• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.10
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• pp.1029-1037
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• 2015

Recently, the importance of rotordynamic stability has been increased because of the tendency to employ ultra-high speeds in rotating machinery. In particular, the dynamic characteristics of gas bearings for high-speed rotating machinery need to be identified at various excitation frequencies to predict the rotor's behavior. In this study, we perform dynamic loading tests for gas-foil bearings (GFBs) to determine the bump foil structure and an air-film combined bump-foil structure for varying excitation frequencies. We calculate the dynamic characteristics from the measured force and displacement data. The air film is generated by a pressurized air supply. Based on the results, the stiffness coefficients of the bump structure and the air-film combined bump structure increased, while the damping coefficients decreased at increasing excitation frequencies. Further, the stiffness and damping coefficients of the air-film combined structure show lower values than those of the bump structure. Consequently, we identify the frequency-dependent dynamic characteristics of the bump structure and the effect of gas film on the dynamic characteristics of GFBs. Furthermore, to reveal the effectiveness of the proposed method, we perform experiments and discuss two methods of extracting the dynamic characteristics from the measured data.

• 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.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.12a
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• pp.803-809
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• 2005

This paper presents the theoretical model to investigate the effect of Coulomb damping in the sub-structure of a foil bearing. Foil deflection is restricted by friction of bumps. Equivalent viscous damping of the bump foils is derived from the Coulomb friction. Dynamic equation of the bumps is constituted by stiffness and damping terms. This point give the difference from Heshmat's frictionless and simple compliance bump model. The fluid is modeled with the compressible Reynolds equation. A perturbation approach 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 bump friction. This analysis technique would be extended to development of a high performance bearing.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.9 no.1 s.34
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• pp.47-55
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• 2006

This paper presents the theoretical model to investigate the effect of Coulomb damping in the sub-structure of a foil bearing. Foil deflection is restricted by friction of bumps. Equivalent viscous damping of the bump foils is derived from the Coulomb friction. Dynamic equation of the bumps is constituted by stiffness and damping terms. This point give the difference from Heshmat's frictionless and simple compliance bump model. The fluid is modeled with the compressible Reynolds equation. A perturbation approach 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 bump friction. This analysis technique would be extended to development of a high performance bearing.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.300-309
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• 2019

Gas foil thrust bearings (GFTBs) support axial loads in oil-free, high speed rotating machinery using air or gas as a lubricant. Due to the inherent low viscosity of the lubricant, GFTBs often have super-laminar flows in the film region at operating conditions with high Reynolds numbers. This paper develops a mathematical model of a GFTB with turbulent flows and validates the model predictions against those from the literature. The pressure distribution, film thickness distribution, load carrying capacity, and power loss are predicted for both laminar and turbulent flow models and compared with each other. Predictions for an air lubricant show that the GFTB has high Reynolds numbers at the leading edge where the film thickness is large and relatively low Reynolds numbers at the trailing edge. The predicted load capacity and power loss for the turbulent flow model show little difference from those for the laminar flow model even at the highest speed of 100 krpm, because the Reynolds numbers are smaller than the critical Reynolds number. On the other hand, refrigerant (R-134a) lubricant, which has a higher density than air, had significant differences due to high Reynolds numbers in the film region, in particular, near the leading and outer edges. The predicted load capacity and power loss for the turbulent flow model are 2.1 and 2.3 times larger, respectively, than those for the laminar flow model, thus implying that the turbulent flow greatly affects the performance of the GFTB.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.593-598
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• 2000

In this paper the critical speed analysis and design sensitivity investigation are carried out with an APU(auxiliary power unit) gas turbine having a spline shaft connection. The DDM(direct differential method) is directly applied to formulate the critical speed design sensitivity problem of a general nonsymmetric-matrix rotor-bearing system. The design sensitivity analysis have shown that the critical speed change rate to the support modeling of the spline shaft connection point is extremely negligible, and thereby its design uncertainty is lifted. It has also been confirmed that the critical speeds up to the 4th are not sensitive to the design stiffness coefficients of 4-main bearings or supports, including two air foil bearings. Further, the critical speed change rate to the shaft-element length have shown quantitatively that the spline shaft has some limited influence on the 4th critical speed.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.203-211
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• 2023

This study experimentally investigates the effects of angular acceleration on the friction and wear performances of a gas foil thrust bearing (GFTB) using a typical GFTB with six pads. The outer radius of the bearing is 31.5 mm, the total bearing area is 2,041 mm² , and the bump foil and incline (ramp) height are both 500 ㎛. The newly developed GFTB test rig for measuring the friction torque and coefficient measures the axial load, drag torque, lift-off speed, and touch-down speed. The experiment is conducted for angular accelerations of 78.5, 314.2, and 328.3 rad/s² at axial loads of 5, 10, and 15 N, respectively. The test shows that the start-up friction coefficient increases with increasing axial load at the same angular acceleration, and the friction coefficient decreases with increasing angular acceleration under the same axial load. As the angular acceleration increases, the lift-off speed at the motor start-up increases, and the touch-down speed at the motor stop decreases. The wear distance of the GFTB for a single on/off cycle increases with increasing axial load at the same angular acceleration and decreases nonlinearly with increasing angular acceleration under the same axial load. The test results suggest that adjusting the rotational angular acceleration helps reduce bearing friction and wear.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.261-272
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• 2021

This study investigates the structural characteristics of oil-free, gas beam foil journal bearings (GBFJBs) for use in high speed motors. Mathematical modeling was carried out, and reaction force modeling for static load was performed to predict the structural characteristics of the GBFJB. Mathematical modeling and reaction force modeling for static load are performed to predict the structural characteristics of GBFJBs. The reaction force of the test bearing against static loads was measured during experiments and compared with the predicted results. The measured experimental data reveal the nonlinear stiffness characteristics of the GBFJB against varying displacement and agree well with the predictions. Dynamic load tests using an exciter allow to identify the vibration characteristics of the GBFJB. Test results show that the vibration displacement, dynamic force, and acceleration measured on the test bearing are most dominant at the applied dynamic load (synchronization) frequency. Futhermore, the test results show that the hysteresis area recorded during the dynamic tests increases with the excitation amplitude and frequency, and that the beam stick phenomena occurr at high excitation frequencies. The single degree of freedom (DOF) vibration model aids to identify the stiffness and damping coefficient of the GBFJB, which decrease as the excitation frequency increases.