• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.9 no.1_2
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• pp.1-6
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• 2008

In this study is performed a complex lubrication analysis of a herringbone groove air journal bearing, which shows a big potential as an oilless bearing for a color wheel used as an original color source for a large DLP projection television and rotating at a rated-speed of 10,800 rpm. The Galerkin FE and perturbation methods are used for a lubrication analysis of the bearing. The effects of groove number, angle and depth and bearing clearance on the dynamic stability of the bearing are investigated in terms of the critical mass, and its equilibrium positions, stiffness and damping coefficients are calculated at various rotating speeds. Results have shown that the designed herringbone groove air journal bearing is quite suitable as a support bearing for the considered high-speed color wheel in terms of the complex lubrication performances of the bearing itself.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.57-64
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• 2011

Hybrid air-foil magnetic bearing integrates two oil free bearing technologies synergetically to adopt the strengths of two bearings with minimizing their weaknesses. This paper presents bending mode vibration control of a flexible shaft supported by the hybrid air-foil magnetic bearing. An experiment set-up of a flexible shaft supported by the hybrid air-foil magnetic bearing is built. In order to verify the effectiveness of the hybrid bearing, unbalance responses of the flexible shaft supported by three different bearings: air-foil, magnetic and hybrid bearings are compared. Effect of load sharing between air-foil and magnetic bearings are investigated through changing the control gain and the rotor center position of magnetic bearing. The experimental results shows that the hybrid bearing can control the bending mode vibration of the flexible shaft effectively and an optimal performance can be achieved with an appropriate load sharing between the air-foil and the magnetic bearings.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.103-112
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• 2006

This paper describes a theoretical analysis and experimental verification on the performances of a vacuum-compatible air bearing, which is designed with a cascaded exhaust scheme to minimize the air leakage in a vacuum environment. The design of the vacuum-compatible air bearing equipped with the differential exhaust system requires great care because several design parameters, such as the number of exhaust stages, diameter of exhaust tube, pumping speed of a vacuum pump, and bearing clearance greatly influence the air leakage and thus degree of vacuum. In this study, a performance analysis method was proposed to estimate the performances of the air bearing, such as load capacity, stiffness, and air leakage. Results indicate that the load capacity and stiffness of the air bearing was improved as its boundary pressure, which was determined by the $1^{st}$ exhaust method, was lowered, and the dominant factors on the chamber's degree of vacuum were the number of exhaust stages, exhaust tube diameter and bearing clearance. A vacuum chamber and air bearing stage using porous pad were fabricated to verify the theoretical analysis. The results demonstrate that chamber pressure up to an order of $10^{-3}$ Pa was achieved with the air bearing stage operating inside the chamber, and this analysis method was valid by comparing predicted values with experimental data, for the mass flow rates from the porous pad, and pressures at each exhaust port and chamber, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.502-506
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• 2012

Air bearing is characterized by its extremely low friction and cleanliness such that it is widely used especially for spindles with ultra-high rotational speed at several tens of thousands rpm. This paper contributes to design of a static radial air bearing suggesting numerical analysis to anticipate its performances. The numerical analysis is an iteration method based on finite difference formulation of the Reynolds equation. A prototype air bearing has been designed and manufactured. Its load capacity has been measured and compared with the numerical solutions. The result shows good consistency between the experiment and theory, which informs that the numerical analysis can be used as an useful tool to anticipate the performances. Effects of design variables on the bearing performance have been examined by Taguchi's experimental methods using orthogonal array. Number of holes for supplying pressurized air, clearance between shaft and bearing, the hole diameter and bearing length are chosen for the design variables. The result shows that the clearance and the bearing length are the most influential variables while the others can be considered as almost negligible.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.725-733
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• 2001

Flying attitudes of the slider, which are flying height, pitch and roll, are affected by the air flow velocity, the skew angle, and the manufacturing tolerances. Traditional designs of the air bearing surface have considered only the flying performances for the variations in the air flow velocity and the skew angle, which are determined by the radial position. In this study, we present the new shape design of the air bearing surface by considering the track seek performance and the air bearing stiffness as well as the traditional design requirements. The optimization technique is used to improve the dynamic characteristics and operating performance of the newly proposed air bearing surface shape design further. The optimized configuration is obtained automatically and the optimally designed sliders show the enhanced flying and dynamic characteristics.

• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.103-113
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• 2001

The influence of aerated oil on high-speed journal bearing is examined by classical thermohydrodynamic lubrication theory coupled with analytical models for viscosity and density of air-oil mixture in fluid-film bearing. Convection to the walls and mixing with supply oil and re-circulating oil are considered. The live oil surface tension is considered as functions of temperature, API gravity and air volume ratio. With changing eccentricity ratio, it is investigated the effects of air bubbles on the performance of a high-speed plain journal bearing. Just at the moderate eccentricity ratios, even if the involved aeration levels are not so severe and the entrained air bubble sizes are not so small, it is found that the bearing load and friction farce may be changed so visibly for the high speed bearing operation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.1059-1065
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• 2004

In this paper, the dynamic characteristic analysis of carriage structure supported by air bearings were performed. Toward this end, the characteristics of air bearing were numerically analyzed to estimate the stiffness of the air bearing and the clearance between air bearing and guide surface. The modal analysis of the carriage structure was performed by using finite element method, and the experimental modal analysis was also performed to validate the finite element model, where rigid body modes were compared to validate the stiffness of the air bearings. From the results, the air spring stiffness can be estimated within the range of acceptable accuracy under any pressure and clearance condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.129-135
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• 2000

Air-dynamic bearings are increasingly used in supporting small high-speed rotating bodies. This study investigates the effects of design parameters on the axial stiffness of spiral-grooved air bearings of various curvatures. Design parameters are fundamental clearance, groove depth, and bearing number. The pressure distribution at the clearance between the stator and rotor of the bearing is obtained by solving the Reynolds equation, and the supporting load and the axial linear stiffness are calculated from the pressure distribution. It is found that a larger curvature increases the axial linear stiffness more and that there exist an optimal groove depth for the linear stiffness of the air bearing. It is also found that the linear stiffness has a linear relationship with the bearing number.

• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.46-54
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• 2001

The herringbone groove journal bearing (HGJB) has chevron type grooves on stationary or rotating member of the bearing so that they pump the lubricant inward the grooves when journal rotates. As a result, the pressure is generated around the journal so that the radial stiffness and dynamic stability are improved comparing to the plain journal bearing (PJB) when the bearing operates near the concentric condition. The narrow groove theory, conventionally adopted to simulate the concentric operation of HGJB, is limited to the infinite number of grooves. A numerical study of air-lubricated HGJB is presented for the finite number of grooves. The compressible isothermal Reynolds equation is solved by using Finite Element Method together with the Newton-Raphson iterative procedure and perturbation method. The solutions render the static and dynamic performances of HGJB. Comparison of present results with a PJB validates previously published finite difference solution. The HGJB's geometric parameters influence its static and dynamic characteristics. The optimum geometric parameters are presented for the air-lubricated HGJB in particular conditions.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.290-296
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• 2001

Lift-off means that the rotating journal surface separates from the leaf surface in an air-lubricated multi-leaf foil journal bearing. Lift-off builds up minimum film thickness which will provide load capacity between leaves and journal. In this paper an analysis of air-lubricated multi-leaf foil journal bearing was performed with effects of multi-leaf foil deflection and compressible lubrication equation simultaneously. Minimum film thickness built up versus journal speed predicts the lift off characteristics and these results will be useful in designing and selecting the proper speed of the air-lubricated multi-leaf foil journal bearing.