Theoretical design, manufacturing, and numerical prediction of a novel multileaf foil journal gas bearing for PowerMEMs

2017 ◽  
Vol 232 (7) ◽  
pp. 823-836
Author(s):  
Kai Feng ◽  
Min Zhang ◽  
Wen-Jun Li ◽  
Peng Jin ◽  
Xing-Gang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Microelectromechanical Systems ◽  
Load Capacity ◽  
Stability Characteristic ◽  
Foil Bearings ◽  
Finite Element Software ◽  
Foil Bearing ◽  
Deformation Equation ◽  
Micro Turbine ◽  
High Load Capacity ◽  
Gas Bearing

Mesoscale gas bearing is widely used in micro-turbine machineries and auxiliary power units due to their certain advantages of low drag friction, good stability, and high tolerance to shaft misalignment. A novel mesoscale multileaf foil bearing, fabricated with UV lithography technology, is proposed and analyzed in this study. The multileaf foil bearing is designed with piecewise stiffness, which can achieve low stiffness during start or stop and high load capacity during operation. Moreover, the increasing contacting surface leads to large bearing damping. Equation governing the hydrodynamics of the fluid film is coupled with equations describing the elastic deformation of the cantilevered curved foil to determine the static and dynamic characteristics. The governing deformation equation is derived using Castigliano’s theorem and verified with commercial finite element software. A power microelectromechanical systems supported on mesoscale multileaf foil bearings is proposed, and rotordynamic performance is predicted using the calculated bearing coefficients. Predictions show that the load capacity of a multileaf bearing whose cantilevered foil has contact at the free end is larger than that of a bearing whose cantilevered foil has no contact at the free end. The novel multileaf bearing with a lager reserved clearance Cr has superior stability characteristic than the bearing with smaller reserved clearance.

Foil Gas Bearing With Compression Springs: Analyses and Experiments

2007 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 628-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ju-ho Song ◽  
Daejong Kim
Keyword(s):  
Loss Factor ◽  
Load Capacity ◽  
Underlying Structure ◽  
Equivalent Viscous Damping ◽  
Foil Bearings ◽  
Foil Bearing ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Structural Loss ◽  
Compression Springs ◽  
Gas Bearing

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.

Application of Materials on Foil Thrust Bearings for Micro Turbines

2011 ◽  
Vol 201-203 ◽  
pp. 2759-2762
Author(s):  
Quan Zhou ◽  
Yu Hou ◽  
Ru Gang Chen
Keyword(s):  
Thrust Bearing ◽  
Load Capacity ◽  
Bearing Surface ◽  
Thrust Bearings ◽  
Foil Bearings ◽  
Foil Bearing ◽  
Soft Surface ◽  
Static Part ◽  
Micro Turbine ◽  
Foil Thrust Bearing

Foil bearing that has a soft surface is a kind of air bearing. The performances of foil bearings are greatly affected by the materials of bearing surface, which is called foil element. In order to estimate the performance of foil bearings, two kinds of foil thrust bearings that are made of different materials respectively were tested in a micro turbine system, which contains rotation part and static part. Load capacity and stability of these foil thrust bearings were investigated in experiments. The results show that bearing which contains rubber has higher load capacity and bearing which contains copper foil has higher stability. According to the work in this paper, applications with different requirements can adopt suitable foil thrust bearing.

Performance Analysis of Oil Lubricated Foil Bearing With Flexible Supported Back Spring Structure—Part I: Model Development and Numerical Investigation

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guanghui Zhang ◽  
Xie Liang ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
Zhansheng Liu
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Equation ◽  
Load Capacity ◽  
Model Development ◽  
Foil Thickness ◽  
Film Rupture ◽  
Finite Element Software ◽  
Flexibility Matrix ◽  
Foil Bearing ◽  
Deformation Equation ◽  
The Stability

A new type of multileaf oil lubricated foil bearing with flexible supported back spring structure was proposed to satisfy the requirement of high rotating velocity for turbo pump, where the rotor was submerged in the hydraulic oil. The numerical analysis was carried out in this paper. Based on the structure of oil foil bearing, the film thickness model was established without foil deformation. By employing Castigliano's theorem, the total flexibility matrix including the elastic back spring and cantilevered curved beam was calculated, and then compared with commercial finite element software to verify the accuracy of the proposed model. The obtained flexibility matrix was brought into the static and dynamic oil lubricated Reynolds equation. The Reynolds boundary condition was considered to simulate the oil film rupture effect. The deformation equation for the structure and the Reynolds equation were solved coupled by the successive over relaxation method. The static and dynamic characteristics of the oil lubricated multileaf foil bearing with supported back spring were acquired. The effect of the foil thickness on the load capacity was discussed. The variation of the dynamic coefficients with bearing load was acquired. By employing Routh–Hurwitz method, the stability of the bearing was analyzed. The results indicated that the load capacity of the foil bearing with back supported spring was bigger than that of the foil bearing without back supported spring. The stability characteristics of the foil bearing with back supported structure was better than traditional rigid self-acting bearing, particular for the high rotating speed case.

