ANALYSIS OF FLUID CHARACTERISTICS OF THRUST BEARING ON MILLIMETER-SCALE MICRO GAS TURBINE

초소형 가스 터빈용 스러스트 베어링 내의 유동특성 해석

Since MEMS based micro actuators or generating devices showed high efficiency per volume, plenty of research are ongoing. Among them, MEMS based millimeter-scale micro gas turbine is one of the most powerful item for replacing chemical batteries. However, due to MEMS manufacturing technique, it is very difficult that makes wide turbine bearing area. It causes low DN number, so sufficient bearing force is hard to achieve. Thus, the most important issue on micro gas turbine is to design the proper bearing which can keep rotor stable during operation. In order to that, micro-scale gas-lubricated bearing is generally used. In this paper, basic feasibility study of thrust bearing of 10mm diameter turbine is described. Thrust bearing is hydrostatic gas-lubricated type. Numerical simulation is performed with ANSYS CFX 11.0 which is commercial numerical tool. Relationship between bearing inlet pressure and mass flow rate and bearing force is figured while changing bearing gap and number of capillaries. The simulation results will be used for further design of micro gas turbine.