Rotor drive apparatus and methods utilizing center-fed radial-outflow gas
AssigneeVarian, Inc.
InventorJohn Stringer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rotor drive apparatus includes a rotor and a stator. The stator has a gas injection orifice located on the axis about which the rotor spins. The gas injection orifice communicates with a bearing gap formed between a tapered surface of the rotor and an axially spaced tapered surface of the stator. A gas is flowed from the gas injection orifice through the bearing gap, thereby establishing a center-fed, radial-outflow gas bearing supporting the rotor during rotation. In one implementation, a separate flow of drive gas is fed to drive flutes of the rotor to drive rotation. In another implementation, the center-fed, radial-outflow gas flow is additionally utilized to impinge against the drive flutes to actuate the rotation.
Claims20
A rotor drive apparatus comprising:
- a rotor including a rotor body disposed along an axis of rotation and a rotor end member disposed at an axial end of the rotor body, the rotor end member comprising a rotor end surface and a plurality of drive flutes formed in the rotor end surface, the rotor end surface including a tapered rotor surface terminating at a rotor tip disposed at the axis of rotation;
- and
- a stator including a stator body and a tapered stator surface, the tapered stator surface axially spaced from the tapered rotor surface to form a bearing gap having a tapered profile coaxial with the axis of rotation, the stator further comprising a gas passage formed through the stator body and terminating at an axial gas injection orifice, the axial gas injection orifice disposed at the tapered stator surface and coaxial with the axis of rotation,
- wherein the rotor end member and the stator cooperatively form a gas path directed from the axial gas injection orifice and radially outward through the bearing gap at an angle to the axis of rotation.
A rotor drive apparatus comprising:
- a rotor including a rotor body disposed along an axis of rotation and a rotor end member disposed at an axial end of the rotor body, the rotor end member comprising a rotor end surface and a plurality of drive flutes formed in the rotor end surface, the rotor end surface including a tapered rotor surface terminating at a rotor tip disposed at the axis of rotation;
- a stator comprising a stator body and a tapered stator surface, the tapered stator surface axially spaced from the tapered rotor surface to form a bearing gap having a tapered profile coaxial with the axis of rotation;
- and
- means for directing a gas from the axis of rotation and radially outward away from the axis of rotation through the bearing gap to create a gas bearing on which the rotor is supported during spinning.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.