Hydrodynamic gas foil bearings, compressors, air conditioners, and automobiles

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a hydrodynamic gas foil bearing, a compressor, an air conditioner, and an automobile. The hydrodynamic gas foil bearing includes: a bearing housing; a top foil; and a support wave foil located between the bearing housing and the top foil. Wherein, the bearing housing is formed with rigid support bosses on both sides of the support wave foil, which are configured to limit the top foil in the direction of pressing the support wave foil. The rigid support bosses are made of a temperature-sensitive material that expands and contracts due to heat. By controlling the height difference between the support wave foil and the rigid support bosses, the included angle slope of the top foil is correspondingly adjusted. The height of the rigid support bosses changes with the temperature, which is beneficial to the formation of the hydrodynamic bearing gas film and the takeoff of the rotor when the rotating machinery is at the initial starting speed; it has high load-carrying capacity at high rotational speeds, thereby broadening the operating range of the bearing and enhancing its ability to face complex, harsh, and high-load conditions.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a hydrodynamic gas foil bearing, a compressor, an air conditioner, and an automobile. Background Art

[0002] The statements herein only provide background information related to the present disclosure and do not necessarily constitute prior art.

[0003] Aero-bearing has a series of advantages such as low power consumption, good stability, small vibration, and oil-free lubrication. In the future, it will surely have an extremely wide application prospect in fields such as refrigeration compressors and machine tool manufacturing.

[0004] Aero-bearings can be divided into hydrostatic gas bearings and hydrodynamic gas bearings according to the different generation mechanisms of the lubricating gas film. Among them, the axial hydrodynamic gas foil bearing, as a type of hydrodynamic gas bearing, mainly plays the role of bearing axial load and providing axial stiffness and damping. A typical axial hydrodynamic gas foil bearing mainly consists of a bearing housing, a supporting wave foil, and a top foil. Generally, the supporting wave foil and the top foil are evenly distributed along the circumference as fan-shaped thrust pads. The supporting wave foil has a special corrugated shape structure and acts as a support similar to a spring, which is the main source of the stiffness and damping of the thrust bearing. Correspondingly, the top foil is correspondingly installed on the supporting wave foil. Like the supporting wave foil, one end of the top foil is fixed on the bearing seat, and the other end slides freely under the bearing capacity. The friction between the supporting wave foil and the top foil, and between the foil and the bearing housing will have a certain restrictive effect on its sliding, and the damping of the bearing is generated therefrom. In addition, there is a certain angle between the front end of the top foil and the bearing housing, and the rear end of the top foil is parallel to the bearing housing. Under the action of the above angle, a wedge-shaped region is formed, and then a hydrodynamic gas film is formed.

[0005] The slope of the above angle of a traditional typical hydrodynamic gas foil bearing is fixed, and accordingly the wedge slope of the formed hydrodynamic gas film is also fixed. This wedge slope is closely related to the gas film bearing capacity. Within a certain range, the smaller the slope of this angle, the higher the gas film bearing capacity. However, in some variable-frequency compressors used in the current refrigeration industry and high-speed motor spindles used in some high-end machine tools, their speeds are adjusted within a certain speed range. Accordingly, the axial forces corresponding to each speed are different. Generally, the higher the speed, the greater the corresponding axial force. It is obvious that always using one slope to cope with all speeds and working conditions cannot meet its normal operation requirements. Therefore, now most aero-compressors will prevent the wear of the axial gas bearing by controlling its operating speed range, which greatly limits its normal use. Summary of the Invention

[0006] One technical problem to be solved by the present disclosure is that the operation precision and working stability and reliability of a hydrodynamic gas foil bearing are not high. Based on this, the present disclosure provides a hydrodynamic gas foil bearing, a compressor, an air conditioner and an automobile, which can broaden the operation range of the hydrodynamic gas foil bearing and improve its ability to face complex, harsh and high-load working conditions.

