Offset Hydrodynamic Thrust Bearing for Variable Axial Loads
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hydrodynamic bearings face challenges in adapting to varying axial loads due to fixed material properties and limited design flexibility, leading to increased material thickness and mass, which restricts their use in spatially limited installations and affects their load-carrying capacity.
Innovation Solution
A hydrodynamically acting bearing with periodically repeating structures on one side and angularly offset elevations on the other, allowing for adaptive load distribution and increased load capacity through adjustable geometry and material selection, including the use of materials with different thermal expansion coefficients to optimize hydrodynamic pressure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the material thickness of the disc is increased to adapt to high axial loads, then the load-carrying capacity is improved, but the mass and total thickness increase, leading to restricted use in spatially limited installations
Solution Approach 1:
The thrust washer is designed with a corrugated structure that allows dynamic deformation under axial load. The wave crests can shift positions and the wedge angles can change dynamically in response to applied loads, enabling the bearing to adapt its load-carrying capacity without increasing material thickness. This dynamic geometric adaptation resolves the contradiction by providing high load capacity through structural flexibility rather than increased mass.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the geometric parameters of the thrust washer (wave crest positions, wedge angles, curvature radii) in response to axial load variations. These parameter changes allow the bearing to optimize its hydrodynamic pressure distribution and load-carrying capacity dynamically, achieving high strength performance without increasing the material thickness or mass of the disc.
2Strength
If the material thickness is increased to accommodate varying axial loads, then the bearing can handle higher loads, but the total thickness increases, making it unsuitable for spatially limited installations
Solution Approach 1:
The corrugated structure enables dynamic adjustment of the bearing's effective thickness and wedge angles under load. The wave crests deform and shift to create optimal hydrodynamic wedges only when needed, allowing the bearing to achieve high load-carrying capacity in thin-profile designs suitable for spatially limited installations.
Solution Approach 2:
The thrust washer utilizes a flexible corrugated structure that can deform elastically under axial loads. This flexible geometry allows the thin disc to generate sufficient hydrodynamic pressure and load capacity through deformation rather than through increased material thickness, making it suitable for compact applications.
3Strength
If the number of waves per disk is increased to provide more hydrodynamic surfaces, then the load distribution is improved, but the design flexibility and adaptability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than fixing the number and position of waves, the invention allows the corrugated structure to deform dynamically under load. The wave crests can shift positions and merge or separate based on the applied axial load, providing both adequate load distribution across multiple surfaces and the adaptability to optimize performance for different loading conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The corrugated structure exhibits a kind of geometric phase transition where the configuration of wave crests and valleys changes in response to axial load. Under different load conditions, the structure transitions between different geometric states, optimizing the number and position of hydrodynamic surfaces dynamically rather than being fixed in design.
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
The bearing achieves adaptive load-carrying capacity and reduced friction losses by dynamically adjusting its geometry and hydrodynamic pressure in response to axial loads, ensuring efficient operation across different load conditions and environments.
Implementation Method 1
an increased lubricant pressure develops in the area of the wedge surfaces formed between the wave troughs and wave crests
Implementation Method 2
hydrodynamic effects are used to reduce sliding friction
Implementation Method 3
The thrust washer or ring washer described deforms under axial load, as a result of which the crests of the waves are shifted towards one another
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~5
Figure 6~8
AI summary
The invention relates to a hydrodynamic bearing, namely a hydrodynamic disk-shaped thrust bearing or hydrodynamic thrust washer, wherein hydrodynamic structures having elevations and having depressions arranged between adjacent elevations are arranged on opposite sides of the bearing, which hydrodynamic structures extend in the peripheral direction, and slopes of the hydrodynamic structures are arranged between adjacent depressions, which slopes extend from the depressions toward the elevations. According to the invention, at least some of the elevations of the hydrodynamic structures of the first side of the bearing are arranged in the region between two depressions of the hydrodynamic structures of the second side of the bearing, the elevations of a side of the bearing being arranged at an offset to each other in the peripheral direction. The hydrodynamic bearing can be easily adapted to expected axial loads of the bearing and enables low-loss and low-wear axial support.