Static and Dynamic Characteristics of Aerostatic Circular Porous Thrust Bearings (Effect of the Shape of the Air Supply Area)

Abstract

Recently, graphite porous material has been used successfully in an aerostatic bearing. In actual bearing design, it is often necessary to reduce the thickness of porous material to make the bearing smaller. However, a reduction in thickness results in a reduction in the strength of the porous material. In particular, when the diameter of porous material is large, it is difficult to supply the air through the full pad area of porous material because it deforms. Therefore, in this paper, two types of air supply method (the annular groove supply and the hole supply) in a circular aerostatic porous thrust bearing are proposed to avoid the deflection of the bearing surface. The static and dynamic characteristics of aerostatic porous bearing with these air supply methods are investigated theoretically and experimentally. In addition, the effects of a surface restricted layer on the characteristics are clarified.