Design, Realization And Experimental Investigations Into The Performance Parameters Of Air-Bearings

Kuldeep Sharma1 , A. John Vivian Prashant2 & Dr. V. Radhakrishnan3

1&2

(Bachelor of Technology, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology Email: kuldeepsharmaiist@gmail.com, Email:john1989iist@gmail.com) 3 (Emeritus professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology Email: vprmfg@hotmail.com)

ABSTRACT
The design and implementation of air-bearings has to be dealt with approximations and empirical relations due to complexity of flow physics involved. For preliminary design purposes simulation results from the computational fluid dynamics softwares have been used. The 3-D segmented configuration with reservoir has been identified as the efficient simulation technique for such geometries after many trials with various schemes to capture the flow phenomenon in the most efficient manner. The manufacturing drawings are also provided. After preparing the actual model, parametric studies have been performed to evaluate the effect of various design parameters on the static and dynamic performances of air-bearing platform and have been explained through graphs. Also through a method of trial and error an efficient configuration has been deduced which consists of a slot at the bottom surface of the Air-bearing. With this configuration it has been observed that the bearing provides the highest load capacity and produces the minimum amount of vibration noise due to the air flow. Then finally, four air-bearings have been put together on a platform and integrated which can be used for real time load transport purposes with a capacity of 250 kilograms. Detailed design and manufacturing details are provided for re-creation of the air-bearings and related experiments.

operations are silent and smooth[3]. And being fluid film bearings they have a squeeze film damping effect resulting in higher damping. This results in better stiffness and controllability. They also result in high speeds at high acceleration because there are no balls or rollers to slip at high acceleration. This results in efficient use of power. There have been many innovations in the design of airbearings since its conception. One such innovation is of using elastic orifices for pressurized gas bearings. The elastic orifice allows the self control of the flow. The flow rate either increases or decreases as the pressure drop across the device increases [5]. As a consequence of this these bearings tend to have greater stiffness. One of the many commendable uses of air-bearing is in spacecraft simulators [6]. They are used for spacecraft attitude determination and control hardware verification. They offer one of the possibilities to the problem of simulating a functional space environment. Though these do not provide a gravity free space for spacecraft simulation, they do provide a torque-free and force-free rotational and translational motion. These environments achieved by air bearing are used to check the satellite control systems on ground. It is very important to know the various characteristics, specifications and certain conditions which are essential for the optimum performance of air-bearings. Many parameter influence the performance of air bearings. And the effect of various parameters has to be verified with experimentation due to the uncertainty involved with empirical relations. An optimum bearing should have high efficiency of load capacity, high stiffness and good stability during levitation. In general Air-Bearings run on a controlled film of pressurized air that is typically less than 0.3 mm thick[3]. While talking about air-bearings its very important to talk about Pneumatic hammer instability. This phenomenon is associated with the compressibility of gases and the consequent delay between bearing clearance changes and the response to this change through variation in pressure in the orifice pocket [8].A long delay time and a large pocket volume result in pressure increase due to which the bearing clearance increases. This results in the reduction of pressure in the pocket and again the clearance decreases. This results in the eventual increase of pressure and hence the cycle continues. This instability is to be avoided as it is a major deterrent to the smooth and quiet operation of the airbearing. Air-bearings have only viscous friction associated

Keywords - Air-bearing, Parameter study, flow physics

simulation, Stiffness

1. INTRODUCTION
The fluid bearings consist of hydrostatic and aerostatic bearings. The aerostatic bearings are further classified into the orifice and porous media type air bearings. In the orifice type bearings air flows out through the holes and grooves whereas in a porous air bearings flow is naturally controlled by the permeable nature of carbon materials [1],[2]. AirBearings have various advantages when used in shop floors for load lifting purposes [1]. To begin with they have zero wear due to no contact between the bearing and the surface . Being non-contact air bearings they average out the surface irregularities and provide straighter motion. Also their

with the air-film layer being sheared during motion of the bearing. Thus using high speed spindles the bearing gap should be large enough to ensure that the friction power is less than twice the pumping power [10].

supports the claim of having encountered a good simulation technique for air-bearing flow problems. 3.1 Boundary conditions Table 1: Boundary conditions Inlet total pressure Inlet static pressure Outlet pressure Simulations were carried out at T=288K. 6 bar 5.9999 bar 1.1325

