Starlite has been working with Kindai University to conduct joint research on water-lubricated hydrostatic bearings that use water as a lubricating fluid, which has a smaller impact on the environment. Water-lubricated hydrostatic bearing can support rotating shaft without contact by supplying high‐pressure fluid from an external source, thus reducing the generation of wear debris from the rotating shaft and bearing in manufacturing machinery.
We tested and evaluated using the air bearings (hydrostatic gas bearings) that we had developed in a previous joint development project and water as a lubricating fluid, which we changed from air, and presented the following two results.
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Load capacity characteristics of water lubricated bearing with small axial directed slot restrictor
We evaluated the load capacity characteristics based on the difference between the gap of the slot, which affects bearing performance, and the bearing clearance of hydrostatic gas bearing with axial directed slot restrictor (jointly developed product), and compared them with the CAE analysis value. The results showed that the experiment value and the CAE analysis value were almost identical, confirming the precision of the CAE analysis is sufficient.
Dynamic characteristics evaluation of water lubricated bearing with circumferential directed and axial directed slot restrictor
We evaluated the behavior of the shaft center during shaft rotation using two types of bearings: Hydrostatic gas bearing with circumferential directed (existing product) and axial directed (jointly developed product) slot restrictors. The results showed that the axial directed type (jointly developed product) has less shaft runout during shaft rotation than the circumferential directed type (existing product).
We will apply the research results into designing for practical water-lubricated hydrostatic bearings, and work to reduce the maintenance workload by improving the cleanliness of food production lines and other manufacturing machinery and by extending their service life.
The university’s students who gave the presentation were awarded the Best Presentation Award for the excellent presentation.