Bearing assembly with multiple squeeze film damper apparatus
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsFred J. Monzel, Melvin Bobo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An improved bearing assembly is provided for supporting a rotating shaft. The improvement is comprised of utilizing a resilient support means in combination with a multiple squeeze film damper apparatus. The damper apparatus provides a large damping force to suppress large vibrations and excessive radial shaft deflections in the event of operation with an abnormally high unbalanced shaft. The resilient support provides a soft spring system as a means for establishing and maintaining the critical rotor speed at a low speed condition, for centering the shaft during normal operation, and for allowing radial deflection during operation with an unbalanced shaft.
Claims10
An improved bearing assembly for supporting a rotating shaft, said assembly comprising:
- a supporting structure;
- a bearing surrounding said shaft and including an outer race, and
- resilient support means, comprising axially aligned pins surrounding said shaft for resiliently connecting said outer race to said supporting structure;
- wherein the improvement comprises:
- means surrounding said shaft and being disposed between a portion of said pins comprising said resilient support means and said supporting structure for providing a large damping force to suppress abnormally high unbalance forces and deflections within said shaft while maintaining a soft spring system during normal operation;
- wherein said damping means comprises a multiple squeeze film damper apparatus including:
- a first and a second annular member surrounding said shaft, said members being spaced axially apart to form an annular cavity therebetween;
- a plurality of nested annular sleeves surrounding said shaft and disposed within said cavity, said sleeves being of varying diameters to form annular spaces therebetween, the radially innermost of said sleeves being associated with said resilient support means and the radially outermost of said sleeves being associated with said supporting structure;
- and
- means for supplying viscous fluid under pressure to each of said annular spaces.
In a bearing assembly for supporting a rotating shaft on a gas turbine engine, said bearing assembly including:
- a supporting structure;
- a bearing surrounding said shaft and including an outer race;
- and
- resilient support means surrounding said shaft for resiliently connecting said outer race to said supporting structure;
- wherein the improvement comprises a multiple squeeze film damper apparatus positioned between said resilient support means and said supporting structure including:
- a pair of annular members surrounding said shaft and spaced axially apart to form an annular cavity therebetween;
- a plurality of nested annular sleeves surrounding said shaft and disposed within said cavity, said sleeves being of varying diameters to form annular spaces therebetween, the radially innermost of said sleeves being associated with said resilient support means and the radially outermost of said sleeves being associated with said supporting structure;
- and
- means for supplying viscous fluid under pressure to each of said annular spaces.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.