Compliant foil radial bearing
AssigneeBladon Jets Holdings Limited
InventorsStephen Pye, Vasudeva Nimma, Phillip Heward
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A compliant foil radial bearing (100) comprising: a bushing (110) comprising a bore defined therethrough; a spring foil (120, 130) arranged to conform to a radially inner surface of the bore; a fluid foil (140, 150) arranged to conform to a radially inner surface of the spring foil for rotatably receiving a rotor, wherein: the spring foil comprises one or more retaining portions (160) arranged to extend axially and radially outside the radially inner surface of the bore.
Claims19
A compliant foil radial bearing comprising:
- a bushing comprising a bore defined therethrough;
- a spring foil arranged to conform to a radially inner surface of the bore, wherein the spring foil comprises one or more axially oriented strips;
- and
- a fluid foil arranged to conform to a radially inner surface of the spring foil for rotatably receiving a rotor, wherein:
- the spring foil comprises one or more retaining portions arranged to extend axially and radially outside the radially inner surface of the bore, and
- adjacent strips of the one or more axially oriented strips are coupled via the one or more retaining portions.
A method of manufacturing a spring foil for a compliant foil radial bearing comprising a plurality of axially oriented strips and a plurality of retaining portions, the method comprising:
- forming a spring foil from a sheet metal blank having I-shaped cutouts between each of the plurality of axially oriented strips,
- wherein the I-shaped cutouts comprise portions for axial orientation with perpendicular cross bar portions for circumferential orientation at each end thereof,
- wherein the cross bar portions are arranged at each axial end of the spring foil, and
- wherein the sheet metal blank is bent to form a plurality of retaining portions at the ends of the I-shaped cutouts and the plurality of retaining portions have an axial width and extend radially outward from the spring foil.
A compliant foil radial bearing comprising:
- a bushing comprising a bore defined therethrough;
- a spring foil arranged to conform to a radially inner surface of the bore;
- a fluid foil arranged to conform to a radially inner surface of the spring foil for rotatably receiving a rotor, wherein:
- the spring foil comprises one or more retaining portions arranged to extend axially and radially outside the radially inner surface of the bore, and
- the one or more retaining portions are provided in the form of loops.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.