Study on the characteristics of the aerostatic conical bearing for micro turbine engines

The characteristics of the aerostatic conical bearing were studied theoretically and experimentally for micro turbine engines which can support the load of both axial and radial direction. Firstly, the configuration of the aerostatic conical bearing was designed. A lubrication model for the aerostatic conical bearing was built and then a numerical method was developed to obtain the load capacity and the gas mass flow. The effect of the gas film thickness, the supply pressure and the number of the supply orifices on the performance of the bearing was inspected. Secondly, a test platform for the gas conical bearing was developed, which offers an experimental method for verifying the theoretical model, meanwhile the gas mass flow as a function of the supply pressure could be measured. The results show that the conical bearing can support the load in both axial and radial directions and larger supply pressure and more orifices can increase the load capacity and the gas mass flow. These results have a good agreement with the experimental data.