• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.338-343
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• 2011

Laser surface texturing (LST) methods are widely applied now to reduce friction and improve reliability of machine components such as thrust bearings, mechanical face seals and piston rings, etc. In this paper, the effect of dimple shapes on the lubrication characteristics of parallel thrust bearing are studied using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT. Pressure and streamline distributions, variations of supporting load, leakage flow rate and friction force, are compared for three different dimple sectional shapes such as circle, pyramid and rectangle type. The lubrication characteristics are highly affected by dimple shapes and number of dimples. The pyramid type dimple shape can support the highest load while the rectangle type is the best in friction reduction.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.411-416
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• 2019

In this paper, we describe a measurement system based on vision for detecting the rotation axis of dimpled golf ball. Some golf balls have wrong rotation axis owing to bad production and scratch. A flying golf ball makes sliced or curved motion mainly to owing the wrong rotation axis of golf ball. Dimples of golf ball make a golf ball higher and more straight flying. When we hit a golf ball by driver or iron club, the dimpled ball flies straight and rotates as well. While the ball flying, the rotating axis of the ball convergence. And this makes the ball motion curved. If we hit a golf ball in direction of the rotation axis, the flying ball makes straight motion. In this paper, we develop a control system to detect convergence axis and time of flying golf ball based on vision system. To show validity of the developed system, We experimented several case for dimpled golf balls.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.305-310
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• 2009

Laser surface texturing (LST) methods are applied recently to generate micro-dimples in machine components having parallel sliding surfaces such as thrust bearings, mechanical face seals and piston rings, etc. And it is experimentally reported by several researchers that the micro-dimpled bearing surfaces can reduce friction force. Until now, however, theoretical results for various dimple parameters are not fully presented. In this paper, a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT is used to investigate the effect of dimple depth on the lubrication characteristics of parallel thrust bearing. The results show that the pressure, velocity and density distributions within dimples are highly affected by dimple depths and cavitation conditions. Adoption of micro-dimple on the bearing surface can reduce the friction force highly and its levels are affected by dimple depth. The numerical methods and results can be use in design of optimum dimple characteristics to improve thrust bearing performance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.41-49
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• 2016

To evaluate lubrication properties by surface roughness under boundary and mixed lubrication, a new approach is suggested by both asperity flow and contact with stochastic characteristics. Many researchers already have studied the effect of surface roughness on flow. But, it has become important to research of the phenomenon of asperities contact in surfaces because the growth of asperities contact area under heavy load conditions. In this paper, flow factors in the average flow model derived by Patir and Cheng were used, and a multi-asperity contact model was included to calculate lubrication properties of a surface with a randomly generated rough surface. A numerical analysis using the average Reynolds equation with both the average flow model and the asperity contact model was conducted, and the results were compared with those from previous research. The results showed that the influence of asperities on lubrication and the friction coefficient changed rapidly on application of contact model.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.741-746
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• 2012

The increase of energetic efficiency in plane bearing is getting more important in the transfer mechanism of semi-conductor and display panel manufacturing processes. To accomplish this objective, the technique of surface texturing on bearing surface has recently emerged as one of the most effective candidates. In this study, the effects of various pattern parameters on two bearing performance indices(load carrying capacity and effective friction coefficient) are investigated through a semi-analytic method, i.e., the 2-dimensional Reynolds equation incorporated into the finite difference scheme. Here, cavitation effect is also taken into account by employing an appropriate numerical scheme. In this study, the patterns in the textured surface are composed of a series of semi-spheres or semi-ellipsoids in shape. The effects of their size and number density on the performance indices are examined through the performance of various numerical experiments. Also, the effects of the anisotropy of the semi-ellipsoidal pattern on the bearing's lubrication characteristics are investigated and discussed.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.147-153
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• 2016

