Alliedsignal Inc.

Robert H Nadjafi

Alston L Gu

Mickey Joe Andrews

A cylindrical shaft including a rotor rotates within a housing. A foil bearing comprised of flexible foil segments encircles the rotor, and is located in between the rotor and the housing. The foil segments are attached to the housing, and are installed with a flexion to press against the rotor. A split ring is situated near each end of the foil bearing. Each ring is suspended in an circumferential groove in the rotor by springs which also apply a force tending to keep the ring closed. When the rings are closed, the foil segments can press against and support the rotor. The rings can be opened by respective solenoid-operated plungers to press against the foil segments and force them apart from the rotor.

Hybrid foil/magnetic bearing

A spring assembly for a foil thrust bearing set includes a stiffener disc and a plurality of spring segments. Each spring segment has at least two anchoring tabs. When inserted into a slot in the stiffener disc, the anchoring tabs anchor the spring segment to the stiffener disc.

Foil thrust bearing set

A spring cluster disc (14) for a foil thrust bearing (10) is provided with a plurality of sets (52) of springs (62,64,66). The springs are configured to provide varying spring force and thus varying stiffness in radial and circumferential directions.

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San Pedro, CA, United States of America

Robert H Nadjafi