Foil bearing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

hp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foil_bearing

Foil bearing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Foil bearings, also known as foil-air bearings, are a type of air

bearing. A sha is supported by a compliant, spring-loaded foil
journal lining. Once the sha is spinning fast enough, the working
uid (usually air) pushes the foil away from the sha so that there is
no contact. The sha and foil are separated by the air's high
pressure which is generated by the rotaon which pulls gas into the
bearing via viscosity eects. A high speed of the sha with respect
to the foil is required to iniate the air gap, and once this has been
achieved, no wear occurs. Unlike aero or hydrostac bearings, foil
bearings require no external pressurisaon system for the working
uid, so the hydrodynamic bearing is self-starng.

Contents

A foil-air bearing for the core rotor

sha of an aircra turbine engine.

1 Development
2 Applicaons
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Development
Foil bearings were rst developed in the late 1950s by AiResearch
Mfg. Co. of the Garre Corporaon using independent R&D funds to
serve military and space applicaons.[1][2] They were rst tested for
commercial use in United Airlines Boeing 727 and Boeing 737
cooling turbines in the early- and mid-1960s.[3] Garre AiResearch
air cycle machine foil bearings were rst installed as original
equipment in 1969 in the DC-10's environmental control systems.
Garre AiResearch foil bearings were installed on all US military
aircra to replace exisng oil-lubricated rolling-contact bearings.
The ability to operate at cryogenic gas temperatures as well as at
very high temperatures gave foil bearings many other potenal
applicaons.[4]

Foil Bearing

Current-generaon foil bearings with advanced coangs have greatly

exceeded the limitaons of earlier designs. An-wear coangs exist that allow over 100,000 start/stop
cycles for typical applicaons. New third-generaon bearings can hold over 9,000 mes their weight, at
extremely high speeds.[5]

Applicaons

1 of 3

25-10-2014 14:03

Foil bearing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2 of 3

hp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foil_bearing

Turbomachinery is the most common applicaon because foil

bearings operate at high speed.[6] The main advantage of foil
bearings is the eliminaon of the oil systems required by tradional
bearing designs. Other advantages are:
Higher eciency, due to a lower heat loss to fricon; instead
of uid fricon, the main source of heat is parasic drag
Increased reliability
Higher speed capability
Quieter operaon
Wider operang temperature range (402,500 K)
High vibraon and shock load capacity
No scheduled maintenance
No external support system
Truly oil free where contaminaon is an issue

Load capacity against rotaon speed,

for Gen I and Gen III bearings

Capable of operang above crical speed

Areas of current research are:
Higher load capacity
Improved damping
Improved coangs
)

The main disadvantages are:

Lower capacity than roller or oil bearings
Wear during start-up and stopping
High speed required for operaon

See also
Fluid bearing
Tribology

References
1. ^ Some early history is reported in Giri L. Agrawal

2. ^ Giri L. Agrawal (July 1998). "Foil Bearings Cleared

(1997). "Foil Air/Gas Bearing Technology An

to Land" (hp://www.memagazine.org/backissues

Overview" (hp://www.rddynamics.com/foil-97-gt-

/membersonly/july98/features/foil/foil.html).

347.pdf). Publicaon 97-GT-347 (American Society

Mechanical Engineering. 1978-1980 (120).

of Mechanical Engineers).

3. ^ Scholer Bangs (February 1973). "Foil Bearings

Help Air Passengers Keep their Cool". Power
Transmission Design.

25-10-2014 14:03

Foil bearing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3 of 3

4. ^ M. A. Barne and A. Silver (September 1970).

hp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foil_bearing

5. ^ Heshmat, Hooshang (September 2005). "Major

"Applicaon of Air Bearings to High-Speed

Breakthrough in Load Capacity, Speed and

Turbomachinery" (hp://www.sae.org/servlets

Operang Temperature of Foil Thrust Bearings"

/productDetail?PROD_TYP=PAPER&

(hp://store.asme.org

PROD_CD=700720). Technical Paper No. 700720

/product.asp?catalog_name=Conference%20Paper

(Society of Automove Engineers). 700720.

s&category_name=%26nbsp%3b_WTC2005T5&product_id=WTC2005-63712). Technical Paper

No. WT2005-63712 (American Society of
Mechanical Engineers). WT2005-63712.
6. ^ R. M. "Fred" Klaass and Christopher DellaCorte
(2006). "The Quest for Oil-Free Gas Turbine
Engines" (hp://www.sae.org/technical/papers
/2006-01-3055). SAE Technical Papers (SAE).
2006-01-3055.

External links
NASA Glenn Research Center "Creang a Turbomachinery Revoluon" (hp://www.nasa.gov/centers
/glenn/about/fs14grc.html)
NASA Tribology & Mechanical Components Branch (hp://www.grc.nasa.gov
/WWW/StructuresMaterials/TribMech/)
)
Mohawk Innovave Technology, Inc. (hp://www.mi.cc/foil-bearings.html)

Tribology Group at Texas A&M (hp://rotorlab.tamu.edu/TRIBGroup)

Korean Instute for Science and Technology KIST (hp://ubisa.kist.re.kr/Teams/ubisa/a.htm)
Center for Rotang Machinery at LSU (hp://www.cerom.lsu.edu/projects_foil.htm)

Retrieved from "hp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tle=Foil_bearing&oldid=614458544"

Categories: Bearings Gas turbine technology

This page was last modied on 26 June 2014 at 03:48.

Text is available under the Creave Commons Aribuon-ShareAlike License; addional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundaon, Inc., a non-prot organizaon.

25-10-2014 14:03