Search Results (72)

The active or adjustable journal bearings are designed with unique mechanisms to reduce the rotor-bearing system lateral vibrations by adjusting their damping and stiffness. The article provides a comprehensive review of the literature, outlining the structure and findings of studies on active bearings. Over the years, various kinds of adjustable bearing designs have been developed with unique operational mechanisms. Such bearing designs include adjustable pad sectors, externally adjustable pads, active oil injection through pad openings, and flexible deformable sleeves. These modifications enhance the turbine shaft line’s performance by increasing the system’s overall stability. The detailed review in this paper highlights the characteristics of bearings, along with the key advantages, limitations, and potential offered by active control across different bearing types. The efficiency of any rotor system can be greatly enhanced by optimally selecting the adjustable bearing parameters. These adjustable bearings have demonstrated a unique capability to modify the hydrodynamic operation within the bearing clearances. Experimental studies and simulation approaches were also utilized to optimize bearing geometries, lubrication regimes, and control mechanisms. The use of advanced controllers like PID, LQG, and Deep Q networks further refined the stability. The concluding section of the article explores potential avenues for the future development of active bearings. Full article

The control accuracy and stability requirements for rotating payloads in remote sensing satellites are becoming increasingly higher. Typically, rotating payloads such as cameras are connected to the satellite body through mechanical bearings. However, clearances in conventional mechanical bearings are inevitable due to assembly tolerances, manufacturing errors, and wear. When clearances exist in the mechanical bearings of cameras, the clearance between the mechanical bearing and the journal can cause impact-induced vibrations. This paper proposes the implementation of magnetic bearings instead of mechanical bearings to connect the payload with the spacecraft body. First, the magnetic bearing is modeled as a rotational joint with clearance in the dynamic system with magnetic constraints. Subsequently, radial and axial magnetic force models are established. Furthermore, a comparative analysis is conducted to investigate the effects of connection approaches, namely traditional mechanical bearing connections and magnetic bearing connections for rotating payloads. Simultaneously, the dynamic responses of rotating payloads under different connections are discussed. The simulation results demonstrate that the camera attitude motion accuracy is improved and the vibration amplitude under disturbance is reduced when using magnetic bearings. Consequently, the magnetic bearing can effectively isolate vibrations and mitigate disturbances, thereby significantly reducing the attitude shake of rotating payloads. Full article

Uncontrolled wear in complex multiphysics systems can cause catastrophic failures, prompting the development of empirical methods and numerical prediction models for managing system lifetimes. This study introduces a novel approach for predicting wear on lubricated sliding surfaces by integrating rough contact mechanics into a nonlocal function with a non-uniform distribution. The model considers the sliding speed, contact area, fluid pressures, lubricant properties, and surface roughness. It employs a mixed elastohydrodynamic lubrication (mixed EHL) model to simulate lubrication and wear, using a multiscale roughness model to adjust the parameters based on the wear evolution. Validated against journal bearing data, the model accurately predicted wear rates and depths, revealing distinct roughness variations depending on the lubricant viscosity. Full article

The power conversion system of a small micro-reactor has strict requirements on the compactness of the rotating mechanical support. Although the active magnetic bearing is an ideal choice, the thermally induced vibration caused by it may destroy the stability of the system. As such, this study proposes a multi-physics coupling simulation framework, which integrates electromagnetic, thermal, and mechanical multi-physics coupling mechanisms and quantifies the stability of the system under thermal-induced vibration in the frequency domain. Firstly, the equivalent magnetic circuit and electromagnetic finite element modeling and calculation of the compressor rotor are carried out. In the case of the maximum AC current of 10 A, the equivalent stiffness of the magnetic pole is 4.21 × 10⁸ N/m and 2.1 × 10⁸ N/m, and the eddy current loss of the rotor is 4.17496 W. Based on the eddy current loss, a magneto-thermal coupling model is established to reveal the temperature gradient distribution and the thermal sensitivity coefficient of the journal is 0.006. Subsequently, the thermal stress and equivalent stiffness are coupled to the rotor dynamics equation, and the maximum amplitude of the rotor is obtained at a value of 0.001 mm. Finally, the critical stability threshold of the system is determined by a Nyquist diagram, and the results show that the system is stable as a whole. In this paper, the quantitative analysis of the cross-scale coupling mechanism of electromagnetic, thermal, and mechanical multi-physical fields is realized, which provides a systematic analysis method for the thermally induced vibration of magnetically suspended rotors and has important engineering significance for high power density rotating mechanical systems in small micro-reactors. Full article