Static Performance of a Hydrostatic Thrust Foil Bearing for Large Scale Oil-Free Turbomachines

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen LaTray ◽  
Daejong Kim ◽  
Myongsok Song
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Load Capacity ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Outer Diameter ◽  
Frictional Loss ◽  
Foil Bearing ◽  
Foundation Model ◽  
Static Performance ◽  
High Load Capacity

Abstract This work presents a novel design of a hydrostatic thrust foil bearing (HSTFB) with an outer diameter of 154mm along with simulation and test results up to specific load capacity of 223kPa (32.3psi). The HSTFB incorporates a high pressure air/gas injection to the thrust foil bearing with a uniform clearance. This bearing has high load capacity, low power loss, and no friction/wear during startup and shutdown. In addition, the HSTFB allows for bidirectional operation. The paper also presents an advanced simulation model which adopts the exact locations of a tangentially arranged bumps to a cylindrical two-dimensional plate model of the top foil. This method predicts top foil deflection with better accuracy than the traditional independent elastic foundation model which distributes the bump locations over the nodal points in the cylindrical coordinates, and with less computational resource than the finite element method applied to the entire bump/top foils. The presented HSTFB, was designed for Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) generators, but its performance was predicted and measured using air in this paper. The bearing static performance is compared analytically against the rigid counterpart, and presented at different supply pressures, speeds, and minimum film thicknesses. Experimental verification is conducted at 10, 15 and 20krpm. The measured load capacity and frictional loss agree well with the prediction. The measured film thickness also agrees with the prediction after the structural deflection of the thrust runner disc is compensated. Overall, the novel HSTFB demonstrates an excellent static performance and shows good potential for adoption to the intended ORC generators and other large oil-free turbomachines.

Rotordynamics Performance of Hybrid Foil Bearing Under Forced Vibration Input

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daejong Kim ◽  
Brian Nicholson ◽  
Lewis Rosado ◽  
Garry Givan
Keyword(s):  
Impulse Response ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Load Capacity ◽  
Supply System ◽  
Forced Response ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Lateral Acceleration ◽  
Foil Bearings ◽  
Foil Bearing ◽  
Gas Supply

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.

Theoretical Study on Static Performance of Double-Bump Foil Bearings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fangcheng Xu ◽  
Jianhua Chu ◽  
Wenlin Luan ◽  
Guang Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element ◽  
Film Thickness ◽  
Thrust Bearing ◽  
Load Capacity ◽  
Static Characteristics ◽  
Thrust Bearings ◽  
Foil Bearings ◽  
Foil Bearing ◽  
Static Performance ◽  
Initial Clearance

Abstract In this paper, single-bump foil models with different thickness and double-bump foil models with different initial clearances are established. The structural stiffness and equivalent viscous damping of double-bump foil and single-bump foil are analyzed by finite element simulation. The results show that the double-layer bump foil has variable stiffness and the displacement of the upper bump is greater than the initial gap when the two-layer bumps contact. A model for obtaining static characteristics of aerodynamic compliant foil thrust bearing is established on the basis of the stiffness characteristics of the double-bump foil. This paper solves gas Reynolds equation, the gas film thickness equation and the foil stiffness characteristic equation via the finite element method and the finite difference method. The static characteristics of the thrust bearings including the bearing pressure distribution, the gas film thickness and the friction power consumption have been obtained. The static characteristics of two kinds of foils have been compared and analyzed, and the effect of initial clearance on the static performance of double-bump foil bearings is studied. The results show that the double-bump foil structure can effectively improve the load capacity of thrust bearing. In addition, the static performance of double-bump foil thrust bearings is between the performance of the single-bump foil bearing and the double-bump foil bearing whose foil’s clearance is zero. The smaller the initial clearance is, the easier it will be to form a stable double-bump foil supporting structure.

Influence of geometric parameters on the bump foil bearing performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 234 (7) ◽  
pp. 1017-1026
Author(s):  
Sadanand Kulkarni ◽  
Soumendu Jana
Keyword(s):  
Carrying Capacity ◽  
High Speed ◽  
System Development ◽  
Load Capacity ◽  
Radial Clearance ◽  
Load Carrying Capacity ◽  
Foil Bearings ◽  
Foil Bearing ◽  
Load Carrying ◽  
Lift Off

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.

