• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.47-55
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• 2008

Turbocharger has a main purpose on recycling of the exhaust gas from the engine cylinder. On the basis of the facility characteristics, the turbocharger supported on floating ring bearings has some problems such as the large volume, oil supplement for lubrication and high power loss due to high operating torque. The air foil bearing has been studied as the bearing element to be able to alternate the floating ring bearing without the problems of the floating ring bearing. In this study, the air foil bearing has 2 parts; journal and thrust bearings, and the test facility consists of the engine, exhaust and intake parts. In addiction, the specification of the turbocharger follows a small turbocharger for SUV engine. The engine speed is varied from 750 (idle rpm) to 2,500 rpm and then, the rotating speed of the turbocharger rotor is accelerated from 0 to 100,000 rpm. From those experiments, the comparison between the performances of the air foil bearing and floating ring bearing is conducted and the results show that the air foil bearing has less power loss, maximum 770 watt, than the floating ring bearing, maximum 5,110 watt. This result verifies that the air foil bearing is more efficient and able to output more power under the same condition of the input power.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.108-113
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• 2009

This paper presents a experimental results for the performance evaluation of a double-bumped air foil bearing. The test results of a double-bumped AFB is compared with a single-bumped AFB at a heavily-loaded condition. The diameter of the test bearing is 50 mm, and the axial length is 50 mm. Nominal clearance of the single-bumped AFB is evaluated as $105{\mu}m$, and that of the double-bumped AFB is as $95{\mu}m$. The test of the AFBs are demonstrated at 3 test mode; the load variation mode, the speed variation mode, and start-stop mode. The single-bumped AFB demonstrated a upward load-carrying capacity of 95 N and a downward load-carrying capacity of 130 N at 20,000 rpm. The double-bumped AFB demonstrated a upward load-carrying capacity of 170 N and a downward load-carrying capacity of 170 N at 20,000 rpm. The single-bumped AFB demonstrated a downward lift-off speed of 16,300 rpm at 105 N. The double-bumped AFB demonstrated a downward lift-off speed of 15,400 rpm at 105 N. The start-stop test of the AFBs assure 5,000 cycle endurance life. The test results are compared with the theoretical calculation results. The test and theorectical results show thata double-bump air foil bearing provides a higher load-carrying capacity, stiffness and damping than a single-bump air foil bearing in a heavily-loaded condition.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.252-259
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• 2006

Air foil bearing supports the rotating journal using hydrodynamic force generated at thin air film. The bearing performances, stiffness, damping coefficient and load capacity, depend on the rotating speed and the performance of the elastic foundation, bump foil. The main focus of this study is to decide the dynamic performance of corrugated bump foil, structural stiffness and Coulomb damping caused by friction between bump foil and top foil/bump foil and housing. Structural stiffness is determined by the bump shape (bump height, pitch and bump thickness), dry-friction, and interacting force filed up to fixed end. So, the change of the characteristics was considered as the parameters change. The air foil bearing specification for analysis follows the general size; diameter 38.1 mm and length 38.1 mm (L/D=1.0). The results show that the stiffness at the fixed end is more than the stiffness at the free end, Coulomb damping is more at the fixed end due to the small displacement, and two dynamic characteristics are dependent on each other.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.186-194
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• 2004

Experiments were conducted to determine the structural static and dynamic characteristics of air foil bearings. The housing of the bearing on the journal was driven by an impact hammer which was used to simulate dynamic forces acting on the bump loll with various leading condition. Two different bump foils (Cu-coated bump and viscoelastic bump) were tested and the static and dynamic coefficients of two bump foils compared, based on the experimental measurements for a wide range of operating conditions. The static and dynamic characteristics of air foil bearings were extracted 0rpm the frequency response function by least square method and IV(Instrumental Variable) method. The experiment was tested at 0rpm and $10,000\~16,000rpm$, and loaded on $50\~150N$. From the test results, the possibility of the application of high load and high speed condition is suggested.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.114-121
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• 2005

