Analytical derivation and experimental verification of principle of a 3 DOF sensor integrated in an oil hydrostatic shallow recess thrust bearing

Abstract

This article presents a sensing thrust bearing based on pressure sensors, utilizing the pressure profile sensitivity to a change in film geometry. The pressure is measured locally via pressure taps, machined into the bearing geometry. To evaluate the pressure signals, the sensitivities are derived analytically for both axial and angular displacement. Further, an experimental study was performed at 10 µm film height and 10 MPa supply pressure, which shows a strong agreement with the presented theory and demonstrates the possibility to measure, relative to the film height, large as well as small displacements with a repeatability in the order of sub-µm and sub-µrad.