• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2024

This study analyzes the thermal effects on the performance of an air foil thrust bearing (AFTB) using COMSOL Multiphysics to approximate actual bearing behavior under real conditions. An AFTB is a sliding-thrust bearing that uses air as a lubricant to support the axial load. The AFTB consists of top and bump foils and supports the rotating disk through the hydrodynamic pressure generated by the wedge effect from the inclined surface of the top foil and the elastic deformation of the bump foils, similar to a spring. The use of air as a lubricant has some advantages such as low friction loss and less heat generation, enabling air bearings to be widely used in high-speed rotating systems. However, even in AFTB, the effects of energy loss due to viscosity at high speeds, interface frictional heat, and thermal deformation of the foil caused by temperature increase cannot be ignored. Foil deformation derived from the thermal effect influences the minimum decay in film thickness and enhances the film pressure. For these reasons, performance analyses of isothermal AFTBs have shown few discrepancies with real bearing behavior. To account for this phenomenon, a thermal-fluid-structure analysis is conducted to describe the combined mechanics. Results show that the load capacity under the thermal effect is slightly higher than that obtained from isothermal analysis. In addition, the push and pull effects on the top foil and bump foil-free edges can be simulated. The differences between the isothermal and thermal behaviors are discussed.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.482-487
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• 2001

Leaf type foil bearings have been used successfully in many aerospace applications such as air cycle machines, turbocompressors and turboexpander. These applications are characterized by light loads, constant speeds and low to moderate temperatures. But, as system on start-up or shutdown, sliding contact between the shaft and foil surfaces cause wear. So, in present study, to understand pressure-flow characteristics and deformation of foil bearing, flow/structure interaction analysis was used. and using this method, 2D and 3D calculation was peformed for shape of foil bearing to know circumferential direction flow and leakage flow characteristics of axial direction.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.153-159
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• 2002

This paper describes a durability characteristics of an air-lubricated bump foil journal bearing for high speed turbomachinerys at room temperature. At first, lift-off test and load capacity test were performed to understand the general characteristics of an air-lubricated bump foil Journal bearing. A 52 N weighted bump foil bearing sleeve was lilted off from a rotating Journal at about 3,000 rpm, and produced a load capacity of 500 N at an operating speed of 15,000 rpm. The next was 500 cycles lift-off test with an air-lubricated bump foil journal bearing that had a molybdenum disulfide(MoS$_2$) solid lubricant coated top foil. Data from measuring bearing torque and temperature and the observation of rubbing surfAce were included in results. Therefore the results of this work will aid in proving durability of air-lubricated bump foil journal bearings.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.212-219
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• 2001

This paper describes a durability characteristics of an air-lubricated bump foil journal bearing for high speed turbomachinerys at room temperature. At first, lift-off test and load capacity test were performed to understand the general characteristics of an air-lubricated bump foil journal bearing. A 52N weighted bump foil bearing sleeve was lifted off from a rotating journal at about 3,000rpm, and produced a load capacity of 500N at an operating speed of 15,000rpm. The next was 500 cycles lift-off test with an air-lubricated bump foil journal bearing that had a molybdenum disulfide(MoS$_2$) solid lubricant coated top foil. Data from measuring bearing torque and temperature and the observation of rubbing surface were included in results. Therefore the results of this work will aid in proving durability of air-lubricated bump foil journal bearings.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.99-100
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• 2008

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.53-62
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• 2022

This study presents experimental measurements of the rotordynamic performance of a motor-driven small turbocompressor supported by gas beam foil journal bearings (GBFJBs) and compares the test results with the predictions of a computational model. The experiments confirmed that the rotational synchronous frequency component dominates the behavior of the overall rotor vibrations, whereas the nonsynchronous components are insignificant, indicating the rotor-bearing system remains stable up to 100 krpm. The undamped natural frequency and imbalanced response of the rotor-bearing system are predicted when integrating the finite element model of the rotor-bearing system with the predictions of the bearing dynamic coefficients. The results are in good agreement with the experimental results. In addition, base excitation test results show that the small turbocompressor can endure large external forces and demonstrate limited rotor amplitudes. A simple single degreeof-freedom rotor model using the nonlinear stiffness of the GBFJBs can effectively predict the test results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.127-131
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• 2003

Foil gas bearing is a noncontact bearing operated by coupled interaction between hydrodynamic pressure of viscous fluid and elastic deformation of foil structure. It has valuable advantages, such as low power loss, long life, oilless environment and low vibration, over conventional bearings for the high speed applications. A high speed BLDC motor adopting the foil bearing has been developed. It is designed to have 38㎾ power at 100,000 RPM for a cryogenic cooler whose operating fluid is neon. In this paper, structural development details especially for the foil gas bearing and rotordynamics are presented.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.177-185
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• 2000

The characteristics of multi-leaf feil bearing are investigated. The Foil bearing is preloaded and has several leaf foils modeled by curved beams. An analysis of the air foil bearing was performed, considering effects of foil deflection and compressible lubrication equation simultaneously. A parametric study shows that the number of foils significantly affect the static characteristics of air foil bearings and describes what the minimum film thickness means. The results include pressure profile, load capacity, dimensionless torque and minimum film thickness in the foil bearing.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.123-131
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• 2019

This study characterizes the coastdown performances of two small electric motors supported on high-speed ball bearings (BBs) and gas foil bearings (GFBs), and it predicts their acceleration performances. The two motors have identical permanent magnetic rotors and mating stators. However, the shaft of the GFBs has a larger mass and polar/transverse moments of inertia than that of the BBs. Motor coastdown tests demonstrate that the rotor speed decreases linearly with the BBs and nonlinearly with the GFBs. A simple model for the BBs predicts a constant drag torque and linear decay of speed with time. The test data validate the model predictions. For the GFBs, the hydrodynamic lubrication model predictions reveal that the drag torque increases linearly with speed, and the speed decreases exponentially with time. The predictions agree very well with the test data in the speed range of 100-30 krpm. The boundary lubrication model predicts a constant drag torque and linear decay of speed with time. The predictions agree well with the test data below 15 krpm. Mixed lubrication occurs in the speed range of 30-15 krpm. Rotor acceleration performances are predicted based on the characteristics of deceleration performances. The GFBs require more time to reach 100,000 krpm than the BBs because of their larger shaft polar moment of inertia. However, predictions for the assumed identical polar moment of inertia reveal that the GFBs have a nearly identical acceleration performance to that of the BBs with a motor torque greater than $0.03N{\cdot}m$.

• 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.