[0007] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a hydrodynamic gas foil bearing, which is a hydrodynamic gas foil axial bearing and includes: a bearing housing; a top foil; and a supporting wave foil located between the bearing housing and the top foil; wherein, rigid supporting bosses are formed on both sides of the supporting wave foil of the bearing housing, and are configured to limit the top foil in the axial direction of pressing the supporting wave foil. The rigid supporting bosses are made of a temperature-sensitive material with thermal expansion and contraction. The tail ends of the top foil are aligned with the tail ends of the supporting wave foil, and the top foil is fixed to the rigid supporting bosses by spot welding.

[0008] In some embodiments, the temperature-sensitive material includes a modified nickel-titanium memory alloy.

[0009] In some embodiments, the thermal expansion coefficient of the temperature-sensitive material is configured to be 0.001 mm / °C to 0.0015 mm / °C.

[0010] In some embodiments, the corrugation height of the supporting wave foil is 0.5 mm to 0.6 mm.

[0011] In some embodiments, the height of the rigid supporting bosses is configured to be 0.25 mm to 0.35 mm.

[0012] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a compressor, including the aforementioned hydrodynamic gas foil bearing.

[0013] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide an air conditioner, including the aforementioned compressor.

[0014] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide an automobile, including the aforementioned compressor or the aforementioned air conditioner.

[0015] In the technical solution of the present disclosure, by forming rigid supporting bosses made of a temperature-sensitive material with thermal expansion and contraction on both sides of the bearing housing where the supporting wave foil is located, the rigid supporting bosses limit the top foil in the direction of pressing the supporting wave foil, and then control the height difference between the supporting wave foil and the rigid supporting bosses to correspondingly adjust the included angle slope of the top foil. The height of the rigid supporting bosses increases with the increase of temperature.

[0016] When the rotating machinery operates at the initial starting speed, the height of the rigid support boss is at the lowest at this time, and the slope of the included angle of the top foil is the largest at this time. This is beneficial to the formation of the hydrodynamic bearing gas film and the take-off of the rotor. After the rotor takes off, with the increase in speed, correspondingly, due to the increase in axial force, the temperature of the thrust bearing will increase with the increase in the rotor speed. The height of the rigid support boss increases with the increase in the bearing temperature, thereby reducing the height difference between the support wave foil and the rigid support boss, so that the top foil of the thrust bearing is within the low-slope included angle range at high speeds, to ensure that it has a high load-carrying capacity at high speeds, thereby broadening the operating range of the bearing and enhancing its ability to handle complex and severe high-load conditions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present disclosure. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings.

[0018] Figure 1 and Figure 2 are respectively the three-dimensional structure schematic diagram and the exploded structure schematic diagram of other embodiments of the hydrodynamic gas foil bearing of the present disclosure;

[0019] Figure 3 is the side view structure schematic diagram of other embodiments of the hydrodynamic gas foil bearing of the present disclosure;

[0020] Figure 4 is Figure 3 the partial enlarged schematic diagram of the part of circle B in

[0021] DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0022] 11. Axial bearing housing; 12. Axial support wave foil; 13. Axial top foil; 14. Axial rigid support boss. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0023] Now, various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The description of the exemplary embodiments is merely illustrative and in no way limits the present disclosure and its application or use. The present disclosure can be implemented in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments here. These embodiments are provided to make the present disclosure thorough and complete and to fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. It should be noted that: unless otherwise specifically stated, the relative arrangements of components and steps, the components of materials, numerical expressions, and numerical values described in these embodiments should be construed as merely exemplary and not as limitations.

[0024] As used in this disclosure, the terms "first", "second" and similar terms do not denote any order, quantity or importance, but are merely used to distinguish different parts. Terms such as "including" or "comprising" mean that the elements before such term cover the elements listed after such term, and do not exclude the possibility of also covering other elements. Terms such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right" are only used to indicate relative positional relationships, and when the absolute position of the object being described changes, the relative positional relationship may also change accordingly.

[0025] In this disclosure, when it is described that a specific device is located between a first device and a second device, there may or may not be an intermediate device between the specific device and the first device or the second device. When it is described that a specific device is connected to other devices, the specific device may be directly connected to other devices without an intermediate device, or may not be directly connected to other devices and have an intermediate device.

