• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.677-684
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• 2004

This paper describes a method for identifying the dynamic characteristics of air foil bearings for high speed turbomachinerys with the LS/IV method. In fact identifying the characteristics of air foil bearings is very difficult work, and it is tried to identify it. Experiments were conducted to determine the structural dynamic and hydrodynamic characteristics of air foil bearings. Numerical predictions compare the static and dynamic force performances. The housing of the bearing on the journal was driven by the impact hammer which were used to simulate impact force acting on air foil bearings. The characteristics of air foil bearings were extracted from the frequency response function (FRF) by LS(Least Square) method and IV(Instrumental Variable) method. The experiment was tested at 0 rpm and $10000\sim16000rpm$. And the test results were introduced about the dynamic characteristics of air foil bearings, and also compared with theoritical results.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.331-334
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• 2006

Air foil bearings have been attempted for application to industrial turbo machines, since they have several advantages over oil bearings in terms of endurance, simplicity, environment-friendliness, efficiency, sound and vibration, and small turbo machines with air foil bearings are in the market as the result. Recently, researches on widening the application spectrum of air foil bearings are in progress worldwide. In this paper, a 300 HP class turbo blower using air foil bearings is introduced. The turbo blower has a high speed PMSM(Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor) driving a compressor, and air flow rate is designed to be $180\;m^3/min$ at pressure ratio of 1.6. The maximum rotational speed is set to 17,000 RPM to maximize the total efficiency with the result that the weight of rotor assembly is 26kg, which is expected to be the largest turbo machine with air foil bearings ever developed in the world.

• 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.

• 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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• 2009.10a
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• pp.791-791
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• 2009

Hybrid air-foil magnetic bearing combines two oil free bearing technologies to take advantage of the strengths of each bearing with minimizing each other 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 control gain and offset displacements of magnetic bearing.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.332-341
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• 2020

High-speed turbomachinery implements gas foil bearings (GFBs) due to their distinctive advantages, such as high efficiency, lesser part count, and lower weight. This paper provides the test results of the static structural stiffnesses and loss factors of bump-type foil thrust bearings with increasing preload and bearing deflection. The focus of the current work is to experimentally quantify variability in structural stiffnesses and loss factors among the four test thrust bearings with identical design values and material of the bump and top foil geometries using the same (open-source) fabrication method. A simple test setup, using a rigidly mounted non-rotating shaft and thrust disk, measures the bearing bump deflections with increasing static loads on the test bearing. The inner and outer diameters of the test bearings are 41 mm and 81 mm, respectively. The loss factor, best-representing energy dissipation in the test bearings, is estimated from the area inside the local hysteresis loop of the load versus the bearing deflection curve. The measurements show that structural stiffnesses and loss factors of the test bearings significantly rely on applied preloads and bearing deflections. Local structural stiffnesses of the test bearings increase with applied preloads but decrease with bearing deflections. Changes of loss factors are less sensitive to applied preloads and bearing deflections compared to those of structural stiffnesses. Up to 35% variability in static load structural stiffnesses is found between bearings, while up to 30% variability in loss factors is found between bearings.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.12a
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• pp.453-458
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• 2002

The feasibility study on supporting a turbocharger rotor on air foil bearing is investigated. Based on finite difference method and Newton-Raphson method, the static equilibrium position of a turbocharger rotor is predicted. And using finite difference method and perturbation method, dynamic characteristics of air foil bearings are calculated. Rotordynamic analysis is performed by finite element method, with collaboration of calculated stiffness and damping of foil bearing. The effect of compliance and clearance of bump foil bearing on the oil-free turbocharger is investigated in terms of rotordynamics. And the critical speeds, eccentricity ratio, vibration amplitude, and stability are considered. It is demonstrated that foil bearings offer a rlausible replacement for oil-lubricated bearings in turbocharger.

• 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.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.256-262
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• 2005

The calculation of bump foil deflection is very important to predict the performance of foil bearings more accurately, because the foil bearings consist of top foil and its elastic foundation usually called bump foil. For the purpose of this, a finite element model considering 3-dimensional structure of the bump foil is developed to calculate the deflection of inter-connected bump. The results obtained from the suggested model are compared and analyzed with those from the previous proposed deflection models. In addition, load capacity of the foil bearings is analyzed by using this model.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.12a
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• pp.177-182
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• 2002

In the paper, the development of high-speed industrial turbo blowers with foil air bearings is presented as a first successful commercialization in the world. Their target market is various from wastewater treatment to cement factory processes which require compressed air ranging between 0.6 and 0.8 bar gauge. Employing the state-of·the-art technology of the high-speed BLDC motors, the bump-type foil air bearings and the high- efficient turbo impellers/diffusers, so much compact, efficient and silent blower machines of a single stage are now available in the market, aiming to replace the existing inefficient, bulky and noisy ones, such as roots blowers. The first production lines are established fur 25,75 and 150 hp class blowers. Rotational speeds from about 20,000 to 80,000 rpm are realized directly from the high-speed BLDC motors without any gear boxes, and no lubrication oil is required. A brief introduction of design, manufacture and test results is presented fur mechanical, electrical and aerodynamic performance.