Aerostatic Thrust Bearing Capable of Operating in Bearing Clearance of Submicrometer. Static Characteristics.

This paper proposes a new type of aerostatic thrust bearing in order to achieve the maximum stiffness, about ten times as large as that of a conventional bearing. The proposed aerostatic bearing can operate in a bearing clearance of less than 1μm. In this bearing, the porous restrictor with 1-3 mm diameter is employed instead of a conventional feeding hole to restrict the air flow through the restrictor to a very small amount. Here, the static characteristics of the proposed bearing are investigated theoretically and experimentally. It is consequently shown that the proposed bearing is very useful for achieving a very high stiffness and miniaturizing the bearing.