2. Design Process
Considering the above mentioned pros and cons of various types of air bearings we have decided our configuration to be an Aerostatic bearing. It is a pocketed bearing with a metal orifice nozzle. Once the type of Air-Bearing was decided the iterative process of design commenced. To begin with, fluent simulations were run to get an idea of the pressure profile and load capacity by trying different pocket sizes and nozzle diameters. Here it is essential to note that fluent cannot give accurate results. This is due to the fact that in the real scenario the surface finish of the air-bearing can maximum goes up to three triangle finish since the material is aluminum and grinding is not possible. Also the surface on which the bearing is to be used cannot be of high finish. But in fluent these factors cannot be incorporated. Analytical solution to this flow problem is also complicated due to the axial flow which is followed by radial flow. Thus the only possibility is to take the results from simulation just as a guideline. Here we have tried different configurations and once we were close to the load capacity we desired we had locked on the initial parameters. Then with the help of empirical relations the various geometry dimensions are calculated and finally the manufacturing drawings were done. Here also special features have been introduced so that the bearing can be used again even if the nozzle is damaged. To achieve this, dismountable features were introduced so that the nozzle can be changed as in when required.

3.2 Gridding & Grid Independence Test

Fig.1: Grid 1 & Grid 2 & Grid independence test for Grid 1 3.3 Simulation Results Table 2: Air Gap = 1mm (Incompressible Solver) Grid 1 Zone name Pressure force (N) Bearing 39.260757 Continuity equation satisfying criteria Zone name Mass flow rate (kg/s) Pressure outlet -0.0096766734 Upper hole 0.0096766874 Net 1.3969839 * 10-08 kg/s

3. Simulations
As stated previously the simulations cannot exactly capture the flow phenomenon mainly due to the complex geometry and also the surface roughness effect which cannot be incorporated in fluent software. To start with 3D simulation was carried out with a pocket depth of 1mm and pocket diameter of 5 mm. But it was noticed that the pressure profile was not flat as per intuition, thats why we went for a process of carrying out a 3D segmented simulation along with a reservoir. This method yielded good convergence and also the results comply with the flow physics of the problem. It can be stated that 3-D segmented simulation with a reservoir is a good method to simulate the flow in a circular air-bearing. After establishing and achieving a successful simulation method some other configurations were also tried. For all the above mentioned techniques employed various pressure and velocity plots have been presented. Along with that the grid independence has also been performed not only by decreasing the grids but also by changing the whole pattern itself. This is formidable evidence that the procedure of simulation has been correctly performed. And this also

Fig 2: Velocity profile in the air gap for grid 1 (Incompressible solver)

3.4 Gridding with 3-D Reservoir

Fig 3: Velocity profiles in air gap for grid 1 (Compressible solver)

Pressure Contour at Z=0

Fig 5: Typical segmented 3-D grid for air bearing

Velocity magnitude plot along the Z- axis through the hole Fig 4: pressure and velocity profiles at different z locations in air gap for grid 2 (compressible solver) Fig 6: velocity profile in air gap (1mm pocket depth 5 mm pocket diameter)

Fig 7: pressure profile in air gap (1mm pocket depth 5 mm pocket diameter)

Fig 10: Velocity profile in air gap (1mm pocket depth 10 mm pocket diameter)

Fig 8: Velocity profile in the air gap (2mm pocket depth 5 mm pocket diameter)

Fig 11: Pressure profile in air gap (1mm pocket depth 10 mm pocket diameter)

4. Empirical Relations Used For Design

The empirical relations given in Kenneth J Stout [1] have been used to design our air-bearing. In case of pocket compensated air-bearings that we have chosen the author states that generally the predicted and the measured values generally agree with an accuracy of 10%.In addition to the calculation of various parameters of the air bearing as per the empirical relations certain factors have to be kept in mind to avoid degradation in the performance of the air bearings. First the advantage of selecting a pocketed orifice is that it gives up to 1.5 times greater stiffness than annular orifices. But with pocketed orifices one has to pay attention to avoid pneumatic hammering. To prevent pneumatic hammering the pocket geometry should be designed such that the total volume enclosed in the pocket is to be less than one-twentieth of the bearing land volume. Also the recess depth should be equal to or greater than orifice diameter. As a rule of thumb it should be ensured that the curtain flow area is at least twice the orifice flow area. The design equations used for pocketed bearing design have been given

Fig 9: Pressure profile in the air gap (2mm pocket depth 5 mm pocket diameter)

for an outer to inner radius ratio of the main disc of 20. Based on this the Ri and Ro where chosen to be 2.5mm and 50mm respectively. Then an air gap of 45.26 m was chosen. The supply pressure was chosen to be 6 bar as per availability in the lab. Form these values and using the empirical relations all other parameters were calculated. These values have been present in a tabular form. After the calculation of these parameters checks were done to ensure that there should be no pneumatic hammering as per the design values.