Despite great research effort in recent decades, cavitation in hydrodynamic journal bearings is still a not completely understood phenomenon. In particular, it is unclear which proportions of different cavitation types are present in a bearing. Novel experimental results show a clear deviation from the predictions of hydrodynamic lubrication theory. This article presents a new approach for modeling cavitation in hydrodynamic bearings by using computational fluid dynamics with the volume of fluid method and a phase of non-condensable gas in the lubrication oil. The validation of the model is achieved through the simulation of a large Offset-Halves Bearing and a subsequent comparison of the results with various experimental data, including the fractional film content. In the results, cavitation also occurs in the convergent gap due to a pressure drop caused by inertia forces. The findings indicate that the cavitation effects in oil-lubricated hydrodynamic bearings are caused by a special form of gaseous cavitation, designated as pseudo-cavitation. The presented model with non-condensable gas is able to reproduce the observed phenomena excellently. Full article

This study investigates the influence of geometric parameters on wear of journal bearings within a multibody system framework. While extensive research has explored the impact of wear on journal bearing performance, limited attention has been given to the role of geometric parameters in wear progression. To address this gap, this study examines the effects of bushing depth, internal and external bushing diameters, and bushing rim thickness on wear in a non-lubricated journal bearing joint within a slider–crank mechanism. The joint consists of a 347 stainless steel journal and a PTFE bushing operating under moderate loading conditions (0.25 MPa to 5 MPa) and low sliding velocities (1 mm/s to 10 mm/s). Wear predictions are conducted using the elastic foundation model (EFM) and finite element method (FEM), with multibody dynamics analysis providing joint force estimations. The results from both approaches reveal that (1) increasing bushing depth reduces both wear volume and maximum wear depth, (2) bushing outer diameter has little to no effect on wear volume and maximum wear depth, (3) smaller bushing rim thicknesses lead to greater wear volume, and (4) larger bushing depths reduce both wear volume and maximum wear depth. Consequently, it is recommended that journal bearings designed to minimize wear should have smaller inner diameters, with attention to the stress effects on the journal due to the reduced diameter. Additionally, small bushing rim thicknesses should be avoided, and larger bushing depths should be considered to reduce wear. These insights contribute to the optimization of journal bearing design for improved durability and performance in mechanical systems. Full article

A common approach to optimising hydrodynamic journal bearings for power loss is to reduce the lubricant supply and direct the oil to specific bearing areas where it is needed to guarantee safe operation. This requires information on the processes in the gap and the surrounding pocket areas for both pre-design and simulation. In this paper, a system consisting of a total of eight cameras is used to determine the void fraction in deep grooves outside the lubricant film. The void fraction in the lubrication gap is determined using a novel method for the evaluation of two proximity measurements. While the variation of the deep groove void fraction is realised by a special oil supply and radially adjustable deep groove elements, the gap void fraction is adjusted by the oil supply in the lube oil pockets at the pad leading edges. On the one hand, the experimental investigations show that the void fraction of the deep groove areas has hardly any influence on the general operating behaviour. On the other hand, the void fraction in the lubrication gap can be measured quantitatively for the first time, and the operating point-dependent gas fractions can be visualised. It is also shown that gaseous cavitation is the main mechanism in partially filled regions of the lubrication gap. Full article

