Solder-Filled Wire Mesh Bearing Bushing for Airtight Sliding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bearing bushings for high-temperature applications, such as throttle valves, face issues with air-tightness and sliding properties, as they are either not air-tight or have limited tolerance, leading to exhaust gas leakage and mechanical contact noises.
Innovation Solution
A bearing bushing formed from a stainless steel wire article knitted into a compressed product with voids filled with copper solder, providing both high air-tightness and improved sliding properties, using austenitic Cr—Ni steel and a method involving annealing in a continuous furnace to ensure dimensional accuracy and easy removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a bearing bushing is formed from a knitted wire mesh or knitted wire fabric, then it provides good sliding properties, but it is not air-tight and allows exhaust gas leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes the porous structure of knitted wire mesh or knitted wire fabric as the base material for the bearing bushing. This porous structure provides excellent sliding properties while allowing the incorporation of solder material into the voids to achieve air-tightness. The knitted structure's inherent porosity is leveraged rather than eliminated, maintaining lubrication benefits while preventing gas leakage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite structure by combining knitted wire mesh or knitted wire fabric with solder material. The wire fabric provides the structural framework and sliding surface, while the solder fills the voids to create an air-tight barrier. This composite approach allows both sliding properties and air-tightness to coexist in a single integrated component.
2Reliability
If a bearing bushing is made from solid material to ensure air-tightness, then it prevents exhaust gas leakage, but it allows only for small tolerances and may cause mechanical contact noises
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different properties to different regions of the bearing bushing. The outer surface maintains the knitted wire fabric structure to provide excellent sliding properties and accommodate tolerance variations, while the inner voids are filled with solder to ensure air-tightness. This local differentiation of material properties allows both air-tightness and good sliding characteristics to be achieved simultaneously.
3Reliability
If the inner diameter of the bearing bushing is reduced to prevent exhaust gas escape, then air-tightness is improved, but squeaking noises occur due to mechanical contact
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the porous knitted wire fabric structure to maintain an appropriate inner diameter that prevents exhaust gas leakage through proper solder filling, rather than reducing the diameter to such an extent that mechanical contact occurs. The porosity allows the structure to accommodate the bearing shaft while the solder-filled voids prevent gas escape, avoiding the squeaking noise problem.
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 solution results in a bearing bushing that is highly air-tight, prevents squeaking noises, and allows for lower tolerances, enhancing wear resistance and sliding performance.
Implementation Method 1
The compressed product is fed into a continuous furnace and soaked with solder in an annealing process
Data Source
AI summary
A bearing bushing (1) and to a method for manufacturing a bearing bushing are provided. The bearing bushing includes a wire article (2) formed from knitted wire mesh or knitted wire fabric (6) and compressed into a dimensionally stable compressed product (3). The bearing bushing can be provided for supporting a throttle valve used in high-temperature applications. The wire article (2) is formed from a stainless steel. Existing voids (10) of the compressed product (3) are filled with solder (4).