5. Drawing
5.1 Design Drawing

Fig 13: Top & Bottom part of air-bearing

Fig 12: Schematic figure representing the parameters which were decided on basis of empirical relations Table 3: The Characteristic properties of the pocketed airbearing obtained using empirical relations Max stiffness (N/m) =18.9895 Fig 14: Nozzle &Nipple

Max load (N)

= 477.5

Fig 15: Top &Bottom part of the nozzle supporting disc Air flow rate (m3/s) Mass flow rate (Kg/s) = 4.837 * 10-4

Orifice diameter (mm)

Fig 16: Common Connector Blown up view of all components

5.2 Manufacturing Drawings Pocket depth (mm) b= 0.905

Ro= 50 mm , Ri = 2.5mm , do= 1mm Pa= 1.01325Bar , Po= 6Bar

Where, is supply pressure, is air film thickness, is ambient pressure, is outer radius of bearing, is radius of the pocket.

6. Component Manufacturing And Integration

Firstly the main disc of the air-bearing, the connecting disc and the nozzle are manufactured by turning process on the lathe. Then the nipple is also manufactured by turning. The complete assembled air-bearing is shown in the pictures. After making four such bearing they are all connected to a common air supply source. The four bearings are finally attached to the platform via balls that allow the four of them to adjust and be parallel to the surface. The whole sequence is shown through actual pictures taken while assembly. Also pictures of experimental apparatus used are shown.

Fig 17: Manufacturing drawing of an air-bearing

Fig 18: Manufacturing drawing of the connector

Fig 19: Manufacturing drawing of base plate

Fig 20: Actual pictures describing the integration process and experimentation in sequenc

7 . Experimental Results
7.1 Surface Roughness Measurements The surface finish measurements suggest a three triangle finish which is the recommended finish for air bearings. Table 4: Surface roughness values for bearing surface AirMaterial of Ra(m) Rq Rz bearing the air(m) (m) piece bearing 1 Aluminum 0.333 0.409 2.271 Brass 0.664 0.88 4.699 2 Aluminum 0.836 0.978 3.782 Brass 0.937 1.27 6.977 7.2 Maximum Stiffness For Various Configurations Table 5: Stiffness measurements with variable pocket depth, pocket diameter and nozzle Pocket Pocket Nozzle Maximum Diameter Depth (mm) Stiffness (mm) (mm) (N/m) 5 1 1 19.62 5 5 5 8 10 12 17 28 5 8 12 17 28 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 1.5 2 3.3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9.81 9.81 13.08 9.81 13.08 19.62 1.962 19.62 9.81 13.08 6.448 3.224 1.612

7.4 Air-gap and stiffness plots The supply pressure was changed manually using a pressure regulator. The change in air gap was measured using a dial gauge having a least count of 1m. Loading was done using identical 4 kilograms plates .The bearing was placed on a granite table. Two V-blocks were used to avoid any lateral movement of the air-bearing. Only the change in airgap was measured along with the loading of the bearing with the loads.

Fig 21: Air gap variation with supply pressure

7.3 Friction Coefficient For calculating the friction coefficient the bearing was loaded with weights and a thread was connected to it on which weights were added until the bearing just started to move. The Normal force on the bearing was 727.9 N and the frictional force was observed to be 0.34335 N. Thus the friction coefficient which is the ratio of lateral force to normal force is calculated to be 4.71698 x 10-4.