The article contains a description of the design solutions proposed by the authors for a hybrid wind turbine bearing, in which the sliding part takes over the load to the turbine shaft after reaching the shaft rotation speed, ensuring hydrodynamic lubrication of the plain bearing and relieving the rolling bearing. This allows for low starting resistance of the power plant and ensures quiet operation during use. Two conceptual solutions of a hybrid bearing were presented, differing in the shape of the plain bearing journal. A mechanism for automatic switching of the load between a rolling and a plain bearing was developed. A solid simulation model of this mechanism was built in the Autodesk Inventor—Dynamic Simulation software Inventor Professional 2023 environment, and its operation was simulated. The results confirmed the usefulness of using this design in shaft-bearing systems of wind turbines with a vertical axis of rotation. Based on the simulation, the speed at which the thrust roller bearing will be released was determined. Technical parameters of a plain bearing with a spherical journal shape were calculated. The height of the lubrication gap and the shaft rotational speed at which the bearing load capacity index reaches a critical value were determined. Full article

Bearings play a key role in rolling mills, and the uniformity of their lubricant film directly affects the degree of wear of bearings and the safety of equipment. Due to long-term stress, the lubricant film inside the bearing is not uniformly distributed, resulting in uneven wear between the journal and the shaft tile, which increases the potential safety hazards in production. Traditional disassembly inspection methods are complex and time-consuming. Ultrasonic nondestructive testing technology, which has the advantages of nondestructive and adaptable, has become an effective means of assessing the thickness of the oil film in bearings. In this study, an experimental platform for calibrating the lubricant film thickness in bearings was constructed for the first time, and the acoustic characteristics of different thicknesses of the oil film were measured using ultrasonic detection equipment to verify the accuracy of the simulation process. The experimental results show that after discrete Fourier transform processing, the main features of the frequency channels of the reflected acoustic signals of different thicknesses of the oil film are consistent with the finite element simulation results, and the errors of the oil film thicknesses calculated from the reflection coefficients are within 10% of the set thicknesses, and the measurement ranges cover from 5 μm to 250 μm. Therefore, the above method can realize the accurate measurement of the thicknesses of the oil film in bearings. Full article

The existing PDC (polycrystalline diamond compact)–cone hybrid bit bearing adopts a unilateral support structure, which is prone to stress concentration in the journal area, resulting in fracture and wear failure of the bearing, thus reducing the service life of the hybrid bit. In this paper, a new type of double supported bearing hybrid bit is proposed. The static strength analysis of unilateral and bilateral support bearing structures is carried out by finite element simulation, and the stress and strain distribution of the two structures under loads of 20–100 kN is obtained. Experimental devices for unilateral and bilateral support bearing structures are designed and manufactured to complete 50–100 kN static pressure loading experiments. The results show that the stress and strain of unilateral and bilateral support bearing increased linearly with the increase of load. Compared with unilateral bearing, when the load was 100 kN, the maximum Mises stress of bilateral bearing decreased from 358.80 MPa to 211.10 MPa, with a decrease of 41.16%. The maximum contact stress decreased from 415.20 MPa to 378.10 MPa, a decreased of 8.94%, and the maximum principal strain decreased from 1.101 × 10⁻³ to 9.71 × 10⁻⁴, a decrease of 11.81%. The axial strain in the danger zone was reduced by 14.68% and 17.35%, respectively. It is found that the contact stress of the simulation data is highly correlated with the bearing life, and the service life of the bilateral bearing bit is increased by 8.94%. The simulation data and experimental results provide data support for the production of hybrid bits with bilateral bearing support. Full article

The present study aims to efficiently predict the wear volume of a journal bearing under start–stop operating conditions. For this purpose, the wear data generated with coupled mixed-elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication (mixed-EHL) and a wear simulation model of a journal bearing are used to develop a neural network (NN)-based surrogate model that is able to predict the wear volume based on the operational parameters. The suitability of different time series forecasting NN architectures, such as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU), and Nonlinear Autoregressive with Exogenous Inputs (NARX), is studied. The highest accuracy is achieved using the NARX network architectures. Full article

