Bearing Damper Ring Leakage Control for Intermediate Stiffness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing turbomachinery bearing assemblies face challenges in achieving optimal stiffness to effectively dampen radial forces and vibrations, as current oil damper cavities often result in either unsatisfactorily low or high stiffness levels, lacking an intermediate level suitable for specific applications.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of a damper ring with controlled leakage portions, which are strategically recessed to allow a controlled flow of oil, axially terminating the oil damper cavity and impeding leakage, thereby adjusting the stiffness of the bearing assembly by varying the size, shape, and configuration of these portions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If an oil damper cavity is introduced between the housing and the bearing outer ring, then radial forces and vibrations can be dampened, but the stiffness level becomes either unsatisfactorily low or high, lacking an intermediate optimal level
Solution Approach 1:
The damper ring introduces localized quality variation by providing controlled leakage portions at specific locations on the bearing outer ring. These portions allow selective oil flow control, creating different stiffness characteristics in different radial zones. This enables the bearing assembly to achieve an intermediate optimal stiffness level that uniformly dampens vibrations while maintaining adaptability for specific applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical parameter of oil flow control by introducing controlled leakage portions that regulate the amount of oil passing through the damper ring. By adjusting the size and configuration of these leakage portions, the system can achieve different stiffness levels, including an intermediate optimal level that was previously unavailable with conventional oil damper cavities.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the oil damper cavity is designed to accommodate relative radial displacement by pressure variation, then vibration damping is achieved, but the stiffness cannot be optimized for specific applications
Solution Approach 1:
The damper ring segments the oil damper cavity into controlled regions by introducing leakage portions that divide the oil flow path. This segmentation allows different zones of the bearing assembly to experience different pressure variations, enabling optimized stiffness characteristics for specific applications while maintaining effective vibration damping through controlled pressure changes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration provides a balanced stiffness level, effectively dampening radial forces and vibrations by allowing a controlled amount of oil leakage, thus optimizing the bearing assembly's performance between low and high stiffness extremes.
Implementation Method 1
The introduction of a damper ring with controlled leakage portions, which are strategically recessed to allow a controlled flow of oil, axially terminating the oil damper cavity and impeding leakage, thereby adjusting the stiffness of the bearing assembly
Implementation Method 2
The oil damper cavity can be designed to be fed with a certain flow rate of oil during operation, and to accommodate a certain extent of relative radial displacement between the bearing outer ring and the housing by pressure variation
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~2A
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The bearing assembly (20) can extend between a rotor (44) and a housing (48), have a plurality of bearing rolling elements (40) mounted for rotation within a bearing ring (42), an oil damper cavity (46) between the bearing ring (42) and the housing (48), an oil inlet path (50) to feed the oil damper cavity (46), and at least one damper ring (52) defining a corresponding axial limit to the oil damper cavity (46) and having a radially inner edge (60) received in a corresponding annular groove (56) defined in the bearing ring (42), and a radially outer edge (62) having at least one arc portion (76) extending radially outwardly relative the annular groove (56) and engaging the housing (48), and at least one controlled leakage portion (70) radially recessed from the housing (48) and forming a leakage path leading axially out from the oil damper cavity (46).