Fig 22: Air-gap Vs load with varying nozzle diameter

Fig 23 : Air-gap Vs load for pocket depth 1mm with varying pocket diameter

Fig 26: Air-Gap Vs load for the slotted configuration

8. Discussions
Firstly we discuss about the surface roughness measurements. Though the finish is of the order of three triangle finish, still more superior finish can be obtained by grinding. But for grinding we cant use aluminum. Therefore we would have to go in for some other material which can be ground. This would result in a better distribution of the pressure profile and hence help in improving the air bearing performance. Now we will look at the salient features in the pressure and stiffness plots. Figure 21 displays an increase in the air-gap with increase in the pressure. This is in accordance with our intuition. But if the pressure is increased to vey high values it may result in pneumatic hammering. The design supply pressure for the bearing is 6 Bar and it has been pressurized up to 8 Bar without any signs of pneumatic hammering. Thus this whole range of pressure values may be described as a safe range for the operation of the air bearing. It may also be noted that the plot becomes flatter after pressure values of 6 Bar. This shows that there isnt much benefit in operating at higher pressures. Figure 22 shows that the air-gap decreases as the nozzle diameter increases at lower loads but at higher loads it shows a very scattered and unusual trend. The trend shown at lower loads can be explained with respect to expansion of flow in the nozzle. Due to this pressure decrease the air-gap comes down. But at higher loads though the pressure is decreasing, there is also some pressure buildup due to the air-gap reduction. Due to this opposing effect a very scattered pattern is obtain. Comparing Figure 23 and Figure 24 we find that the pocket depth plays a major role in the response of air-gap to load with varying

Fig 24: Air-gap Vs load for pocket depth 2mm with varying pocket diameter

Fig 25: Air-gap Vs load with varying taper

pocket diameter. When the pocket depth is 1mm a continuous fall in air-gap is observed with increasing pocket diameter. But in case of pocket depth 2mm this trend is seen only up to a certain initial loading. At higher loads the variations are complex. This shows that a simple linear extrapolation would not be sufficient to draw conclusions on the behavior of the air-bearing stiffness. One more important conclusion is that the hammering loads are different while loading and unloading. A general trend has been observed that while unloading the hammering sustains even till very low values of loads. Figure 25 shows that the air-gap increases with taper angle. And the increase is still higher if there are slots. Slots seem to increase the stiffness. Due to this observation various slotted configurations were tried. After some trial and errors the most efficient slotted configuration in terms of high stiffness and less noise production was obtained. This best configuration is a slot of depth 0.2mm and width of 5 mm made at a radial distance of 22.5 mm from the centre of the bearing. Figure 26 shows that the best configuration has the highest air-gap at initial loads and there is no hammering observed even unto a load of 70 kilograms.

Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry. [3]. Byron R. Knapp, Brian P.OConnor and Eric R.Marsh , Characterization of Porous Graphite Air Bearings. Vol.119, August 1997, Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, pp. pp. 388-392. [4]. R.L.Kiang and P.M.Newgard, Elastic Orifices for Pressurized Gas Bearing. 1966, ASLE Transactions 9, pp. 311-317 . [5]. F.Sweeney and .J.Stout, Design of Aerostatic Flat Pad Bearings Using Pocketed Orifice Restrictors. August 84. , Tribology International. Vol. 17 No.4, . [6]. 6. . A.H, Slocum and Dearborn Michigan, Precision Machine Design: Society of Manufacturing engineers, 1992. [7]. 7. F.Sterry and Montgomery A. G, A simple air bearing rotor for very high rotational speeds,July 1955., AERE ED/R 1671.

9. Conclusion
The aim of design, realization and experimentation has been successfully completed. The design and the experimental values of stiffness have a deviation of 1.5% which is a very excellent result. The most accurate technique for simulation of air-bearing problems was found to be by a 3-D segmented method with a reservoir. Both results of 3-D and 3-D segmented with reservoir simulations have been described so that they could be used as a guideline for further research into this problem. The whole process of integration is very clearly explained through pictures. Stiffness experiments were done which resulted in identifying the best configuration in terms of air-gap, absence of pneumatic hammering and silent operation. This best configuration is a slot of depth 0.2mm and width of 5 mm made at a radial distance of 22.5 mm from the centre of the bearing. These experiments can be recreated to carry out further studies.

REFERENCES
[1]. Stout, Kenneth J. , Aerostatic Bearings. Trans Cambridge Philos, vol.22. [2]. Schwendeman, T.Witelski and P.Evans, Analysis of Pressurized Porous Air Bearings. University of Delware : 20th