• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• 제35권3호
• /
• pp.190-198
• /
• 2019

Gas foil bearings (GFBs) enable small- to medium-sized turbomachinery to operate at ultra-high speeds in a compact design by using ambient air or process gas as a lubricant. When using air or process gas, which have lower viscosity than lubricant oil, the turbomachinery has the advantage of reduced power loss from bearing friction drag. However, GFBs may have high Reynolds number, which causes turbulent flows due to process gas with low viscosity and high density. This paper analyzes gas foil journal bearings (GFJBs) with high Reynolds numbers and studies the effects of turbulent flows on the static and dynamic performance of bearings. For comparison purposes, air and R-134a gas lubricants are applied to the GFJBs. For the air lubricant, turbulence is dominant only at rotor speeds higher than 200 krpm. At those speeds, the journal eccentricity decreases, but the film thickness, power loss, and direct stiffness and damping coefficients increase. On the other hand, the R-134a gas lubricant, which that has much higher density than air, causes dominant turbulence at rotor speeds greater than 10 krpm. The turbulent flow model predicts decreased journal eccentricity but increased film thickness and power loss when compared with the lamina flow model predictions. The vertical direct stiffness and damping coefficients are lower at speeds below 100 krpm, but higher beyond that speeds for the turbulent model. The present results indicate that turbulent flow effects should be considered for accurate performance predictions of GFJBs with high Reynolds number.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국신재생에너지학회 2006년도 춘계학술대회
• /
• pp.67-72
• /
• 2006

Blower as an air supply system is one of the most important BOP (Balance of Plant) system fur FCV(Fuel Cell Vehicle). For generating and blowing compressed air, the motor of air blower consumes maximum 25% of net power and fuel cell demands a clean air. Considering the efficiency of whole FCV, low friction lubrication of high speed rotor is needed. For the purpose of reducing electrical power and supplying clean air to Fuel cell, oil-free air foil bearings are applied at the each side of brushless motor (BLDC) as journal bearings which diameter is 50mm. The normal power of driving motor has 1.7kW with the 30,000rpm operating range and the flow rate of air has maximum 160 SCFM. The impeller of blower was adopted a mixed type of centrifugal and axial which has several advantages for variable operating condition. The performance of turbo-blower and parameters of air foil bearings was investigated analytically and experimentally. From this study, the performance of the blower was confirmed to be suitable far 80kw PEM FC.

• 대한기계학회논문집
• /
• 제10권3호
• /
• pp.399-407
• /
• 1986

본 연구에서는 공기역학 탄성베어링의 설계에 필요한 기본이론에 대하여 고찰 하고 그의 신빙성을 그러한 베어링에 지지된 고속회전축의 진등측정을 통하여 검토하 고저 한다. 탄성베어링의 한 예로써 여러 개의 탄성박판이 겹쳐 저어널을 지지하는 겹판베어링(

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
• /
• 제16권5호
• /
• pp.37-43
• /
• 2008

The durability test of turbo-blower for PEM fuel cell is very important process of BOP development. It is a major barrier to the commercialization of these systems for stationary and transportation power applications. Commercial viability depends on improving the durability of the air supply system to increase the reliability and to reduce the lifetime cost. In this study, turbo-blower supported by oil-free bearing is introduced as the air supply system used by 80kW proton exchange membrane fuel systems. The turbo-blower is a turbo machine which operates at high speed, so air foil bearings suit their purpose as bearing elements. The impeller of blower was adopted mixed type of centrifugal and axial. So, it has several advantages for variable operating condition. The turbo-blower test results show maximum parasitic power levels below 1.67kW with the 30,000 rpm rotating speed, the flow rate of air has maximum 163SCFM(@PR1.1). For proper application of FCV, these have to durability test. This paper describes the experiment for confirming endurance and stability of the turbo-blower for 500 hours.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• 제35권1호
• /
• pp.44-51
• /
• 2019

The paper presents the rotordynamic performance measurements and model predictions of a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) air compressor supported on gas foil bearings (GFBs). The rotor has an impeller on one end and a thrust runner on the other end. The front (impeller side) and rear (thrust side) gas foil journal bearings (GFJBs) are located between the impeller and thrust runner to support the radial loads, and a pair of gas foil thrust bearings are located on both sides of the thrust runner to support the axial loads. The test GFJBs have a partial arc shim foil installed between the top foil and bump strip layers to enhance hydrodynamic pressure generation. During the rotordynamic performance tests, two sets of orthogonally installed eddy-current displacement sensors measure the rotor radial motions at the rotor impeller and thrust ends. A series of speed-up and coast-down tests to 100k rpm demonstrates the dominant synchronous (1X) rotor responses to imbalance masses without noticeable subsynchronous motions, which indicates a rotordynamically stable rotor-GFB system. Finite element analysis of the rotor determines the rotor free-free (bending) natural modes and frequencies well beyond the maximum rotating frequency. The predicted damped natural frequencies and damping ratios of the rotor-GFB system reveal rotordynamic stability over the speeds of interest. The imbalance response predictions show that the predicted critical speeds and rotor amplitudes strongly agree with the test measurements, thus validating the developed rotordynamic model.