As fuel cell system is environmental friendly generator, its performance depends on its air supply system. Because, fuel cell stack generates electrical energy by electron and the electron is generated by reacting between air and hydrogen. So, more and more compressed air is supplied, more and more the energy can be obtained. In this study, turbo-expander supported by air foil bearing is introduced as the air supply system used by fuel cell systems. The turbo-expander is a turbo machine which operates at high speed, so air foil bearings suit its purpose for the bearing elements. Analysis for confirming the stability and endurance is conducted. Based on FDM and Newton-Raphson method, characteristics of air foil bearing, dynamic coefficients, pressure field and load capacity, are obtained. Using the characteristics of air foil bearing, the rotordynamic analysis is performed by finite element method. The analysis (stability analysis and critical speed map) shows that turbo-expander is stability at running speed. After the analysis, the test process and results are presented. The goals of test are running up to 90,000 RPM, flow rate of 150 $m^3/h$ and pressure ratio of 1.15. The test results show that the aerodynamic performance and stability of turbo-expander are satisfied to the primary goals.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.283-288
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• 2005

This paper presents the theoretical model and analysis results to investigate the effect of Coulomb damping in the sub-structure of a foil bearing. Vertical and horizontal deflection of a bump is restricted by friction of the bump. Equivalent viscous damping of the bump foil is derived from the Coulomb friction. Dynamic equation of the bump is constituted by stiffness and damping terms. The air film is modeled by the compressible Reynolds equation. A perturbation approach and finite difference numerical method 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 the bump friction.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.64-71
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• 1998

In this study deals with measurement of the vibration amplitudes of rotor-bearing system supported by foil bearing were performed experimentally, and the stability of the system were analyzed by using those results. Considering initial operating friction, compare bearing lubricated with only air and bearing surface lubricated with oil. Analyzing the transient data, the understanding of the characteristics fur startup and shutdown of rotor-bearing system are available and the dynamic characteristics of the system also can be analyzed exactly.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.936-941
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• 2001

This paper deals with the design of oil-tree motor-driven two-stage centrifugal compressor supported by air-lubricated multi-leaf foil bearings. The design of this compressor is performed, based upon prediction of critical speeds, load capacity, and stability. It is demonstrated in this paper that multi-leaf foil bearings can be adopted to satisfactorily support this centrifugal compressor.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.153-159
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• 2002

This paper describes a durability characteristics of an air-lubricated bump foil journal bearing for high speed turbomachinerys at room temperature. At first, lift-off test and load capacity test were performed to understand the general characteristics of an air-lubricated bump foil Journal bearing. A 52 N weighted bump foil bearing sleeve was lilted off from a rotating Journal at about 3,000 rpm, and produced a load capacity of 500 N at an operating speed of 15,000 rpm. The next was 500 cycles lift-off test with an air-lubricated bump foil journal bearing that had a molybdenum disulfide(MoS$_2$) solid lubricant coated top foil. Data from measuring bearing torque and temperature and the observation of rubbing surfAce were included in results. Therefore the results of this work will aid in proving durability of air-lubricated bump foil journal bearings.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.212-219
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• 2001

This paper describes a durability characteristics of an air-lubricated bump foil journal bearing for high speed turbomachinerys at room temperature. At first, lift-off test and load capacity test were performed to understand the general characteristics of an air-lubricated bump foil journal bearing. A 52N weighted bump foil bearing sleeve was lifted off from a rotating journal at about 3,000rpm, and produced a load capacity of 500N at an operating speed of 15,000rpm. The next was 500 cycles lift-off test with an air-lubricated bump foil journal bearing that had a molybdenum disulfide(MoS$_2$) solid lubricant coated top foil. Data from measuring bearing torque and temperature and the observation of rubbing surface were included in results. Therefore the results of this work will aid in proving durability of air-lubricated bump foil journal bearings.