Experimental Measurement of Thrust Foil Bearing Temperature Profiles

Gas foil thrust bearings provide axial support for modern Oil-Free turbomachine rotors, reducing maintenance costs and overall system mass. Large temperature gradients can arise in these bearings due to the viscous dissipation in the gas film and the high thermal conduction resistance of the support structure, which consists of thin superalloy foils. Relatively little experimental temperature data exists for this type of bearing, due in large part to the difficulty in installation of instrumentation. In the current work, temperature gradients in the uncooled bearing are measured across a speed range from 25,000 rpm to 65,000 rpm at low to moderate loads. Bearing torque is measured to correlate temperature gradient magnitude with bearing power loss.