• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.81-85
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• 2023

This study presents an experimental investigation of the effects of surface roughness on gas foil thrust bearing (GFTB) performance. A high-speed motor with the maximum speed of 80 krpm rotates a thrust runner and a pneumatic cylinder applies static loads to the test GFTB. When the motor speed increases and reaches a specific speed at which a hydrodynamic film pressure generated within the gap between the thrust runner and test GFTB is enough to support the applied static load, the thrust runner lifts off from the test GFTB and the friction mechanism changes from the boundary lubrication to the hydrodynamic lubrication. The experiment shows a series of lift-off test and load-carrying capacity test for two thrust runners with different surface roughnesses. For a constant static load of 15 N, thrust runner A with its lower surface roughness exhibits a higher start-up torque but lower lift-off torque than thrust runner B with a higher surface roughness. The load capacity test at a rotor speed of 60 krpm reveals that runner A results in a higher maximum load capacity than runner B. Runner A also shows a lower drag torque, friction coefficient, and bearing temperature than runner B at constant static loads. The results imply that maintaining a consistent surface roughness for a thrust runner may improve its static GFTB performance.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.392-399
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• 2009

The paper concerns the description of the step by step development process of the new fixed blade runner called "Mixer" suitable for the uprating of the Francis turbines units installed at the older low head hydropower plants. In the paper the details of hydraulic and mechanical design are presented. Since the rotational speed of the new runner is significantly higher then the rotational speed of the original Francis one, the direct coupling of the turbine to the generator can be applied. The maximum efficiency at prescribed operational point was reached by the geometry optimization of two most important components. In the first step the optimization of the draft tube geometry was carried out. The condition for the draft tube geometry optimization was to design the new geometry of the draft tube within the original bad draft tube shape without any extensive civil works. The runner blade geometry optimization was carried out on the runner coupled with the draft tube domain. The blade geometry of the runner was optimized using automatic direct search optimization procedure. The method used for the objective function minimum search is a kind of the Nelder-Mead simplex method. The objective function concerns efficiency, required net head and cavitation features. After successful hydraulic design the modal and stress analysis was carried out on the prototype scale runner. The static pressure distribution from flow simulation was used as a load condition. The modal analysis in air and in water was carried out and the results were compared. The final runner was manufactured in model scale and it is going to be tested in hydraulic laboratory. Since the turbine with the fixed blade runner does not allow double regulation like in case of full Kaplan turbine, it can be profitably used mainly at power plants with smaller changes of operational conditions or in case with more units installed. The advantages are simple manufacturing, installation and therefore lower expenses and short delivery time for turbine uprating.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.15 no.1 s.82
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• pp.47-56
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• 2006

It is well known that the family-mold has an advantage to reduce the cost for production and mold. However, defects are frequently occurred by over packing the smaller volume cavity during molding, especially when the family-mold has a volumetric difference between two cavities. In this study, the cavity-filling imbalance was confirmed by the temperature and the pressure sensors, and a variable-runner system was developed for balancing the cavity-filling. Experiments of balancing the cavity filling was carried out in the family-mold with the variable-runner system, and balancing the cavity-filling was confirmed by changing the cross-sectional area of a runner in the variable-runner system with the temperature and pressure sensors. The influence of the injection speed to the balancing-capability of the variable-runner system was also examined in the experiment.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.300-306
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• 2018

In this study, the performance of foil thrust bearings was investigated by performing bearing take-off and load capacity tests, using an in-house designed and manufactured vertical bearing test rig. The mean take-off rotational speed and maximum load capacity of the bearing specimen were ~18,000 rpm and ~80 kPa, respectively. The vertical bearing test rig was observed to yield higher coefficients of friction and frictional torques than a horizontal bearing test rig under identical test conditions. This was a result of its structural characteristics, in that the bearing specimen is placed atop the thrust runner, which keeps it from being separated from the runner after the bearing take-off. In addition, bearing take-off was observed at a higher runner rotational speed as this structure keeps air from flowing between the top foil and runner surfaces, which requires a higher runner speed. The parallel alignment between the bearing specimen and runner surfaces can be maintained within a certain range more easily in a vertical test rig than in a horizontal test rig. Because of these advantages, Korean Industrial Standard, KS B 2060, recommends a vertical bearing test rig as the standard test device for foil thrust bearings.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.144-149
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• 2008

Configuration of filling imbalance which is originated from imbalanced share rate of melt on runner is changed by runner layout, runner shape, material property, injection pressure, injection speed, melt temperature and mold temperature. In this paper, we conducted a study of runner layout and shape that are main factors of filling imbalance. Other factors such as the sharp corner effect and the groove corner effect are recently released were also considered. The results of study are showed that filling rate of between inside and outside cavity was influenced on shape of runner. Especially, this study suggests a new runner system for filling balance by adapting the two effects of unary branch type runner at multi cavity mold and theoretical investigated flow in the sharp corner type runner.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.132-140
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• 2005