• 한국유체기계학회 논문집
• /
• 제18권6호
• /
• pp.12-18
• /
• 2015

Recently, the development trend of turbomachinery is high capacity and high efficiency. Most of turbomachinery in the market are adopting ball bearings or air foil bearings. However, ball bearings have a limit for high speed product over $2.0{\times}10^6DN$(product of the inner diameter of the bearing in mm (D) and the maximum speed in rpm (N)). Air foil bearings have a limit for high axial load for high power products over 200~300 HP(horse power). Magnetic bearing is one of the solutions to overcome the limits of high speed and high axial load. Because magnetic bearings have no friction between the rotor and the bearings, they can reduce the load of the motor and make it possible to increase the rotating speed up to $5.0{\times}10^6DN$. Moreover, they can have high axial load capacity, because the axial load capacity of magnetic bearing depends on the capacity of the designed electromagnet. In this study, the radial and thrust magnetic bearings are designed to be applied to the 200 HP class turbo blower, and their performance was evaluated by the experiment. Based on the tests up to 26,400 rpm and 21,000 rpm under the no-load and load condition, respectively, it was verified that the magnetic bearings are stably support the rotor of the turbo blower.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
• /
• 제39권10호
• /
• pp.1029-1037
• /
• 2015

최근 회전 시스템의 고속화 경향에 따라 회전체 동역학적 안정성의 중요성이 부각되었다. 고속회전 시스템에 적용되는 가스베어링의 동특성을 규명하는 것은 회전체의 거동을 예측하는데 상당히 중요하다. 본 연구에서는 대표적인 가스베어링인 가스포일베어링의 범프 구조에 대하여 가진실험을 수행하고 가진 주파수에 따른 동특성을 측정하였다. 실험 결과, 범프 구조의 강성은 주파수에 따라 증가하였고 감쇠는 감소하였다. 또한, 가압 조건에서의 동특성은 범프 구조의 동특성 보다 낮은 값을 가졌다. 본 실험을 통해 범프 구조의 주파수 의존 동특성의 경향을 파악하였으며 가스포일베어링의 동특성에 윤활막이 미치는 영향에 대해 확인하였다. 또한 두 가지 동특성 계산 방법을 제시하여 실험결과를 통해 효과 적인 동특성 계산 방법에 대해 비교 고찰하고 범프 구조와 윤활막의 동특성을 비교 하였다.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• 제17권6호
• /
• pp.441-446
• /
• 2001

In this paper the effect of bump compliance, load, and the number of pad on the lift-off speed is studied. When the load is greater and bump compliance lower, the shaft is lifted off at higher rotating speed. And when the load is applied near the center of pad, lift-off speed is lower. When the number of pad increases, the lift-off speed is higher. The lift-off characteristics can be used to lengthen the lift time of the coating and design the rotating machinery supported by bump bearings.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• 제35권5호
• /
• pp.300-309
• /
• 2019

Gas foil thrust bearings (GFTBs) support axial loads in oil-free, high speed rotating machinery using air or gas as a lubricant. Due to the inherent low viscosity of the lubricant, GFTBs often have super-laminar flows in the film region at operating conditions with high Reynolds numbers. This paper develops a mathematical model of a GFTB with turbulent flows and validates the model predictions against those from the literature. The pressure distribution, film thickness distribution, load carrying capacity, and power loss are predicted for both laminar and turbulent flow models and compared with each other. Predictions for an air lubricant show that the GFTB has high Reynolds numbers at the leading edge where the film thickness is large and relatively low Reynolds numbers at the trailing edge. The predicted load capacity and power loss for the turbulent flow model show little difference from those for the laminar flow model even at the highest speed of 100 krpm, because the Reynolds numbers are smaller than the critical Reynolds number. On the other hand, refrigerant (R-134a) lubricant, which has a higher density than air, had significant differences due to high Reynolds numbers in the film region, in particular, near the leading and outer edges. The predicted load capacity and power loss for the turbulent flow model are 2.1 and 2.3 times larger, respectively, than those for the laminar flow model, thus implying that the turbulent flow greatly affects the performance of the GFTB.

• 한국윤활학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국윤활학회 2001년도 제33회 춘계학술대회 개최
• /
• pp.236-242
• /
• 2001

In this paper the effect of bump compliance, load, and the number of pad on the lift-off speed is studied. When the load is greater and bump compliance lower, the shaft is lifted off at higher rotating speed. And when the load is applied near the center of pad, lift-off speed is lower. When the number of pad increases, the lift-off speed is higher. The lift-off characteristics can be used to lengthen the life time of the coating and design the rotating machinery supported by bump bearings.