STATIC CHARACTERISTIC OF AN AEROSTATIC JOURNAL BEARING WITH PARTIALLY GAS-FED SLOT RESTRICTORS. (ON THE DOUBLE-ROW ADMISSION BEARING USING FEEDING SLITS).

A double-row admission gas journal bearing with partially gas-fed slot restrictors is investigated. In this type of bearings, gas flow is mainly restrained by both the viscous resistance in the slot region and the inflow resistance at the inlets of narrow feeding slits. Therefore, the maximum load capacity of this bearing can be obtained easily in a small bearing clearance of less than 10 mu m. Here, influences of various design parameters on the static characteristics are described and the optimum design conditions for the load capacity are theoretically determined. Furthermore, the validity of the theoretical predictions and the usefulness of this type of bearings are confirmed by comparison with the experimental data.