• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.332-341
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• 2020

High-speed turbomachinery implements gas foil bearings (GFBs) due to their distinctive advantages, such as high efficiency, lesser part count, and lower weight. This paper provides the test results of the static structural stiffnesses and loss factors of bump-type foil thrust bearings with increasing preload and bearing deflection. The focus of the current work is to experimentally quantify variability in structural stiffnesses and loss factors among the four test thrust bearings with identical design values and material of the bump and top foil geometries using the same (open-source) fabrication method. A simple test setup, using a rigidly mounted non-rotating shaft and thrust disk, measures the bearing bump deflections with increasing static loads on the test bearing. The inner and outer diameters of the test bearings are 41 mm and 81 mm, respectively. The loss factor, best-representing energy dissipation in the test bearings, is estimated from the area inside the local hysteresis loop of the load versus the bearing deflection curve. The measurements show that structural stiffnesses and loss factors of the test bearings significantly rely on applied preloads and bearing deflections. Local structural stiffnesses of the test bearings increase with applied preloads but decrease with bearing deflections. Changes of loss factors are less sensitive to applied preloads and bearing deflections compared to those of structural stiffnesses. Up to 35% variability in static load structural stiffnesses is found between bearings, while up to 30% variability in loss factors is found between bearings.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

Fluid pumps in chemical processes are typically driven by electric motors. Even if the motor is separated from the pump with seals, wear resulting from friction and misalignment can lead to leakage of chemical fluid, causing corrosion in the bearing supporting the motor, and, eventually, failure of the motor. It is thus a standard procedure to replace bearings at regular intervals. In this article, we propose 3D-printed plastic ball bearings for use as an alternative to commercial stainless-steel ball bearings. The plastic bearings are easy to manufacture, require less time to replace, and are chemically resistant. To validate the applicability of the plastic bearings, we first conducted chemical resistance tests. Bearings were immersed in 30 caustic acid and 30 nitric acid for 30 min and 24 h, respectively. The test results showed no corrosive damage to the bearings. A test rig was set up to compare the performance of the plastic bearings with that of the commercially equivalent deep-groove ball bearings. Loading test results showed that the plastic bearings performed as well as the commercial bearing in terms of vibration level and load-handling capability. Finally, a plastic bearing was subjected to a clean-in-place process for three months. It actually outperformed the commercial bearing in terms of chemical resistance. Thus, 3D-printed plastic bearings are a viable alternative to stainless-steel ball bearings.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.183-189
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• 2023

A bearing is a mechanical component that transmits rotation and supports loads. According to the type of rotating mechanism, bearings are categorized into ball bearings and tapered roller bearings. Tapered roller bearings have higher load-bearing capabilities than ball bearings. They are used in applications where high loads need to be supported, such as wheel bearings for commercial vehicles and trucks, aircraft and high-speed trains, and heavy-duty spindles for heavy machinery. In recent times, the demand for reducing the driving friction torque in automobiles has been increasing owing to the CO₂ emission regulations and fuel efficiency requirements. Accordingly, the research on the driving friction torque of bearings has become more essential. Researchers have conducted various studies on the lubrication, friction, and contact in tapered roller bearings. Although researchers have conducted numerous studies on the friction in the lips and on roller misalignment and skew, studies considering the influence of roller shape, specifically roller shape errors including lips, are few. This study investigates the driving friction torque of tapered roller bearings considering roller geometric uncertainties. Initially, the study calculates the driving friction torque of tapered roller bearings when subjected to axial loads and compares it with experimental results. Additionally, it performs Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the influence of roller geometric uncertainties (i.e., the effects of roller geometric deviations) on the driving friction torque of the bearings. It then analyzes the results of these simulations.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2018

Taking three types of bridge bearings with diameter being 100 mm as examples, the theoretical analysis, the experimental research as well as the numerical simulation of these bearings is conducted. Since the normal compression and shear machines cannot be applied to the small-size bearings, an improved equipment to test the properties of these bearings is proposed and fabricated. Besides, the simulation of the bearings is conducted based on the explicit finite element software ANSYS/LS-DYNA, and some parameters of the bearings are modified in the finite element model to reduce the computation cost effectively. Results show that all the research methods are capable of revealing the fundamental properties of the small-size bearings, and a combined use of these methods can better catch both the integral properties and the inner detailed mechanical behaviors of the bearings.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.127-139
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• 2017

