Gas bearing and device

Abstract

The application discloses a kind of air bearing and equipment, air bearing includes: bearing shell, wave foil and top foil are sequentially arranged in the inside of bearing shell, wave foil includes a plurality of first foil piece, a plurality of second foil piece, a plurality of third foil piece sequentially spaced along the circumferential direction of bearing shell, the height of first foil piece, second foil piece and third foil piece in the radial direction of bearing shell sequentially decreases, the rigidity of first foil piece, second foil piece and third foil piece sequentially increases.The air bearing presented in the application forms the hierarchical structure of load bearing by first foil piece, second foil piece and third foil piece, wherein first foil piece forms first load layer and can bear light load, second foil piece forms second load layer and can bear medium load, third foil piece forms third load layer and can bear heavy load, meet the operation requirement of different load, effectively improve the damping stiffness of air bearing.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of bearing technology, and in particular to an air bearing and its equipment. Background Technology

[0002] Air bearings are hydrodynamic bearings that use ambient gas as a lubricant and foil as an elastic support element. Internationally, air bearings have been commercialized and widely used in air refrigeration systems since the 1970s. For example... Figure 1 As shown, the air bearing comprises three main structural components: a top foil, a corrugated foil, and a bearing sleeve. The top foil and corrugated foil are located inside the bearing sleeve and cooperate to form a flexible, arc-shaped surface, providing structural stiffness and damping performance for the bearing.

[0003] In existing technologies, the stiffness of corrugated foil is generally a fixed value, which can only meet the operating requirements of one type of load. However, the load on the equipment changes during operation, so existing air bearings cannot meet the operating requirements under different loads. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In order to solve the technical problem that air bearings in the prior art cannot meet the operating requirements of different loads, the present invention proposes an air bearing and equipment.

[0005] The technical solution adopted in this invention is:

[0006] This invention proposes an air bearing and device. The air bearing includes: a bearing housing, a corrugated foil and a top foil sequentially disposed inside the bearing housing, the corrugated foil including a plurality of first foils spaced apart along the circumference of the bearing housing, a plurality of second foils spaced apart along the circumference of the bearing housing, and a plurality of third foils spaced apart along the circumference of the bearing housing, the heights of the first foils, the second foils and the third foils in the radial direction of the bearing housing decreasing sequentially, and the stiffness of the first foils, the second foils and the third foils increasing sequentially.

[0007] Furthermore, the number of the first foil, the second foil, and the third foil decreases sequentially.

[0008] Furthermore, it also includes a bottom retaining ring, wherein the first foil, the second foil and the third foil are fixed on the inner ring of the bottom retaining ring, and the outer ring of the bottom retaining ring is fitted with the bearing housing.

[0009] Furthermore, the outer ring of the bottom fixing ring is provided with multiple grooves along the circumferential direction, and the bottom fixing ring is made of a flexible material.

[0010] Preferably, the first foil sheet includes two circles connected side by side, one of which is fixed to the bottom fixing ring, and the centers of the two circles and the center of the bearing housing pass through the same straight line.

[0011] Preferably, the second foil has a regular hexagonal shape, and the second foil includes a first interior angle and a second interior angle, the first interior angle being larger than the second interior angle, and the edge of the second foil that connects to the bottom fixing ring corresponds to the two second interior angles.

[0012] Preferably, the third foil is trapezoidal in shape, and the bottom of the third foil is connected to the bottom fixing ring.

[0013] Preferably, the first foil is made of rubber, the second foil is made of steel, and the third foil is made of composite metal.

[0014] Preferably, each of the second foils is disposed between two of the first foils, and each of the third foils is disposed between two of the first foils.

