Novel Approach Towards Thrust Bearing Pad Cooling

The present paper analyzes the thermal effect on a sector shaped pad extensively used in thrust bearings which supports the heavy axial loads. Large hydro-generator thrust bearings are susceptible to too much thermo-elastic deformation when oil film thickness is subjected to high pressure and temperature which can even lead to the bearing failure. So as a remedy, this study is an effort towards reducing the oil film temperature by incorporating a suitable cooling treatment. The cooling circuit, in this study, essentially follows a path of hot spots observed by solving Reynolds equation, energy equation and generalized Fourier heat conduction equation. The numerical scheme followed during investigation is finite difference method (FDM). The water circuit developed is just beneath the Babbitt lining of the pads. It has been observed that overall temperature has reduced significantly as compared to traditional cooling systems.