• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.261-266
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• 2003

Foil air bearing, which is a noncontact bearing utilizing viscosity of operating fluid and elastic deformation of foil structure, has several advantages over rolling element bearings in terms of oilless environment, long life, high speed operation, and high temperature application over $500^{\circ}C$ . Recently advanced researches are actively being performed for the application to the extreme temperature such as gas turbines, as well as conventional small turbo machinery. In this paper, the principle of foil air bearing is introduced and a feasibility study to adopt a foil bearing as the turbine bearing of 65 HP turbo shaft engine, which is under development for UAV, is presented.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.159-166
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• 1998

본 연구에서는 공기포일 베어링으로 지지된 로터 베어링 시스템을 구성하고 실험을 수행함으로써 시스템의 진동을 측정하고 그 결과를 해석함으로써 로터 베어링 시스템의 안정성 검토한다. 또, 초기 구동 마찰을 고려하여 공기윤활로만 구동되는 경우와 초기에 베어링 표면에 오일이 도포된 경우를 비교한다. Transient data를 해석 함으로써 로터 베어링 시스템의 startup 및 shutdown에 대한 특성 파악이 가능해지며 시스템의 동적 특성에 대한 더욱 정확한 해석을 가능케한다.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.12a
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• pp.309-314
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• 2003

High-efficiency turboblowers in the next generation have been successfully developed and commercialized first in the world, using the high-speed BLDC motors and the foil air bearings. About 20-35% savings in electricity consumption in the field are found in comparison with the conventional roots rotary blowers and the integral gear-driven turboblowers. Current TB75 and TB150 products are replacing the existing blowers in the worldwide market.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.12a
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• pp.803-809
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• 2005

This paper presents the theoretical model to investigate the effect of Coulomb damping in the sub-structure of a foil bearing. Foil deflection is restricted by friction of bumps. Equivalent viscous damping of the bump foils is derived from the Coulomb friction. Dynamic equation of the bumps is constituted by stiffness and damping terms. This point give the difference from Heshmat's frictionless and simple compliance bump model. The fluid is modeled with the compressible Reynolds equation. A perturbation approach is used to determine the static and dynamic performance of the bearing from the coupled fluid-structural model. The analysis result shows that the static and dynamic performance is enhanced by bump friction. This analysis technique would be extended to development of a high performance bearing.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.9 no.1 s.34
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• pp.47-55
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• 2006

This paper presents the theoretical model to investigate the effect of Coulomb damping in the sub-structure of a foil bearing. Foil deflection is restricted by friction of bumps. Equivalent viscous damping of the bump foils is derived from the Coulomb friction. Dynamic equation of the bumps is constituted by stiffness and damping terms. This point give the difference from Heshmat's frictionless and simple compliance bump model. The fluid is modeled with the compressible Reynolds equation. A perturbation approach is used to determine the static and dynamic performance of the bearing from the coupled fluid-structural model. The analysis result shows that the static and dynamic performance is enhanced by bump friction. This analysis technique would be extended to development of a high performance bearing.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.292-297
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• 2009

Air foil thrust bearings are the critical components available on high-efficiency turbomachinery which need an ability to endure the large axial force. Air foil bearings are self-acting hydrodynamic bearings that use ambient air as their lubricant. Since the air is squeezed by the edge of compliance-surface of bearing, hydrodynamic force is generated. In this study, we measured the air film thickness and obtained the minimum film thickness experimentally. To increase the maximum load capacity, compliance of sub-structure was controlled. From numerical analyses, it is seen that, if the air film thickness is distributed more uniformly by variable compliance, the thrust bearings can take more axial load.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.271-276
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• 2006

This paper shows the rotordynamic characteristics of a turbo-generator for a BOP of a fuel cell system. The rotor-bearing system consists of magnetic shaft and compressor-turbine shaft, and the two shafts are connected by spline coupling and supported by oil free air foil bearing. Preliminary design according to several parameter is considered in detail. Static and dynamic characteristics of the AFB are estimated by the soft elasto-hydrodynamic analysis technique and the perturbation method. The results of the natural frequencies, mode shape, and unbalance response analysis are presented.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.12a
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• pp.662-667
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• 2003

This paper presents a performance analysis of the 1st generation bump foil journal bearings for the micro gas turbine TG75. Static performances such as load capacity and attitude angle are estimated by using soft elasto-hydrodynamic analysis technique, and dynamic performances such as stiffness and damping coefficients are estimated by perturbation method. Rotordynamic analysis for TG75 is performed by using the bearing analysis results. TG75 rotor has 2 horizontal and vertical directional natural modes due to the bearing stiffness characteristics. TG75 rotor will be stably operated between the 1st bending mode at 33000cpm and the 2nd bending mode at 85500cpm. Unbalance response analysis results satisfy the API vibration criteria.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.12a
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• pp.191-198
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• 2002

Oil-free turbo-compressor supported by compliant foil bearings which remove oil-contamination by elimination of the conventional ball bearing and oil lubrication systems is presented. Turbo-compressor makes two individual air compression with two impellers at operating speed, 39,000rpm. In this study, the rotordynamic effects caused by aerodynamic instability were investigated with variable mass flow rate. Correlation between frequencies of pressure fluctuation in two diffusers and those of excitation forces on rotor were clearly developed in aerodynamic unsteady region. Thus, these results show that it is beneficial to design high speed rotating turbomachinery considering coupling effect between aerodynamic instability and rotordynamic force.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.6 no.2 s.19
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• pp.62-69
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• 2003

An oil-free turbo-compressor supported by compliant foil bearings which remove oil-contamination by elimination of a conventional ball bearing and oil lubrication systems is presented. Turbo-compressor makes two individual air compressions with two impellers at a operating speed of 39,000 rpm. In this study, the rotordynamic effects caused by aerodynamic instability were investigated with variable mass flow rates. Correlations between frequencies of pressure fluctuation in two diffusers and those of excitation forces on rotor were clearly observed in an aerodynamic unsteady region. Thus, these results show that it is beneficial to design high-speed rotating turbomachinery by considering coupling effect between aerodynamic instability and rotordynamic force.