[0026] All terms used in this disclosure have the same meanings as those understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains, unless otherwise specifically defined. It should also be understood that terms defined in general dictionaries should be interpreted as having meanings consistent with their meanings in the context of the relevant art, and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense, unless specifically defined as such here.

[0027] Technologies, methods and devices known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail, but where appropriate, the technologies, methods and devices should be regarded as part of the specification.

[0028] A hydrodynamic gas foil bearing provided according to some embodiments of this disclosure includes: a bearing housing, a support wave foil, and a top foil. Among them, the support wave foil is located between the bearing housing and the top foil. The bearing housing is formed with rigid support bosses on both sides of the support wave foil, which are configured to limit the top foil in the direction of pressing the support wave foil. The rigid support bosses are made of a temperature-sensitive material that expands and contracts with heat and cold.

[0029] In this illustrative embodiment, rigid support bosses made of a temperature-sensitive material with thermal expansion and contraction are formed on both sides of the bearing housing where the support wave foil is located. The rigid support bosses limit the top foil in the direction of pressing the support wave foil, and then control the height difference between the support wave foil and the rigid support bosses to correspondingly adjust the included angle slope of the top foil. The height of the rigid support bosses increases with the increase in temperature. When the rotating machinery operates at the initial starting speed, the height of the rigid support bosses is at the lowest at this time, and the included angle slope of the top foil is the largest. This is beneficial to the formation of the hydrodynamic bearing gas film and the takeoff of the rotor. After the rotor takes off, with the increase in rotational speed, correspondingly due to the increase in axial force, the temperature of the thrust bearing will increase with the increase in the rotor speed. The height of the rigid support bosses increases with the increase in the bearing temperature, thereby reducing the height difference between the support wave foil and the rigid support bosses, so that the top foil of the thrust bearing is within the low-slope included angle range at high rotational speeds, to ensure its high load-carrying capacity at high rotational speeds, and then broaden the operating range of the bearing and improve its ability to face complex and severe high-load conditions.

[0030] It should be noted that the temperature-sensitive material with thermal expansion and contraction in this article refers to a material whose volume is sensitive to temperature changes. In some embodiments, the thermal expansion coefficient of the temperature-sensitive material is configured to be 0.001 mm / °C to 0.0015 mm / °C. Through experimental research, it is found that the temperature-sensitive material with a thermal expansion coefficient within this numerical range has high feasibility.

[0031] In some embodiments, the two side edges of the top foil are respectively located above the rigid support bosses on both sides, with reliable and stable limiting and high feasibility.

[0032] In some embodiments, the temperature-sensitive material includes a modified nickel-titanium memory alloy, and through practical demonstration, it has high feasibility. In some other embodiments, the temperature-sensitive material includes a material with the same temperature-sensitive effect as the modified nickel-titanium memory alloy.

[0033] Combined Figures 1 to 4 As shown, in some embodiments, the hydrodynamic gas foil axial bearing includes an axial bearing housing 11, an axial support wave foil 12, and an axial top foil 13. The axial support wave foil 12 is installed between the axial bearing housing 11 and the axial top foil 13. The axial bearing housing 11 forms axial rigid support bosses 14 on both sides of the axial support wave foil 12, which are configured to limit the axial top foil 13 in the axial direction of pressing the axial support wave foil 12. The axial rigid support bosses 14 are made of a temperature-sensitive material with thermal expansion and contraction.

[0034] As Figure 2As shown, in some embodiments, the axial support wave foil 12 is composed of eight fan-shaped support wave foil pieces. The surface of the wave foil has corrugations. The corrugation height of the axial support wave foil 12 is 0.5 mm to 0.6 mm, the corrugation diameter of the axial support wave foil 12 is 4 mm to 5 mm, and the relative central angle of the corresponding points at the same position on the adjacent two corrugation shapes in the axial support wave foil 12 is 3.5° to 5.5°. The height of the axial rigid support boss 14 is configured to be 0.25 mm to 0.35 mm. The eight fan-shaped wave foils are all close to the side of the axial bearing housing 11 where the axial rigid support boss 14 is formed, and the flat section side of the wave foil is tangent to this surface, and the installation directions of each piece are the same, and they are all welded to the surface of the axial bearing housing 11 by spot welding. The axial top foil 13 is also composed of eight fan-shaped foils. The axial top foil 13 is arranged on the axial rigid support boss 14 on the surface of the axial bearing housing 11. The tail end of the axial top foil 13 needs to be aligned with the tail end of the axial support wave foil 12, and their installation directions are the same. The axial top foil 13 is also fixed to the axial rigid support boss 14 by spot welding, as specifically shown in Figure 2 shown; it should also be emphasized that there are 8 axially distributed axial rigid support bosses 14 along the circumference of the axial bearing housing 11.

