A Comparison of the Steady-State and Dynamic Performance of First- and Second-Generation Foil Bearings

Author(s):  
M. J. Conlon ◽  
A. Dadouche ◽  
W. M. Dmochowski ◽  
R. Payette ◽  
J.-P. Be´dard

Oil-free foil bearing technology has advanced intermittently over the years, driven by research efforts to improve both steady-state and dynamic performance characteristics, namely: load capacity, stiffness, and damping. Bearing designs are thus classified according to “generation”, with first-generation bearings being the most primitive. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of a first- and a second-generation foil bearing, and aims to provide the high-fidelity data necessary for proper validation of theoretical predictive models of foil bearing performance. The aforementioned test bearings were fabricated in-house, and are both 70mm in diameter with an aspect ratio of 1; bearing manufacturing details are provided. The work makes use of a facility dedicated to measuring both the steady-state and dynamic properties of foil bearings under a variety of controlled operating conditions. The bearing under test is placed at the midspan of a horizontal, simply-supported, stepped shaft which rotates at up to 60krpm. Static and dynamic loads of up to 3500N and 450N (respectively) can be applied by means of a pneumatic cylinder and two electrodynamic shakers. The bearings’ structural (static) stiffnesses are highly nonlinear, and this affects the accuracy of the dynamic coefficient determination. Both dynamic stiffness and damping are found to vary nonlinearly with excitation frequency, and are over-predicted by a structural experimental evaluation — the film plays an important role in bearing dynamics. The second-generation bearing is found to have a higher load capacity, dynamic stiffness, and damping than the first-generation bearing.

Author(s):  
Hailong Cui ◽  
Yang Wang ◽  
Xiaobin Yue ◽  
Yifei Li ◽  
Zhengyi Jiang

This study utilizes a dynamic mesh technology to investigate the dynamic performance of aerostatic thrust bearings with orifice restrictor, multiple restrictors, and porous restrictor. An experiment, which investigates the bearing static load capacity, was carried out to verify the calculation accuracy of dynamic mesh technology. Further, the impact of incentive amplitude, incentive frequency, axial eccentricity ratio, and non-flatness on the bearing dynamic performance was also studied. The results show incentive amplitude effect can be ignored at the condition of amplitude less than 5% film thickness, while the relationship between dynamic characteristics and incentive frequency presented a strong nonlinear relationship in the whole frequency range. The change law of dynamic stiffness and damping coefficient for porous restrictor was quite different from orifice restrictor and multiple restrictors. The bearing dynamic performance increased significantly with the growth of axial eccentricity ratio, and the surface non-flatness enhanced dynamic performance of aerostatic thrust bearings.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Yu ◽  
Muming Hao ◽  
Sun Xinhui ◽  
Zengli Wang ◽  
Liu Fuyu ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamic characteristics of spiral groove liquid film seal under the effect of thermal–fluid–solid coupling. Design/methodology/approach The dynamic analysis model of spiral groove liquid film seal under the effect of thermal–fluid–solid coupling was established by perturbation method. The steady-state and perturbation Reynolds equations were solved, and the steady-state sealing performance and dynamic characteristic coefficients of the liquid film were obtained. Findings Compared with the liquid film without coupling method, a divergent seal gap is formed between the seal rings under the effect of thermal–fluid–solid coupling, the minimum liquid film thickness decreases, the dynamic stiffness and damping coefficients of the liquid film are increased and the thermoelastic deformation of the end-face improves the dynamic performance of the liquid film seal. Originality/value The dynamic characteristics of the spiral groove liquid film seal under the effect of thermal–fluid–solid coupling are studied, which provides a theoretical reference for optimizing the dynamic performance of the non-contacting liquid film seal.


Author(s):  
M. J. Conlon ◽  
A. Dadouche ◽  
W. M. Dmochowski ◽  
R. Payette ◽  
J.-P. Be´dard ◽  
...  

An experimental facility dedicated to measuring both the steady-state and dynamic properties of foil bearings, under a variety of operating conditions, has been designed and commissioned. The bearing under test is placed at the midspan of a horizontal, simply-supported, stepped shaft which rotates at up to 60 krpm. Static and dynamic loads of up to 3500 N and 450 N (respectively) can be applied by means of a pneumatic cylinder and two electrodynamic shakers. This paper outlines the test procedures and data analysis methods pertaining to the operation of the high-speed, oil-free bearing test rig, and presents steady-state and dynamic results for a first-generation foil bearing. The test bearing, which was fabricated in-house, is 0.07 m diameter and has an aspect ratio of 1; bearing manufacturing details are provided.


Author(s):  
Florin Dimofte

Abstract Analysis of the waved journal bearing concept featuring a waved inner bearing diameter for use with a compressible lubricant (gas) is presented. The performance of generic waved bearings having either three or four waves is predicted for air lubricated bearings. Steady-state performance is discussed in terms of bearing load capacity, while the dynamic performance is discussed in terms of fluid film stability and dynamic coefficients. It was found that the bearing wave amplitude has an important influence on both steady-state and dynamic performance of the waved journal bearing. For a fixed eccentricity ratio, the bearing steady-state load capacity and direct dynamic stiffness coefficient increase as the wave amplitude increases. Also, the waved bearing becomes more stable as the wave amplitude increases. In addition, increasing the number of waves (e.g., four waves instead of three waves) reduces the waved bearing’s sensitivity to the direction of the applied load relative to the wave. However, the range in which the bearing performance can be varied decreases as the number of waves increases. Therefore, both the number and the amplitude of the waves must be properly selected to optimize the waved bearing design for a specific application. Another possibility is to use the waved bearing to actively control the rotor-bearing system dynamic coefficients via actively controlling the wave amplitude.


