Friction of Superconductor Bearing

초전도 베어링의 마찰계수 측정

A high-temperature superconductor (HTS) journal bearing was studied for loss. Two HTS bearings support the rotor at top and bottom. The rotor weight is 4 kg and the length is about 300 mm. Both the top and bottom bearings have two permanent magnet (PM) rings with an iron pole piece separating them. Each HTS journal bearing is composed of six pieces of superconductor blocks of size 35$\times$25$\times$10 mm. The HTS blocks are encased in a cryochamber through which liquid nitrogen flows. The inner spool of the cryochamber is made from G-10 to reduce eddy current loss, and the rest of the cryochamber is stainless steel. The magnetic field from the PM rings ＜ 10 mT on the stainless part. The rotational drag was measured over the same speed range. Results indicate that the 10 mT design criteria for magnetic field on the stainless part of the cryochamber is too high.