Gas Bearing of Infinite Stiffness

Abstract

The experiences gathered during the theoretical and experimental investigations of the thrust and journal high stiffness bearing (H.S.B.) allowed to improvement of their characteristics. New elements of the throttling system were introduced into the journal H.S.B. to make possible this improvement. It was shown that the H.S.B. can reach infinite stiffness in a wide range of the loading forces having at the same time zero or submicronic shaft displacement. Additionally, the load-displacement characteristic of the H.S.B. may have the prescribed negative displacement to make possible the full compensation of elastic deformation of connected machine parts. The influence of journal rotation on the H.S.B. load-displacement characteristics is discussed in this paper. The H.S.B. of presented characteristics may be applied to many precise devices, e.g., to ultra-precision grinding machines.