[0015] The equipment includes the air bearings mentioned above.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the air bearing proposed in this invention forms a graded structure for bearing load through a first foil, a second foil, and a third foil. The first foil forms a first load layer that can bear light loads, the second foil forms a second load layer that can bear medium loads, and the third foil forms a third load layer that can bear heavy loads, thus meeting the operating requirements of different loads and effectively improving the damping stiffness of the air bearing. Attached Figure Description

[0017] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an air bearing in the prior art;

[0019] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the air bearing in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the corrugated foil in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 4 for Figure 3 A magnified view of a portion of the image;

[0022] 1. Bearing housing; 2. Corrugated foil; 21. First foil; 22. Second foil; 23. Third foil; 3. Top foil; 4. Shaft; 5. Bottom retaining ring. Detailed Implementation

[0023] To make the technical problems to be solved, the technical solutions, and the beneficial effects of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0024] Air bearings are hydrodynamic bearings that use ambient gas as a lubricant and foil as an elastic support element. Internationally, air bearings have been commercialized and widely used in air refrigeration systems since the 1970s. For example... Figure 1 As shown, the air bearing comprises three main structural components: a top foil, a corrugated foil, and a bearing sleeve. The top foil and corrugated foil are located inside the bearing sleeve and cooperate to form a flexible, arc-shaped surface, providing structural stiffness and damping performance for the bearing.

[0025] In existing technologies, the stiffness of corrugated foil is generally a fixed value, thus it can only meet the operating requirements of one type of load. However, the load on the equipment changes during operation, so existing air bearings cannot meet the operating requirements under different loads.

[0026] In summary, to address the technical problem that existing air bearings cannot meet the operational requirements of different loads, this invention proposes an air bearing comprising:

[0027] The bearing housing includes a corrugated foil and a top foil sequentially disposed inside the bearing housing. Specifically, the corrugated foil comprises multiple first foils, multiple second foils, and multiple third foils spaced apart sequentially along the circumference of the bearing housing. The heights of the first, second, and third foils in the radial direction of the bearing housing decrease sequentially, while their stiffness increases sequentially.

[0028] Therefore, multiple first foils form a first load layer, multiple second foils form a second load layer, and multiple third foils form a third load layer. The first, second, and third load layers are sequentially spaced apart along a direction away from the center of the bearing housing. The stiffness of the first, second, and third load layers increases sequentially, and their load-bearing capacity increases sequentially. Therefore, the air bearing proposed in this invention can bear a variety of different loads. Thus, if the load on the equipment changes during operation, the air bearing proposed in this invention can still meet the operating requirements of the load.

[0029] The principles and structure of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0030] like Figures 2 to 4 As shown, in this embodiment, the air bearing includes a hollow cylindrical bearing housing 1, and corrugated foil 2, top foil 3, and rotating shaft 4 sequentially disposed inside the bearing housing 1. The corrugated foil 2 includes a plurality of first foils 21 arranged at equal intervals along the circumference of the bearing housing 1, a plurality of second foils 22 arranged at equal intervals along the circumference of the bearing housing 1, and a plurality of third foils 23 arranged at equal intervals along the circumference of the bearing housing 1. The heights of the first foils 21, second foils 22, and third foils 23 in the radial direction of the bearing housing decrease sequentially, and the stiffnesses of the first foils 21, second foils 22, and third foils 23 increase sequentially.

