Aerostatic Bearing And Aerodynamic Bearing

Question

mechanical-farm · Accepted Answer

Air Bearings

An air bearing is a non-contacting system where a gas film (typically air) acts as the lubricant that separates the two surfaces in relative motion.
Air bearing technology offers real advantages to applications where the demand for accuracy, speed and reliability is crucial.
Air bearings avoid the traditional bearing-related problems of friction, wear, and lubricant handling, and offer distinct advantages in precision positioning and high speed applications.

There are basically two types of air bearing:

A separate external supply of air is fed under pressure between the two surfaces being kept apart.
The pressure inside the gap creates the load carrying properties which are limited only by the available supply line pressure and material strength.
They have found popular use in grinding, machining and micro positioning applications where full performance at zero speed and the absence of friction is essential.

Aerodynamic or self-acting bearings, the air film is created by the relative motion of two mating surfaces separated by a small distance.
As the speed increases, a velocity induced pressure gradient is formed across the clearance. The increased pressure between the surfaces creates the load carrying effect.
The load capacity is dependent on the relative speed at which the surface moves and therefore at zero speed, the bearing supports no load.