Design and optimization of fluid lubricated bearings operated with extreme working performances——a comprehensive review

Fluid lubricated bearings have been widely adopted as support components for high-end equipment in metrology,semiconductor devices,aviation,strategic defense,ultraprecision manufacturing,medical treatment,and power generation.In all these applications,the equipment must deliver extreme working performances such as ultraprecise movement,ultrahigh rotation speed,ultraheavy bearing loads,ultrahigh environmental temperatures,strong radiation resistance,and high vacuum operation,which have challenged the design and optimization of reliable fluid lubricated bearings.Breakthrough of any related bottlenecks will promote the development course of high-end equipment.To promote the advancement of high-end equipment,this paper reviews the design and optimization of fluid lubricated bearings operated at typical extreme working performances,targeting the realization of extreme working performances,current challenges and solutions,underlying deficiencies,and promising developmental directions.This paper can guide the selection of suitable fluid lubricated bearings and optimize their structures to meet their required working performances.

Thermal Error Compensation of the Wear-Depth Real-Time Detecting of Self-Lubricating Spherical Plain Bearings

The spherical plain bearing test bench is a necessary detecting equipment in the research process of self?lubricating spherical plain bearings. The varying environmental temperatures cause the thermal deformation of the wear?depth detecting system of bearing test benches and then a ect the accuracy of the wear?depth detecting data. However, few researches about the spherical plain bearing test benches can be found with the implementation of the detect?ing error compensation. Based on the self?made modular spherical plain bearing test bench, two main causes of ther?mal errors, the friction heat of bearings and the environmental temperature variation, are analysed. The thermal errors caused by the friction heat of bearings are calculated, and the thermal deformation of the wear?depth detecting sys?tem caused by the varying environmental temperatures is detected. In view of the above results, the environmental temperature variation is the main cause of the two error factors. When the environmental temperatures rise is 10.3 °C, the thermal deformation is approximately 0.01 mm. In addition, the comprehensive compensating model of the thermal error of the wear?depth detecting system is built by multiple linear regression(MLR) and time series analysis. Compared with the detecting data of the thermal errors, the comprehensive compensating model has higher fitting precision, and the maximum residual is only 1 μm. A comprehensive compensating model of the thermal error of the wear?depth detecting system is proposed, which provides a theoretical basis for the improvement of the real?time wear?depth detecting precision of the spherical plain bearing test bench.

Dynamic Analysis of Floating-Ring Gas Bearings

The dynamic performances of floating-ring bearing with hydrodynamic/hydrostatic gas lubrication are studied theoretically and some calculated charts of dynamic coefficients are given in the paper. The method of stability analysis is also presented and it is proved that the high speed stability of such bearings is better than other types of gas bearings.

Computer Aided Analysis of the Performances of a Tilting Pad Gas Journal Bearing

Tilting pad gas journal bearing is one of the most widely used types of aerodynamic bearings due to its inherent excellent stability in high speed applications.A practical method for analyzing and calculating the per- formances of such bearings is presented as well as its rotordynamics based on the computer aided technique.The method of calculation and the philosophy of programming with a microcomputer for the computer aided analysis are highlighted.

A New Method to Calculate Water Film Stiffness and Damping for Water Lubricated Bearing with Multiple Axial Grooves

Water lubricated guide bearings for hydro turbines and pumps are conventionally designed with multiple axial grooves to provide effectively cooling and flushing away abrasives.Due to the variety of groove configuration in terms of number and size,a predication of their performance is difficult.This paper deals with an analytical procedure to investigate groove effect on load capacity,stiffness and damping for this type of bearing where it is considered as an assembly of many inclined slide bearings.The result can be applied to bearings made of hard materials combined with low bearing pressure.

Fabrication and Wettable Investigation of Superhydrophobic Surface by Soft Lithography

The natural hydrophobicity of surfaces can be enhanced if they are microtextured due to air trapped in the structure, which provides the deposited drop with a composite surface made of solid and air on which it is rest. Here, a series of grating microstructure surfaces with different parameters have been designed and fabricated by a novel soft lithography. The water contact angles （WCA） on these rough surfaces are measured through optical contact angle meter. The results indicate that all the WCA on the surfaces with grating microstructures are up to 150~; WCA increases and the hydrophobic performance also enhances with the decrease of the ridge width under the other fixed parameter condition; Experimental data obtained basically consists with the Cassie＇s theoretical prediction. The effects of geometric parameters of the microstructures on wettability of the grating sufaces are investigated.