During the last decades, Pendulum Bearings with one or more concave sliding surfaces have been dominating bridge structures. For bridges with relative small lengths, the use of classical pendulum bearings could be a simple and cheaper solution. This work attempts to investigate the effectiveness of such a system, and especially its behavior for the case of a seismic excitation. The results obtained have shown that the classical pendulum bearings are very effective, mainly for bridges with short or intermediate length.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.265-271
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• 2012

In the preceding Part I study, for improving the unbalance response vibration of a large PRT motor-generator rotor fundamentally by design, a series of design analyses were carried out for bearing improvement by retrofitting from original plain partial journal bearings, applied for operation at a rated speed of 1,800 rpm, to final tilting pad journal bearings. To satisfy evenly key basic lubrication performances such as the minimum lift-off speed and maximum oil-film temperature, a design solution of 5-pad tilting pad journal bearings and maximizing the direct stiffness by about two times has been achieved. In this Part II study, a detailed rotordynamic analysis of the large PRT motor-generator rotor-bearing system will be performed, applying both the original plain partial journal bearings and the retrofitted tilting pad journal bearings, to confirm the effect of rotordynamic vibration improvement after retrofitting. The results show that the rotor unbalance response vibrations with the tilting pad journal bearings are greatly reduced by as much as about one ninth of those with the plain partial journal bearings. In addition, for the tilting pad journal bearings there exist no critical speed up to the rated speed and just one instance of a concerned critical speed around the rated speed, whereas for the plain partial journal bearings there exist one instance of a critical speed up to the rated speed and two instances of concerned critical speeds around the rated speed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.451-469
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• 1997

Experimental work undertaken to investigate the behaviour of laminated elastomeric bridge bearings under compression and a combination of compression and shear or rotation has been reported on elsewhere. However, it is difficult to determine the state of stress within the bearings in terms of the applied forces or the interaction between the steel shims and the rubber layers in the bearings. In order to supply some of the missing information about the stress-strain state within the bearings, an analytical study using the finite element method was carried out. The available experimental results were used to validate the model after which the analyses were used to provide further information about the state of stress within the bearing.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.12-18
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• 2015

Recently, the development trend of turbomachinery is high capacity and high efficiency. Most of turbomachinery in the market are adopting ball bearings or air foil bearings. However, ball bearings have a limit for high speed product over $2.0{\times}10^6DN$(product of the inner diameter of the bearing in mm (D) and the maximum speed in rpm (N)). Air foil bearings have a limit for high axial load for high power products over 200~300 HP(horse power). Magnetic bearing is one of the solutions to overcome the limits of high speed and high axial load. Because magnetic bearings have no friction between the rotor and the bearings, they can reduce the load of the motor and make it possible to increase the rotating speed up to $5.0{\times}10^6DN$. Moreover, they can have high axial load capacity, because the axial load capacity of magnetic bearing depends on the capacity of the designed electromagnet. In this study, the radial and thrust magnetic bearings are designed to be applied to the 200 HP class turbo blower, and their performance was evaluated by the experiment. Based on the tests up to 26,400 rpm and 21,000 rpm under the no-load and load condition, respectively, it was verified that the magnetic bearings are stably support the rotor of the turbo blower.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.575-585
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• 2015

Magnetic field in magnetic bearings is the physical medium to realize magnetic levitation, the distribution of the magnetic field determines the operating performance of magnetic bearings. In this paper, a thin-slice Fiber Bragg Grating-Giant Magnetostrictive Material magnetic sensor used for the air gap of magnetic bearings was proposed and tested in the condition of dynamic magnetic field. The static property of the sensor was calibrated and a polynomial curve was fitted to describe the performance of the sensor. Measurement of dynamic magnetic field with different frequencies in magnetic bearings was implemented. Comparing with the finite element simulations, the results showed the DC component of the magnetic field was detected by the sensor and error was less than 5.87%.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.1058-1064
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• 2003

Noise estimating procedures of oil lubricated journal bearings are presented. Nonlinear analysis of rotor-bearing system including unbalance mass of the rotor is performed in order to obtain acoustical properties of the bearing. Acoustical properties of the bearing are investigated through frequency analysis of the pressure fluctuation of the fluid film calculated from the nonlinear analysis. Noise estimating procedures presented in this paper could aid in the evaluation and understanding of acoustical properties of oil lubricated journal bearings.