• 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.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.5-10
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• 2011

MTG(Micro turbine generator) operating at 400,000 rpm is under development and the impact test rig to measure the dynamic stiffness and damping coefficient of air foil bearing for high speed rotor is presented in this study. The stiffness and damping coefficient of air foil bearing depending on the rotational speed can be measured easily and effectively by using the simple configuration of impact test rig which is composed of air gun, gap sensors and high speed motor. The estimation results of stiffness and dampling coefficient using least square estimation method is presented as well.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.261-266
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• 2003

Foil air bearing, which is a noncontact bearing utilizing viscosity of operating fluid and elastic deformation of foil structure, has several advantages over rolling element bearings in terms of oilless environment, long life, high speed operation, and high temperature application over $500^{\circ}C$ . Recently advanced researches are actively being performed for the application to the extreme temperature such as gas turbines, as well as conventional small turbo machinery. In this paper, the principle of foil air bearing is introduced and a feasibility study to adopt a foil bearing as the turbine bearing of 65 HP turbo shaft engine, which is under development for UAV, is presented.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.9 no.6 s.39
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• pp.45-53
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• 2006

Turbo-blower as an air supply system is one of the most important BOP (Balance of Plant) systems for FCV(Fuel Cell Vehicle). For generating and blowing compressed air, the motor of air blower consumes maximum 25% of net power, and fuel cell demands a clean air. In this study, turbo-blower supported by air foil bearings is introduced as the air supply system used by 80kW proton exchange membrane fuel systems. The turbo-blower is a turbo machine which operates at high speed, so air foil bearings suit their purpose as bearing elements. Analysis for confirming the stability and endurance is conducted. The rotordynamic stability was predicted using the numerical analysis of air foil bearings and it is verified through experimental works. In spite of various transient dynamic situation, the turbo-blower had stable performances. After the performance test, results are presented. The normal power of driving motor has about 1.6 kW with the 30,000 rpm operating range and the flow rate of air has maximum 160 SCFM. The test results show that the aerodymic performance and stability of turbo-blower are satisfied to the primary goals.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.541-548
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• 2008

To improve the operational stability of the 100 Watts class Micro Gas Turbine, the air foil bearing with additional damping material has been investigated. The key of structure is that a viscoelastic material is coated under the top foil. The compliant foil journal bearing and thrust bearing are designed to withstand high load of vibrations at the operational speed 870,000 rpm. Test is executed in room temperature. Rotor has stably operated above 480,000 rpm. It is over 55% of the designed speed 870,000 rpm. Synchronous and subsynchronous vibrations are both well controlled. Vibration amplitude diminished over 50%. With the help of increased damping resulting from the viscoelasticity, the rotor stability of Micro turbocharger has been improved.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.283-288
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• 2005

This paper presents the theoretical model and analysis results to investigate the effect of Coulomb damping in the sub-structure of a foil bearing. Vertical and horizontal deflection of a bump is restricted by friction of the bump. Equivalent viscous damping of the bump foil is derived from the Coulomb friction. Dynamic equation of the bump is constituted by stiffness and damping terms. The air film is modeled by the compressible Reynolds equation. A perturbation approach and finite difference numerical method is used to determine the static and dynamic performance of the bearing from the coupled fluid-structural model. The analysis result shows that the static and dynamic performance is enhanced by the bump friction.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.459-464
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• 2003

The Roordynamic feasibility of Micro Power System supported by air foil bearings is investigated. The Micro Power System is new portable power source based on brayton cycle, which consists of compressor, turbine, generator, and combustion chamber. In this paper, the analysis of Rotordynamic characteristics of Micro Power System is performed based upon the bearing equilibrium position, Campbell diagram and stability. As a result, it is demonstrated that the air foil bearings could be adopted well to the Micro Power System. However, for more stable operation at target running speed, the damping characteristics of air foil bearing should be enhanced.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.12a
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• pp.104-108
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• 2004

Micro turbine is an electric power generating system using a gas turbine whose rated power is under 300kW, and it is featured as a small, efficient. maintenance free and environment-friendly system. Air foil bearing has several advantages over conventional bearings for micro turbine because it is oilless and non-contact. Recently, air foil bearings for high temperature over $500^{\circ}C$ has been developed for the application of 65kW micro turbine system. In this paper, the development and current status are summarized in detail.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.47-55
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• 2008

Turbocharger has a main purpose on recycling of the exhaust gas from the engine cylinder. On the basis of the facility characteristics, the turbocharger supported on floating ring bearings has some problems such as the large volume, oil supplement for lubrication and high power loss due to high operating torque. The air foil bearing has been studied as the bearing element to be able to alternate the floating ring bearing without the problems of the floating ring bearing. In this study, the air foil bearing has 2 parts; journal and thrust bearings, and the test facility consists of the engine, exhaust and intake parts. In addiction, the specification of the turbocharger follows a small turbocharger for SUV engine. The engine speed is varied from 750 (idle rpm) to 2,500 rpm and then, the rotating speed of the turbocharger rotor is accelerated from 0 to 100,000 rpm. From those experiments, the comparison between the performances of the air foil bearing and floating ring bearing is conducted and the results show that the air foil bearing has less power loss, maximum 770 watt, than the floating ring bearing, maximum 5,110 watt. This result verifies that the air foil bearing is more efficient and able to output more power under the same condition of the input power.