Spiral groove bearing

At a sufficient speed, the internal pressures create enough force to support the applied load and the bearing surfaces are completely separated.

The surface of the metal is coated with an etchant-resistant lacquer, then the intended locations of the grooves are removed by hand.

One disadvantage of this method is that more specialized equipment is required to accurately cut smaller grooves.

Soldering is used when other fabrication methods are unavailable or inapplicable to the given situation; e.g., the bearing is too large for an etching bath.

The image shows the grease lubricated spiral groove hemispherical bearing invented by Ron Woolley of the Gas Bearing Advisory Service at Southampton University in collaboration with British Gas.

[10] Due to the multiple technical advantages, thrust bearings continue to be used in gyroscopes such as in the Hubble Telescope.

[11] Many other applications have arisen over the last 20 years in compressors and turbines taking advantage of the oil-free, long life, low friction and clean green characteristics.

They are used here to support the high speed rotation of turbines, and to minimize power losses due to inefficiency.

Generally the analysis of spiral groove bearings requires a numerical method solving the Reynolds Equation although there are some optimum parameters published.

[15] Modern CFD methods are not suitable for general design work as the number of elements around the bearing and across the clearance makes the analyses too slow.

The critical design aspect for all bearings using compressible gas lubricants is stability whereas for in-compressible fluids load and power loss become equally important.