A new type of aerostatic thrust bearing with high stiffness

The precision and ultraprecision machinery requires increasing the stiffness of aerostatic bearing. In this paper, a new type of aerostatic thrust bearing with high stiffness is presented. The principle of the new bearing is studied. The air pressure reaction in the bearing gap on load makes annular membrane elastically deform. The elastic deformation brings about changes of throttling area and pressure groove depth of the bearing. The result is that the stiffness of new aerostatic thrust bearing is increased observably. The load characteristics are analyzed the theoretically in this paper. The coupling procedure of two governing equations of aerostatic lubrication and elastic deformation of membrane are introduced. The numerical analysis and experiments of an example are compared which proves the principle and the design of the new bearing. The stiffness of the new aerostatic bearing doubles that of the present aerostatic bearing. The principle can be applied to the aerostatic radial bearing extensively and the new bearing opens a vast range of application.