[0035] In some embodiments, at the highest rotational speed, the height of the axial rigid support boss 14 is 0.05 mm to 0.15 mm lower than the support height of the axial support wave foil 12. The current highest rotational speed is about 100,000 rpm, and specifically, there are also slight differences according to different material types. If it is too small, it will cause the bearing stiffness to decrease, thereby affecting its stability. If it is too large, it will cause the bearing load to decrease and cannot achieve the purpose of optimizing the load, as specifically shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4 . This height difference also needs to be reasonably controlled. If the height difference between the two is too small, it will cause the wedge angle of the axial bearing to be small, resulting in difficulty in controlling the axial bearing load capacity; when the height difference between the two exceeds the elastic limit of the support wave foil, the support wave foil will still undergo plastic deformation, which will cause the axial rigid support boss 14 arranged on the axial bearing housing 11 to not function properly, thereby affecting the bearing operation accuracy and reliability.

[0036] A compressor provided according to some embodiments of the present disclosure includes the aforementioned hydrodynamic gas foil bearing, and the compressor accordingly has the above-mentioned beneficial technical effects. In some embodiments, the compressor is a vehicle fuel cell compressor.

[0037] An air conditioner provided according to some embodiments of the present disclosure includes the aforementioned compressor. The air conditioner accordingly has the above-mentioned beneficial technical effects.

[0038] A vehicle provided according to some embodiments of the present disclosure includes the aforementioned compressor or the aforementioned air conditioner. The vehicle accordingly has the above-mentioned beneficial technical effects. In some embodiments, the vehicle is a fuel cell vehicle.

[0039] So far, the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail. To avoid obscuring the concept of the present disclosure, some details known in the art are not described. Those skilled in the art can fully understand how to implement the technical solutions disclosed herein based on the above description.

[0040] Although some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail by way of examples, those skilled in the art should understand that the above examples are only for illustration and not for limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art should understand that the above embodiments can be modified or some technical features can be equivalently replaced without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A hydrodynamic gas foil bearing, characterized in that, The hydrodynamic gas foil bearing is a hydrodynamic gas foil axial bearing and includes: a bearing housing; a top foil; and a supporting wave foil located between the bearing housing and the top foil; wherein, rigid supporting bosses are formed on both sides of the supporting wave foil on the bearing housing, and are configured to limit the top foil in the axial direction of pressing the supporting wave foil, the rigid supporting bosses are made of a temperature-sensitive material with thermal expansion and contraction, the tail ends of the top foil are aligned with the tail ends of the supporting wave foil, and the top foil is fixed to the rigid supporting bosses by spot welding.

2. The hydrodynamic gas foil bearing according to claim 1, wherein The temperature-sensitive material includes a modified nickel-titanium memory alloy.

3. The hydrodynamic gas foil bearing according to claim 1, wherein The thermal expansion coefficient of the temperature-sensitive material is configured to be 0.001 mm / °C to 0.0015 mm / °C.

4. The hydrodynamic gas foil bearing according to claim 1, characterized in that, The corrugation height of the supporting wave foil is 0.5 mm to 0.6 mm.

5. The hydrodynamic gas foil bearing according to claim 1, wherein The height of the rigid supporting bosses is configured to be 0.25 mm to 0.35 mm.

6. A compressor, characterized in that, including the hydrodynamic gas foil bearing according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. An air conditioner, including the compressor according to claim 6.

8. An automobile, characterized in that, including the compressor according to claim 6 or the air conditioner according to claim 7.

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