Study on the tribological properties of metal rolling bearing under lubrication with diketone lubricants

In this article, 1-(4-ethylphenyl)-nonane-1,3-dione(0206) was prepared by Claisen condensation. By mixing 0206, chelate, and base oil in a ratio of 3.2:4.8:2, a diketone lubricant(PAO=14(20%)) that can achieve superlubricity was prepared and applied to bearing lubrication experiments. The experimental results show that when the bearing was lubricated by base oil, the friction coefficient(COF) and temperature rise decreased with the decrease of the viscosity of PAO. When PAO=14(20%) was used as the lubricant, the COF of the bearing was the lowest(0.001), and the wear morphology was comparable to that of the bearing lubricated with commercial lubricant. Compared with the base oil with the same viscosity, it is found that the COF and temperature rise of the bearing lubricated by PAO=14(20%) were lower under any experimental conditions. And when the amount of lubricant added was 10 μL, the COF of the bearing lubricated by PAO=14(20%) reached a very low value(0.0004).Bearing ball surface analysis identified the formation of diketone adsorption films. Combined with the previous PAO=14(20%)superlubricity mechanism, it was considered that the occurrence of tribochemical reaction and the bearing effect of chelates were the main reasons for the existence of ultra-low friction coefficient and low wear. In addition, when there were polar molecules in the lubricant, they were adsorbed on the metal surface through tribochemical reactions, resulting in many irregular pits on the surface.

ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS OF HYDRODYNAMIC AND ELASTO-HYDRODYNAMIC OIL LUBRICATED JOURNAL BEARINGS

The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the effect of elastic deformation of bearing liner on the acoustic behavior of oil lubricated journal bearings.Analysis is performed for hydrodynamic（HD） and elasto-hydrodynamic （EHD） lubrications.Dynamic behavior and acoustical properties are investigated through an analysis of pressure fluctuation calculated from the Reynolds equation governing the flow in the clearance space of the journal bearing.This is solved numerically using the finite difference method with the successive over relaxation technique.In elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication,the finite element method with in iteration scheme is adopted to solve both Reynolds equation and the three-dimensional elasticity equation representing the displacement field in the bearing shell.The results show that the sound pressure level of the bearing is markedly influenced by the flexibility of the bearing liner,the viscosity of lubricant and the load applied to journal.HD analysis shows that the journal centre＇s orbit,from a disturbed position,converges to the static equilibrium position faster than EHD lubrication.The results of the present paper could aid in the design of low-noise rotor-bearing systems supported by oil lubricated journal bearings.

Performance behaviour of elliptical-bore journal bearings lubricated with solid granular particulates

Journal bearings operating in hot environments and at high temperatures experience accelerated degra- dation of lubricating oils. In such situations, dry granular particulates have emerged as potential media for providing lubrication in journal bearings in place of lubricating oils. Granular particulates do not degrade thermally, even at considerably high temperatures. This work explores the static and dynamic perfor- mance characteristics of elliptical-bore journal bearings lubricated with granular particulates. It is found that a bearing lubricated with a larger size （2 μm） particles offers better performance compared with that using smaller size （1μm） particles. Bore ellipticity reduces the load-carrying capacity and increases side leakage and the coefficient of friction; however, rotor stability is marginally improved at low eccentricity ratios （〈0.6）, followed by significant improvement at high eccentricity ratios （〉0.6）.

The lubrication performance of water lubricated bearing with consideration of wall slip and inertial force

The lubrication mechanism and the performance parameters with consideration of wall slip and inertial force are studied in this paper. Based on the modified Reynolds equation, the finite difference method is used to study the lubrication mechanism and the performance. Effects of the wall slip and the inertial force on the performance parameters are obtained, and found in good agreement with the results of FLUENT. It is shown that the wall slip and the inertial force do not significantly change the distribution of the pressure, the load capacity and the friction force. The inertial force slightly increases the pressure and the load capacity by 1.2% and 4.8%, while the wall slip reduces them by 8.0% and 17.85%. The wall slip and the inertial force increase the friction by about 15.98%, 2.33%, respectively. Compared with the wall slip, the inertial force is smaller, but cannot be neglected.

Investigations on lubrication characteristics of high-speed electric multiple unit gearbox by oil volume adjusting device

In this paper,a numerical simulation model of the flow field in a gearbox with an oil volume adjusting device is established for the first time to study its influence on the lubrication characteristics of a high-speed electric multiple unit(EMU)gearbox.The moving particle semi-implicit(MPS)method is used to numerically simulate the internal flow field of the gearbox of the high-speed EMU under working conditions.The effects of the velocity of the high-speed EMU,the immersion depth,and the oil sump temperature on the power loss of the gears and the lubricant quantity of each bearing are studied and provide an effective tool for the quantitative evaluation of the lubrication characteristics of the gearbox.The lubrication characteristics of the gearbox under different working conditions are studied when the oil volume adjusting device is closed and opened.The results show that the oil volume adjusting device mainly changes the amount of lubricant stirred by the output gear by changing the flow rate of lubricant from the cavity pinion(Cavity P)to the cavity gear(Cavity G),and thus affects the power loss of gears and the lubricant quantity of each bearing.