Static Characteristics of a Self-Controlled Water-Lubricated Hydrostatic Bearing

Abstract

Recently, because of pollution problems of lubricating oil, water has been attracting considerable attention as a lubricant of hydrostatic bearings. In this study, static characteristics of a shaft supported by a water lubricated hydrostatic bearing using a self-controlled restrictor were numerically investigated. The restrictor proposed in this study can control the mass flow rate using both the balance of pressures acting on the elastic hinge to achieve a very high bearing stiffness. Various design parameters influence the static characteristics of the bearing were discussed numerically, and it was consequently found that the water lubricated hydrostatic bearing using the self-controlled restrictor can achieve nearly infinite static stiffness.