• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.300-309
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• 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.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.441-446
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• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.236-242
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• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.593-598
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• 2000

In this paper the critical speed analysis and design sensitivity investigation are carried out with an APU(auxiliary power unit) gas turbine having a spline shaft connection. The DDM(direct differential method) is directly applied to formulate the critical speed design sensitivity problem of a general nonsymmetric-matrix rotor-bearing system. The design sensitivity analysis have shown that the critical speed change rate to the support modeling of the spline shaft connection point is extremely negligible, and thereby its design uncertainty is lifted. It has also been confirmed that the critical speeds up to the 4th are not sensitive to the design stiffness coefficients of 4-main bearings or supports, including two air foil bearings. Further, the critical speed change rate to the shaft-element length have shown quantitatively that the spline shaft has some limited influence on the 4th critical speed.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.168-175
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• 2009

This paper proposes an enhanced algorithm for sensorless control of 45,000rpm/22kw type Permanent Magnetic Synchronous Motor (PMSM) with air-foil bearing. The proposed algorithm is based on iterative adaptive flux observer for sensorless control of the motor in wide speed range by on-line estimating angle and velocity of rotor. Simulation error between actual and estimated angle of rotor is analyzed to enhance characteristics of frequency response of conventional adaptive flux observer, which results in stable response in wide range of speed. Using the iteration number for stable phase-delay characteristics, the observer enhances the dynamic characteristics of the observer within current control period. The experiment results show the reliable performance of the proposed algorithm through starting to high speed operating range.