[0031] Furthermore, to facilitate the overall fixing of the first, second, and third foils in the corrugated foil together, a bottom fixing ring 5 is provided inside the bearing housing 1. The bottom fixing ring 5 is positioned between the bearing housing 1 and the corrugated foil 2, and its outer ring is fitted against the bearing housing 1. Specifically, as shown... Figure 3 and Figure 4As shown, the first foil 21 includes two parallel connected circles, one of which is fixed to the inner circle of the bottom fixing ring 5. The centers of the two circles, the center of the bearing housing, and the center of the bottom fixing ring are on a straight line. The second foil 22 is a regular hexagon. In this embodiment, the second foil is not a regular hexagon. The second foil includes a first interior angle and a second interior angle, where the first interior angle is larger than the second interior angle. One side of the second foil is fixed to the inner circle of the bottom fixing ring 5, and the two interior angles corresponding to the side of the second foil connected to the bottom fixing ring are the second interior angles. This arrangement enables the second foil to generate a larger deformation force to bear the load. The third foil 23 is an isosceles trapezoid. The lower base of the third foil is fixedly connected to the inner circle of the bottom fixing ring 5. Therefore, multiple first foils are evenly spaced along the circumference of the bearing housing and wound into a circle. All the circles of the first foils that are not connected to the bottom fixing ring form a first load layer. Multiple second foils are evenly spaced and wound into a circle along the circumference of the bearing housing, with the upper edges of all the second foils forming a second load layer parallel to the bottom fixed circle. Multiple third foils are also evenly spaced and wound into a circle along the circumference of the bearing housing, with the upper edges of all the third foils forming a third load layer. The first, second, and third load layers are sequentially spaced along a direction away from the center of the bearing housing. To meet the operational requirements of different loads, the stiffness of the first, second, and third foils increases sequentially. Therefore, the load-bearing capacity of the first load layer is less than that of the second load layer, and the load-bearing capacity of the second load layer is less than that of the third load layer. Furthermore, based on the deformation capacity of the first, second, and third foils and the operational requirements of the loads to be carried, the number of first foils is greater than the number of second foils, and the number of second foils is greater than the number of third foils. In this embodiment, the ratio of the number of first, second, and third foils is 4:2:1, and each third foil and each second foil is disposed between two first foils.

[0032] Furthermore, the bottom retaining ring is made of a flexible material, and the outer ring of the bottom retaining ring that fits into the bearing housing has multiple grooves. These grooves are arranged along the circumference of the bearing housing, so the bottom retaining ring can also generate a certain deformation force to bear the load during the operation of the equipment.

[0033] Specifically, in this embodiment, the first foil is made of rubber, the second foil is made of steel, and the third foil is made of composite metal. In other embodiments, the specific shapes and quantities of the first, second, and third foils can be changed, as long as the hierarchical composite structure design is met. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the shapes of the first, second, and third foils can be the cross-sectional shapes of the first, second, and third foils, or their actual three-dimensional structures. If the double-circle structure of the first foil is an actual three-dimensional structure, then rows of first foils are sequentially arranged along the axial direction of the bearing housing; similarly, rows of second and third foils are sequentially arranged along the axial direction of the bearing housing.

[0034] Therefore, when the equipment load is light, the first load layer formed by the first foil can meet the operating requirements. If the load increases during operation, the first load layer cannot meet the increased load requirements. In this case, the first load layer deforms and compresses the second load layer formed by the second foil. The first load layer transfers the load value to the second load layer through deformation. During subsequent operation, the second and first load layers together bear the load. Similarly, if the equipment load continues to increase, the first and second load layers cannot meet the operating requirements. In this case, the second load layer deforms and compresses the third load layer formed by the third foil. The second load layer transfers the load value to the third load layer through deformation. During subsequent operation, the third, second, and first load layers together bear the load. Simultaneously, when the third load layer deforms to bear the load, the bottom fixing ring also deforms to bear the load.

[0035] Therefore, the air bearing proposed in this invention forms a graded load structure for bearing loads through a first foil, a second foil, and a third foil. The first foil forms a first load layer that can bear light loads, the second foil forms a second load layer that can bear medium loads, and the third foil forms a third load layer that can bear heavy loads, thus meeting the operating requirements of different loads and effectively improving the damping stiffness of the air bearing.

[0036] The present invention also proposes a device that includes the air bearing mentioned above. Specifically, the device can be a compressor or turbocharger that requires rotation.

