cold forced air into the turbine inlet. Posttest inspection of the test flexure pivot tilting pad bearings after the hot gas stand tests evidences seizure of the hottest bearing, thereby revealing a notable reduction in bearing clearance as the rotor temperature increases. The compliant flexure pivot tilting pad bearings offer a sound solution for stable rotor support only at an ambient temperature condition while demonstrating less tolerance for shaft growth, centrifugal and thermal, beyond its clearance. The current measurements give confidence in the present gas foil bearing technology for ready application into automotive turbochargers for passenger car and commercial vehicle applications with increased reliability.


Author(s):  
Daejong Kim ◽  
Aaron M. Rimpel ◽  
Suk Sang Chang ◽  
Jong Hyun Kim

This paper introduces a design and manufacturing of mesoscale flexure pivot tilting pad gas bearing with a diameter of 5 mm and a length of 1–2.5 mm for PowerMEMS (micro electromechanical systems for power generation) applications with power ranges of 100–200 W. Potential applications include power source for unmanned air vehicles, small robots, microgas turbines to be harnessed by very small solid oxide fuel cells, microblowers/compressors for microfuel cells, etc. The design studies involve scaling analysis, time-domain orbit simulations for stability analyses, and frequency-domain modal analyses for prediction of rotor-bearing natural frequencies. Scaling analysis indicates that direct miniaturization of macroscale tilting pad gas bearing can result in a large bearing number, which may render the rotor-bearing system unstable. However, the scaling analysis provides the baseline design from which the final design can be derived considering manufacturing issue. The generalized modal analysis using impedance contours predict damped natural frequencies close to those from orbit simulations, providing high fidelity to the developed numerical methods. It was predicted that the designed mesoscale tilting pad gas bearings would show very stable operation up to a maximum simulated speed of 1,000,000 rpm. The designed mesoscale tilting pad gas bearings were manufactured using X-ray lithography and electroplating.


Author(s):  
Keun Ryu ◽  
Zachary Ashton

Oil-free turbochargers (TCs) require gas bearings in compact units of enhanced rotordynamic stability, mechanical efficiency, and improved reliability with reduced maintenance costs compared with oil-lubricated bearings. Implementation of gas bearings into automotive TCs requires careful thermal management with accurate measurements verifying model predictions. Gas foil bearings (GFBs) are customarily used in oil-free microturbomachinery because of their distinct advantages including tolerance to shaft misalignment and centrifugal/thermal growth, and large damping and load capacity compared with rigid surface gas bearings. Flexure pivot tilting pad bearings (FPTPBs) are widely used in high-performance turbomachinery since they offer little or no cross-coupled stiffnesses with enhanced rotordynamic stability. The paper details the rotordynamic performance and temperature characteristics of two prototype oil-free TCs; one supported on foil journal and thrust bearings and the other one is supported on FPTP journal bearings and foil thrust bearings of identical sizes (outer diameter (OD) and inner diameter (ID)) with the same aerodynamic components. The tests of the oil-free TCs, each consisting of a hollow rotor (∼0.4 kg and ∼23 mm in OD at the bearing locations), are performed for various imbalances in noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH; i.e., cold air driven rotordynamics rig) and gas stand test facilities up to 130 krpm. No forced cooling air flow streams are supplied to the test bearings and rotor. The measurements demonstrate the stable performance of the rotor–gas bearing systems in an ambient NVH test cell with cold forced air into the turbine inlet. Post-test inspection of the test FPTPGBs after the hot gas stand tests evidences seizure of the hottest bearing, thereby revealing a notable reduction in bearing clearance as the rotor temperature increases. The compliant FPTPGBs offer a sound solution for stable rotor support only at an ambient temperature condition while demonstrating less tolerance for shaft growth, centrifugal, and thermal, beyond its clearance. The current measurements give confidence in the present GFB technology for ready application into automotive TCs for passenger car and commercial vehicle applications with increased reliability.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
A.B.M. Mainul Bari ◽  
Saeed Rubaiee ◽  
Anas Ahmed ◽  
AKM Masud

In modern days silicon is being extensively used in making electronic semiconductor-based chips and IC’s. In this research, the change in different thermodynamic properties of silicon like lattice heat capacity, molar enthalpy and Debye temperature at constant pressure, with the change in temperature, has been investigated by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method. Knowing silicon’ thermodynamic functions are quite important, because many electronic companies are nowadays trying a lot to reduce the heat generated by their semiconductor chips as excessive heating of the chip not only warms up the device quickly but also reduces the chip life. The results obtained from this simulation help engineers to design electronic chips more efficiently. For simulation “Accelrys Materials Studio” (Version 5.0) software has been used. The simulation was run for silicon FCC diamond structured cell. The analysis tool used in the simulation is known as CASTEP (Cambridge Sequential Total Energy Package). This tool is specialized for performing molecular level thermodynamic analysis to generate data and graphs for the change in different temperature dependent properties of the molecular system. The interaction between silicon atoms was expressed by the Kohn-Sham potential and MD calculation was conducted on crystalline state of silicon at temperatures between 0 and 1000 K. Here, density function theory (DFT) based tool has been used to derive density of state relations. Results obtained by the simulation were compared with published experimental values and it was found that the simulation results were close to the experimental values.


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