Author(s):  
Ye Tian ◽  
Yanhua Sun ◽  
Lie Yu

A hybrid foil-magnetic bearing is combination of a foil bearing and a magnetic bearing, which takes advantages of both bearings while compensating each other the weaknesses. It is a solution of friction and wear of foil bearings at low speeds and limited load capacity of magnetic bearings. Furthermore, load sharing and control of dynamics can be achieved in a hybrid foil-magnetic bearing. However, in the hybrid foil-magnetic bearing, the journal should run at certain eccentricity and attitude angle in order to take part of the loads, but the magnetic bearing would attempt to force the journal to the reference position at all times while using a conventional PID controller. Therefore, it is necessary to design a new control algorithm to overcome the contradictions. In this paper, the steady-state characteristics of a hybrid foil-magnetic bearing were analyzed. Then a searching algorithm was presented and a steady-state controller was designed to determine the steady-state working position of the hybrid foil-magnetic bearings. Finally, simulations were done to verify performances of the searching algorithm and designed steady-state controller, and the results show its validity.


Author(s):  
Hongyang Hu ◽  
Ming Feng ◽  
Tianming Ren

To reduce the mass and size of low-power turbine machinery, a new type of gas foil conical bearing was proposed, and its static and dynamic performance was systematically studied. Based on a nonlinear bump stiffness model considering rounding and friction, the structural stiffness distribution, load capacity, dynamic stiffness, and damping coefficients of gas foil conical bearing were calculated, and the influence of bearing parameters on its static and dynamic characteristics was studied. In addition, a pair of gas foil conical bearings was used to replace the traditional radial-thrust foil bearing support scheme on an air compressor to explore the practicability of the novel bearing. The results show that the new gas foil conical bearing has an excellent supporting performance and broad prospects for application. The bump radius, rounding radius, friction coefficients, and foil thickness will significantly influence the bump foil stiffness. The bearing parameters such as structural stiffness, nominal clearance, cone angle, and eccentricity have a large effect on its static and dynamic performance, and we can obtain the desired bearing characteristics by tailoring these parameters.


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

Journal bearing is one of the most important components for supporting high speed rotating machinery such as compressors and turbo machines. In recent trends, non-circular journal bearings (lemon bearing, three-lobe bearing, four-lobe bearing, etc.), for their greater load capacity and better stability, have become a superior choice and found wide spread application. In this paper, the nonlinear oil film force is expressed using the dynamic stiffness and damping of 1st-3rd order. And the film thickness and pressure are analyzed using Fourier method, so that the corresponding harmonic components and their deeper connection can be further explored. The paper shows that the nonlinear dynamic performances are connected closely with the bearings’ profile, and lays the foundation for expressing the precise nonlinear oil film force.


2007 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 628-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ju-ho Song ◽  
Daejong Kim

A new foil gas bearing with spring bumps was constructed, analyzed, and tested. The new foil gas bearing uses a series of compression springs as compliant underlying structures instead of corrugated bump foils. Experiments on the stiffness of the spring bumps show an excellent agreement with an analytical model developed for the spring bumps. Load capacity, structural stiffness, and equivalent viscous damping (and structural loss factor) were measured to demonstrate the feasibility of the new foil bearing. Orbit and coast-down simulations using the calculated stiffness and measured structural loss factor indicate that the damping of underlying structure can suppress the maximum peak at the critical speed very effectively but not the onset of hydrodynamic rotor-bearing instability. However, the damping plays an important role in suppressing the subsynchronous vibrations under limit cycles. The observation is believed to be true with any air foil bearings with different types of elastic foundations.


2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 850-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis San Andrés ◽  
Dario Rubio ◽  
Tae Ho Kim

Gas foil bearings (GFBs) satisfy the requirements for oil-free turbomachinery, i.e., simple construction and ensuring low drag friction and reliable high speed operation. However, GFBs have a limited load capacity and minimal damping, as well as frequency and amplitude dependent stiffness and damping characteristics. This paper provides experimental results of the rotordynamic performance of a small rotor supported on two bump-type GFBs of length and diameter equal to 38.10mm. Coast down rotor responses from 25krpm to rest are recorded for various imbalance conditions and increasing air feed pressures. The peak amplitudes of rotor synchronous motion at the system critical speed are not proportional to the imbalance introduced. Furthermore, for the largest imbalance, the test system shows subsynchronous motions from 20.5krpm to 15krpm with a whirl frequency at ∼50% of shaft speed. Rotor imbalance exacerbates the severity of subsynchronous motions, thus denoting a forced nonlinearity in the GFBs. The rotor dynamic analysis with calculated GFB force coefficients predicts a critical speed at 8.5krpm, as in the experiments; and importantly enough, unstable operation in the same speed range as the test results for the largest imbalance. Predicted imbalance responses do not agree with the rotor measurements while crossing the critical speed, except for the lowest imbalance case. Gas pressurization through the bearings’ side ameliorates rotor subsynchronous motions and reduces the peak amplitudes at the critical speed. Posttest inspection reveal wear spots on the top foils and rotor surface.


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