The development of electric gerotor pumps is a complex multiphysical optimization problem. To develop optimal systems, accurate simulation models are required to increase digital reliability. An important challenge is the accurate prediction of the pump behavior for extreme temperatures in automotive applications from $-40$ °C to 110 °C, where the viscosity of the fluid changes significantly. Therefore, simulation-based methods (numerical methods for calculating viscous friction) were developed and validated by measurements, including climatic chamber tests. The results show a strong correlation between simulated and measured performance characteristics, especially in terms of volumetric flow rate ($<5\%$), pump torque and efficiency ($<7\%$) at different temperature and viscosity conditions over a wide speed range (1000–5000 rpm) and different system pressures (0.5–5 bar). A novel method for simulating the cold start behavior of pumps (journal bearing approach for outer gear in pump housing) was introduced and validated by measurements. The methods presented significantly reduce the need for physical testing and accelerate the development process, as the pump behavior at each operating point can be accurately predicted before a hardware prototype is built. This improves the understanding of gerotor pump characteristics and provides insights to further improve the model-based development of electric oil pumps for the automotive industry. Full article

As the transmission component in mechanical systems, hydrodynamic journal bearing is widely used in large electromechanical equipment. The instability of the hydrodynamic journal bearing often results in mechanical wear and damage, which may cause maintenance shutdowns and significant financial losses. Accordingly, assessing the hydrodynamic journal bearing online is a highly effective approach to guaranteeing reliability. To analyze oil film thickness distribution under various assembly characteristics, this paper proposes a Fluid–Solid coupling analysis method based on hydrodynamic lubrication theory and Hertzian elastic deformation theory. The novelty is that the difference between the oil film thicknesses at the same measuring angle within the two opposing faces of the bearing shell is taken as the assessment parameter, which can directly indicate the deviation degree of the stator axis. Comparison of simulation and experimental results validated that the proposed method exhibits exceptional accuracy in practical applications. Full article

The development of reusable liquid rocket turbopumps has gradually highlighted the disadvantages of rolling bearings, particularly the contradiction between long service life and high rotational speed. It is critical to explore a feasible bearing scheme offering a long wear life and high stability to replace the existing rolling bearings. In this study, liquid nitrogen is adopted to simulate the ultra-low temperature environment of liquid rocket turbopumps, and theoretical evaluations of the lubrication performance of thrust-type foil bearings in liquid nitrogen are conducted. A link-spring model for the bump foil structure and a thin-plate finite element model for the top foil structure are established. The static and dynamic characteristics of the bearings are analyzed using methods including the finite difference method, the Newton–Raphson iteration method, and the finite element method. Detailed analysis includes the effects of factors such as rotational speed, fluid film thickness, thrust disk tilt angle, and the friction coefficient of the bump foil interface on the static and dynamic characteristics of thrust-type foil bearings. The research results indicate that thrust-type foil bearings have a good load-carrying capacity and low frictional power consumption. The adaptive deformation of the foil structure increases the fluid film thickness, preventing dry friction due to direct contact between the rotor journal and the bearing surface. When faced with thrust disk tilt, the direct translational stiffness and damping coefficient of the bearing do not undergo significant changes, ensuring system stability. Based on the results of this study, the exceptional performance characteristics of thrust-type foil bearings make them a promising alternative to rolling bearings for the development of reusable liquid rocket turbopumps. Full article

This paper introduces a rigorous and comprehensive approach to the assessment of marine shafting systems through the utilization of an advanced π-Theorem-based scaling methodology. Integrating journal-bearing similarity assessment and shaft-line scaling methodology with advanced dimensional analysis, the study aims to provide a methodology foundation for systematic replication and analysis of marine shafting systems through scaled models. The proposed scaling methodology ensures geometric and mechanical similarity in terms of shaft-line deflection, considering key scaling parameters such as shaft length, diameter, weight, loads, rotational speed, material properties, bearing locations, and offsets. The advanced dimensional analysis computes specific non-dimensional ratios to guarantee a close resemblance between a real-size system and a scaled lab model. The methodology is analytically derived and validated with numerical simulations for a case study, conducting comparative analysis, evaluating discrepancies, and utilizing the integrated framework for experimentation. Full article