Development of air-lubricated bearings for high-speed rotors
Embark on the path to successful development and implementation of air and foil bearings for your applications with the guidance of SADAP. Utilizing advanced high-precision digital design tools, air-lubricated bearings are crafted for your machinery, such as compressors in fuel cells. This ensures the fulfillment of all requirements, with the bearing exhibiting optimized properties against operational effects. Special attention is given to expediting the lift-off process, i.e., the build-up of aerodynamic pressure in the lubricating film, and ensuring that the bearing possesses sufficient load capacity throughout the entire operational range. In the development of air and foil bearings, efforts are directed towards minimizing energy losses from frictional torques. Simultaneously, there is a focus on avoiding self-excited (subsynchronous) vibrations through optimized construction, ensuring stable operation across the intended operational range. Abundant expertise in the development field, coupled with validated design tools, enables the design of bearings with ample stiffness and damping against both external excitation and self-excited vibrations.
Application of cutting-edge know-how allows for addressing application-specific queries and significant enhancement of your machine’s performance and efficiency. As providers of air and foil bearings, SADAP’s services are available in two forms:
At SADAP, our aim is to achieve the optimal balance between customer requirements and costs. Our tailored packages – Standard and Premium – allow for flexible adaptation to the diverse needs of different companies.
The Standard package is particularly recommended for small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as for the Proof of Concept for new products. Standardized solutions, such as standard foils for foil bearings and standard segments for other air bearings, are employed to efficiently meet design requirements, especially within standardized applications.
For mass production and the post-development phase, the Premium package is recommended. Through extensive investigations, customized solutions are offered with radial and thrust bearings specifically tailored to the machine’s application. This involves not only optimizing the bearings but also enhancing the performance of air lubrication. Distinct features of the Premium package include foils with optimized stiffness properties for various operating conditions and an advanced generation of foil bearings.
Comprehensive customer support, including assistance up to prototype production, is included in the Premium package. The iterative design process takes into account manufacturing tolerances to optimize the design for efficient large-scale production. The costs for this Premium offering can be calculated either as one-time project costs, depending on the project scope and required analyses, or as a licensing fee, structured according to the number of products in which the bearings are utilized.