Preliminary Study of the Elastic Orifice as a Flow Control Device in Gas-Lubricated Bearings

摘要

The study was undertaken to determine the feasibility of using elastic orifices as flow control devices in externally pressurized, gas-lubricated bearings. When lubricant is supplied to a bearing through an orifice of fixed area, the gas volume flow, Q, tends to decrease as the bearing load increases, due to the resultant decrease in pressure ratio across the orifice. If an orifice made of rubber or some other elastic material of very low modulus could be designed such that its throat area increases as the pressure ratio decreases, this tendency to reduce flow might be partially offset or possibly reversed for the heavier loads. For lightly loaded conditions, where the pressure ratio across the orifice is large, a reduction in orifice area, due to this same elastic action would reduce flow and make the operation of the bearing more efficient.