Łukasz Breńkacz

Foil bearings are one of the fastest-growing bearing types at present. They are widely used e.g. in aircraft engines and an increase in small power turbines. In some operating conditions they are the only feasible bearing system. They can be used in structures characterized by very high rotational speeds and very high temperatures. There are some technical problems associated with these bearings - difficult starting due to preloading of the film, or high vibration amplitude at nominal speed - due to the susceptible support layer: gas film and film support layer. All these problems can be solved by introducing active control of the bearing pan size - which is the subject of this project. Increasing the size of the pan during start-up will result in less wear of the supporting film, will reduce the starting torque, and may eliminate the use of an additional drive during the start-up of a machine running on film bearings. The ability to actively (during bearing operation) change the geometry will also enable smoother resonance transition, better compensation for temperature changes, and better adjustment of operating parameters over a wide speed range. The use of such control will also enable the safer operation of bearings. Such bearings are not currently available on the market. They are a continuation of research conducted for many years within the team of IMP PAN, and the proposed technical solutions are unique in the world. The project objectives will be achieved through numerical analysis, including the construction of new numerical models, design, construction and testing of a prototype bearing on a new laboratory bench.