Study on the Performance of a Designed Annular Piezoelectric Microjet for Active Lubrication of Space Bearing

Abstract

Lubrication failure of bearing is one of the important factors that limit the service life of the space shafting system. Due to the strict restrictions on the volume and weight, the traditional oil supply devices are difficult to meet the requirements of space active lubrication. In this article, we propose a piezoelectric microjet, which can achieve active lubricating for bearings of space equipment serving in a harsh environment. A constant pressure oil storage system, with a storage capacity of more than 4 g and can achieve vacuum oil storage, is proposed. Control accuracy of 0.012 <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">μ</i> L per pulse is obtained and a theoretical service life of more than 20 years can be achieved. The whole active lubricating system is embedded in the bearing system, which has no effect on the normal operating of the original bearing system and almost creates no mass increment of the bearing system. The methods of controlling the characteristics of the ejected oil droplet are proposed to meet different lubrication requirements. Combined with the monitoring of bearing temperature and friction torque, active lubrication on demand can be realized. This work can provide important references for prolonging the service life of space bearing.