[0037] It should be noted that the terminology used above is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments according to this application. As used herein, the singular form is intended to include the plural form as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Furthermore, it should be understood that when the terms "comprising" and / or "including" are used in this specification, they indicate the presence of features, steps, operations, devices, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0038] Unless otherwise specifically stated, the relative arrangement, numerical expressions, and values ​​of the components and steps described in these embodiments do not limit the scope of this application. It should also be understood that, for ease of description, the dimensions of the various parts shown in the drawings are not drawn to actual scale. Techniques, methods, and devices known to those skilled in the art may not be discussed in detail, but where appropriate, such techniques, methods, and devices should be considered part of the specification. In all examples shown and discussed herein, any specific values ​​should be interpreted as merely exemplary and not as limitations. Therefore, other examples of exemplary embodiments may have different values. It should be noted that similar reference numerals and letters in the following drawings denote similar items; therefore, once an item is defined in one drawing, it need not be further discussed in subsequent drawings.

[0039] In the description of this application, it should be understood that the orientation or positional relationship indicated by directional terms such as "front, back, up, down, left, right", "horizontal, vertical, horizontal" and "top, bottom" is usually based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and is only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description. Unless otherwise stated, these directional terms do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation on the scope of protection of this application; the directional terms "inner" and "outer" refer to the inner and outer contours relative to the outline of each component itself.

[0040] For ease of description, spatial relative terms such as "above," "on top of," "on the upper surface of," "above," etc., are used herein to describe the spatial positional relationship of a device or feature as shown in the figures to other devices or features. It should be understood that spatial relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations in use or operation beyond the orientation of the device as described in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures were inverted, a device described as "above" or "on top of" other devices or structures would subsequently be positioned as "below" or "under" other devices or structures. Thus, the exemplary term "above" can include both "above" and "below." The device may also be positioned in other different ways (rotated 90 degrees or in other orientations), and the spatial relative descriptions used herein will be interpreted accordingly.

[0041] Furthermore, it should be noted that the use of terms such as "first" and "second" to define components is merely for the purpose of distinguishing the corresponding components. Unless otherwise stated, the above terms have no special meaning and therefore cannot be construed as limiting the scope of protection of this application.

[0042] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the invention. Various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. An air bearing, comprising a bearing housing, and corrugated foil and top foil sequentially disposed inside the bearing housing, characterized in that, The corrugated foil includes a plurality of first foils spaced apart in sequence along the circumference of the bearing housing, a plurality of second foils spaced apart in sequence along the circumference of the bearing housing, and a plurality of third foils spaced apart in sequence along the circumference of the bearing housing. The heights of the first foils, the second foils, and the third foils in the radial direction of the bearing housing decrease sequentially, and the stiffnesses of the first foils, the second foils, and the third foils increase sequentially. It also includes a bottom retaining ring, wherein the first foil, the second foil and the third foil are fixed on the inner ring of the bottom retaining ring, and the outer ring of the bottom retaining ring is in contact with the bearing housing; The first foil sheet includes two circles connected side by side, one of which is fixed to the bottom fixing ring, and the centers of the two circles and the center of the bearing housing pass through the same straight line.

2. The air bearing as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The number of the first foil, the second foil, and the third foil decreases sequentially.

3. The air bearing as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The outer ring of the bottom fixing ring has multiple grooves arranged in sequence along the circumference, and the bottom fixing ring is made of a flexible material.

4. The air bearing as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The second foil has a regular hexagonal shape and includes a first interior angle and a second interior angle. The first interior angle is larger than the second interior angle, and the edge of the second foil that connects to the bottom fixing ring corresponds to the two second interior angles.

5. The air bearing as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The third foil is trapezoidal in shape, and its bottom is connected to the bottom fixing ring.

6. The air bearing as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The first foil is made of rubber, the second foil is made of steel, and the third foil is made of composite metal.

7. The air bearing as described in claim 2, characterized in that, Each second foil is disposed between two first foils, and each third foil is disposed between two first foils.

8. A compressor, characterized in that, Includes the air bearing as described in any one of claims 1-7.

9. A turbocharger, characterized in that, Includes the air bearing as described in any one of claims 1-7.

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