Performance of a novel foil journal bearing with surface micro-grooved top foil

Abstract

To improve the performance of foil bearing including load capacity and stability, the surface micro groove structure on top foil is proposed, which is possible with the development of surface micro machining process. The micro groove structure on top foil can be processed by laser surface process, chemical etching, mechanical grinding, etc. This paper proposes a novel bump-type gas foil journal bearing with surface micro-grooved top foil and investigates the influence of micro groove depth on bearing performance theoretically. A modified pressure governing equation is established with the consideration of gas rarefaction, and the performance of the bearing is analyzed based on numerical simulation. By considering the variation of top foil thickness for surface micro groove, the load capacities with and without gas rarefaction considered are obtained by finite difference method, where the 2D thick plate model is adopted for the top foil. By employing the perturbation method, the force coefficients of this type foil bearing are calculated. The results indicate this novel foil journal bearing with surface micro-grooved top foil can decrease the end leakage and increase pressure around load domain efficiently. The load capacity and dynamic properties are improved. Moreover, with the increment of micro groove depth, the load capacity and direct stiffness are reinforced further. For the foil journal bearing with a micro groove depth of 8 µm on top foil, the load capacity and direct stiffness increase by about 11.89% and 11.87%, respectively, compared with traditional foil journal bearing.