Investigation of Structural Conformity in a Three-Pad Adaptive Air Foil Bearing With Regard to Active Control of Radial Clearance

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Sadri ◽  
Henning Schlums ◽  
Michael Sinapius
Keyword(s):  
Shape Control ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Load Capacity ◽  
Radial Clearance ◽  
Foil Bearings ◽  
Compliant Structure ◽  
Foil Bearing ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Lift Off ◽  
Structural Conformity

Abstract Various solutions for the design of oil-free bearings are discussed in the literature. Adding hydrodynamic preload to the foil bearings by profiling the inner bore of the bearing is one of the most frequently investigated methods for improving the bearing stability and damping character of the entire system. However, this approach leads to a reduced load capacity and thus to an increased lift-off speed of the foil bearings. Observations of this kind lead to the presentation of various solutions for active bearing contour adjustment, which benefits from different profiles of the lubricant film. Most of these concepts use piezoelectric stack actuators to generate the required alternating force, although the influence of the stiffness of adaptive elements on bearing performance is not fully discussed in the literature. The focus of this study is on the investigation of structural conformity, i.e., the harmonization of stiffness with respect to the requirements for shape control and load capacity of an adaptive air foil bearing (AAFB). The result may be a basis for the consideration of additional degrees of freedom in any concept with shape control as the main design framework in interaction between the lubricant and compliant structure in an air foil bearing from both static and dynamic points of view.

Development of Foil Thrust Bearings with Simple Structure for Micro Turbines

2011 ◽  
Vol 368-373 ◽  
pp. 1392-1395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quan Zhou ◽  
Yu Hou ◽  
Ru Gang Chen
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Simple Structure ◽  
Thrust Bearing ◽  
Load Capacity ◽  
Complicated Structure ◽  
Thrust Bearings ◽  
Foil Bearings ◽  
Rotational Systems ◽  
Micro Turbine ◽  
Foil Thrust Bearing

Because of the low power loss and high stability, foil bearings are suitable lubrication components for high speed rotational systems. At present, the foil bearings used in actual applications almost have complicated structure and are hard to manufacture. In this paper, two kinds of foil thrust bearings with simple structure are presented. Configurations of these two foil thrust bearings are introduced; meanwhile, the load capacity and running stability are also tested in a high speed micro turbine. It is shown that viscoelastic supported foil thrust bearing has higher load capacity and hemisphere convex dots supported foil thrust bearing is more stable in high speed operational condition.

Hybrid Air Foil Bearings With External Pressurization

Tribology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daejong Kim ◽  
Soonkuk Park
Keyword(s):  
Load Capacity ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Steel Tube ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Drag Torque ◽  
Foil Bearings ◽  
Foil Bearing ◽  
Hybrid Operation ◽  
Lift Off

Foil bearings are widely used for oil-free microturbomachinery. One of the critical technical issues related to reliability of the foil bearings is a coating wear on the top foil and rotor during start/stops. Especially for heavily loaded foil bearings, large start torque requires a large drive motor. Bearing cooling is also mandatory for certain applications because the foil bearings can generate significant amount of heat depending on operating conditions. Usually axial flow is used through the space between the top foil and bearing sleeve. In this paper, a hybrid air foil bearing with external pressurization is introduced. A flexible steel tube is attached to the backside of the top foil with orifice holes, and externally pressurized air is directly supplied to the bearing clearance to lift off the rotor before rotor spins. The hybrid operation eliminates the coating wear during start/stop cycles, reduces drag torque during starts, and eliminates axial flow cooling. The hybrid foil gas bearing was constructed using a multiple compression springs to demonstrate a feasibility of the concept. A simple analytical model to calculate top foil deflection under hydrostatic pressurization has been developed. Predictions via orbit simulations indicate the hybrid air foil bearings can have much higher critical speed and onset speed of instability than hydrodynamic counter part. Measured load capacity was slightly higher than hydrodynamic bearing even under smaller amount of air flow. In addition, the hybrid operation was very effective for bearing cooling even if the cooling flow rate was lower than hydrodynamic counterpart. The measured very small drag torque during the start/stop demonstrates the hybrid foil bearing can have near-infinite life time without wear of the bearing and rotor surface. The experimental studies show high potential of the hybrid air foil bearings for various oil-free turbomachinery, especially for heavily loaded high temperature applications.

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