It is well known that the family-mold has an advantage to reduce the cost for production and mold. However, defects are frequently occurred by over packing the smaller volume cavity during molding, especially whorl the family-mold has a volumetric difference between two cavities. In this study, we confirmed the cavity-filling imbalance by the temperature and the pressure sensors, and developed a variable-runner system for the cavity-filling balance. We carried out experiments fur balancing the cavity filling in the family-mold with the variable-runner system, and confirmed a balanced cavity-filing through analyzing the temperature and pressure change in each cavity as the cross-sectional area of the runner changed. We also examined the influence of the injection-speed to the balancing-capability of the variable-runner system in the experiment.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2012

Aspect of filling imbalance that is originated from imbalanced share rate in runner is changed by material property, runner layout that are factors of changing viscosity and by injection pressure, injection speed, melt temperature and mold temperature that are injection conditions. In this paper, we made a study of runner system that is one of factor of filling imbalance and Sharp Conner Effect and Groove Corner Effect that are recently released. The study are showed that filling rate of between inside and outside cavity was influenced on shape of runner. Also, we suggested runner system for filling imbalance by adapting the two effects at multi cavity of unary branch type and theoretical investigated flow in the Shrap Conner runner type.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2015

The current scenario of the transportation sector reflects the urgent need to address issues such as depletion of traditional fuel reserves and ever growing pollution levels. Researchers around the world are focussing on alternatives as well as optimisation of currently employed devices to reduce the pollution levels generated by the commonly used fuels. One such optimisation involves the study of air flow within the intake manifolds of SI engines. It is a well-known fact that alterations in the air manifolds of engines have a significant impact on the engine performance parameters, fuel consumption and emission levels. Previous works have demonstrated the impacts of runner lengths, diameter, plenum volume, taper angle of distribution manifolds and other factors on in-cylinder fluid motion and engine performance. However, a static setup provides an optimal configuration only at a specific engine speed. This paper aims to investigate the variations in the same parameters on a four stroke, naturally aspirated single cylinder SI engine through varying the cross section design over the intake runner with the aid of Computational Fluid Dynamics. The system consists of segments that form the intake runner with projections on the inside that allow various permutations of the intake runner segments. The various configurations provide the optimised fluid flow characteristics within the intake manifold at specific engine speed intervals. The variations such as turbulence, air fuel mixing are analysed using the three dimensional CFD software FLUENT. The results can be used further for developing an automated or manually adjustable intake manifold.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.337-339
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• 2020

Speed-run is a gameplay style in what the player tries to finish the game as quickly as possible. The purpose of this study is to observe and analyze the difference between a normal player and a speed runner in a speed run to better understand their interaction with the game and to extrapolate the applications of the analyzed frameworks to scenarios that extent normal gameplay. For this purpose, MDA (Mechanic, Dynamic, Aesthetics) and DPE (Experience, Design, Play) were used. As a result, the average player was found to focus on aesthetics or affects while the speed runner focused on mechanics and gameplay.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.102-112
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• 2015

In the Nordic grid, a trend observed the recent years is the increase in grid frequency variations, which means the frequency is outside the normal range (49.9-50.1 Hz) more often. Variations in the grid frequency leads to changes in the speed of rotation of all the turbines connected to the grid, since the speed of rotation is closely related to the grid frequency for synchronous generators. When the speed of rotation changes, this implies that the net torque acting on the rotating masses are changed, and the material of the turbine runners must withstand these changes in torque. Frequency variations thus leads to torque oscillations in the turbine, which become dynamical loads that the runner must be able to withstand. Several new Francis runners have recently experienced cracks in the runner blades due to fatigue, obviously due to the runner design not taking into account the actual loads on the runner. In this paper, the torque oscillations and dynamic loads due to the variations in grid frequency are simulated in a 1D MATLAB program, and measured grid frequency is used as input to the simulation program. The maximum increase and decrease in the grid frequency over a 440 seconds interval have been investigated, in addition to an extreme event where the frequency decreased far below the normal range within a few seconds. The dynamic loading originating from grid frequency variations is qualitatively found by a constructed variable $T_{stress}$, and for the simulations presented here the variations in $T_{stress}$ are found to be around 3 % of the mean value, which is a relatively small dynamic load. The important thing to remember is that these dynamic loads come in addition to all other dynamic loads, like rotor-stator interaction and draft tube surges, and should be included in the design process, if not found to be negligible.