Table 3 Summary of merits and demerits of the new types of bearings
From: An Overview of Bearing Candidates for the Next Generation of Reusable Liquid Rocket Turbopumps
New-type bearings | Merits | Demerits |
|---|---|---|
Hydrostatic fluid-film bearings | Free of mechanical friction at the working stage | Must be equipped with a high-pressure pump |
Hybrid fluid-film bearing | Free of mechanical friction and superior dynamic performance at the working stage | Severe mechanical friction and wear at the start-up stage |
Foil bearing | Except for the merits of the hybrid fluid-film bearing, this bearing can adapt to various working conditions through foil deformations | Mechanical friction and wear at the start-up stage |
AMB | Free of mechanical friction from the start-up to stop stages | Safe operation under a cryogenic environment is still in doubt |
SMB | Self-stable suspension from the start-up to stop stages | Poor dynamic characteristics |
Superconducting compound bearing | The merits of the SMB and hybrid fluid-film bearing | Without demerits theoretically, but need more evaluations |