2707 Experimental study on the performance of optimized high speed air thrust bearing

Hydrodynamic air film bearings are widely used for very high speed, lightly loaded rotating machinery such as gas expander, compressor, gyroscope and business machines, etc. In the design of hydrodynamic air film bearings, it is of cardinal importance to enhance the friction and stability capacities of air films for keeping the minimum friction loss above a particular level and for minimizing the vibration due to external excitations. Among various types of hydrodynamic air film thrust bearings, spiral grooved bearings have an advantage of high stability and load carrying capacity, and the characteristics of the bearings depend on many design parameters. Therefore, if these parameters are designed suitably, it is expected to improve considerably the friction and stability characteristics of the bearings. In this paper, the optimum design methodology is presented to minimize the friction torque and also to maximize the stiffness of air film for spiral grooved air film thrust bearings with experimental verifications.