• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.91-98
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• 2021

This paper presents a hydrostatic bearing design and rotordynamic analysis of a turbo expander for a hydrogen liquefaction plant. Th~e turbo expander includes the turbine and compressor wheel assembled to a shaft supported by two hydrostatic radial and thrust bearings. The rated speed is 75,000 rpm and the rated power is 6 kW. For the bearing operation, we use pressurized air at 8.5 bar as the lubricant that is supplied to the bearing through the orifice restrictor. We calculate the bearing stiffness and flow rate for various gauge pressure ratios and select the orifice diameter providing the maximum bearing stiffness. Additionally, we conduct a rotordynamic analysis based on the calculated bearing stiffness and damping considering design parameters of the turbo expander. The predicted Cambell diagram indicates that there are two critical speeds under the rated speed and there exists a sufficient separation margin for the rated speed. In addition, the predicted rotor vibration is under 1 ㎛ at the rated speed. We conduct the operating test of the turbo expander in the test rig. For the operation, we supply pressurized air to the turbine and monitor the shaft vibration during the test. The test results show that there are two critical speeds under the rated speed, and the shaft vibration is controlled under 2.5 ㎛.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.99-105
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• 2002

The performance test of an axial-type turbine is carried out with various axial gap distances between the stator and rotor. The turbine is operated at the low pressure and speed, and the degree of reaction is 0.373 at the mean radius. The axial-type turbine consists of ons-stage and 3-dimensional blades. The chord length of rotor is 28.2mm and mean diameter of turbine is 257.56mm. The power of turbo-blower for input power is 30kW and mass flow rate is $340m^3$/min at 290mmAq static-pressure. The RPM and output power are controlled by a dynamometer connected directly to the turbine shaft. The axial gap distances are changed from a quarter to three times of stator axial chord length, and performance curves are obtained with 9 different axial gaps. The efficiency varies about 8% of its peak value due to the variation of axial gap on the same non-dimensional mass flow rate and RPM, and experimental results show that the optimum axial gap is 1.6-1.9Cx.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.33-40
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• 2009

The temperature of vertical pump bearing metal in the pumped storage power plant has been high enough to shutdown the unit. Attempts such as decreasing the oil supply temperature, increasing the bearing oil gap etc. were performed to resolve the problem, but the issue was not resolved. Finally, the high bearing metal temperature was corrected by adjusting the bearing preload. The preload is formed by the oil wedge between the journal surface and bearing pad surface and the degree of preload is determined by the machined radial clearance, assembled radial clearance, rotor journal diameter etc. This paper focuses on the analysis of the preload depending on the bearing parameters and the result of the modification of the bearing following the analysis. The bearing metal temperature dropped as much as $20^{\circ}C$ which was similar as expected by software calculation. But the shaft vibration could increase when the assembled radial clearance is excessive. So, the adjustment of the bearing preload for the tilting pad type journal bearing should be carefully performed.