Friction reduction between machine components is important for improving their efficiency and lifespan. In recent years, surface texturing has received considerable attention as a viable means to enhance the efficiency and tribological performance of highly sliding mechanical components such as parallel thrust bearings, mechanical face seals, and piston rings. In this study, we perform lubrication analysis to investigate the effect of dimple shapes and orientations on the lubrication characteristics of a surface textured parallel thrust bearing. Numerical analysis involves solving the continuity and Navier-Stokes equations using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT. We use dimples consisting of hemispherical and different semiellipsoidal orientations for simulation. We compare pressure and streamline distributions, load capacity, friction force, and leakage flowrate for different numbers of dimples and orientations. We find that the dimple shapes, orientations, and their numbers starting from an inlet influence the lubrication characteristics. The results show that partial texturing of the bearing inlet region, and the ellipsoidal dimples with the major axis aligned along the lubricant flow direction exhibit the best lubrication characteristics in terms of higher load capacity and lower friction. The results can be used in the design of optimum dimple characteristics for parallel thrust bearings, for which further research is required.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.56-61
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• 2009

This study deals with the numerical investigation on two-dimensional lubrication characteristics of micro-dimple shapes fabricated on solid surfaces by using the commercial CFD code (Fluent V.6.3) to examine the influence of micro dimple depth and width on the reduction in friction under the sliding plate condition. In addition, single and multiple dimple arrays are simulated, all for a fixed area fraction of dimple on the surface. As a result, it is found that the existence of micro-dimpled surface makes it possible to substantially reduce the friction forces exerted on the surfaces, and such an optimum dimple depth would be present because the dimple depth larger than the optimum value did no longer affect the reduction in shear stresses, indicating that the reduction of friction is likely to be associated with inner flows of lubricant inside dimples. Moreover, it is observed that at the fixed area fraction, the friction reduction increases with the increase of dimple diameter.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.106-111
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• 2021

There are several studies on reducing the friction that occurs on the relative sliding contact surface of moving parts under extreme environments. In particular, a solid lubricated bearing is studied to solve the tribological problem with friction reduction and durability parts using solid lubricants (lead or silver) in a vacuum atmosphere. Galinstan is mainly used as a liquid metal lubricant, but it is inevitable to have limited tribological applications owing to its high coefficient of friction. Many researchers work on surface texturing for surface modification and precision processing methods. To increase durability and low friction, DLC coating with hydrophobicity is applied on the contact surface texture. Therefore, using an untextured specimen, a dimple specimen, and a DLC-coated dimple specimen under liquid metal lubrication, this paper presents the following experimental sliding friction characteristics in the sliding friction test. 1) The average coefficient of friction of the DLC-coated dimple specimen and dimple specimen are lower compared to that of a non-patterned specimen. 2) In the DLC-coated dimple specimens, the average coefficient of friction changes according to the change in the dimple density. 3) DLC-coated dimple specimens with a density of 12.5 have the lowest average coefficient of friction under 41.6 N of normal load and 143.3 RPM.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.193-197
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• 2008

Array of micro-dimple on polyoxymethylene (POM) surface was fabricated using Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and its characteristics were studied in terms of heat affected zone (HAZ), dimple geometry, and the effect of specimen surface roughness. Process parameters such as lamp current, process time, and the stream of air in order to minimize HAZ and flow of molten polymer into cavity were extensively studied in this work. Dimple geometry was further investigated by 3-D optical microscopy to provide deep insight into morphological analysis near the dimples. This paper also presents the applicapability of micro-dimples in polymeric tribological system, such as a thrust bearing. Micro-dimples were expected to provide low coefficient of friction and enhanced lubricity at the sliding interface.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.26-31
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• 2012

Friction reduction between sliding hydraulic machine components is required to improve efficiency and reliability of hydraulic machineries. It is recently reported that surface texturing on sliding bearing surfaces can reduce the friction force highly. In this paper, numerical analysis is carried out to investigate the effect of dimple numbers and inlet boundary pressures on the lubrication characteristics of a parallel sliding bearing using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT. The results show that the pressure distribution, load capacity, dimensionless friction force and leakage with dimple number and their locations, and inlet pressures. The overall lubrication characteristics are highly affected by dimple numbers and boundary pressure. The numerical method adopted and results can be used in design of efficient hydraulic machine components.