Performance analysis of air bearing in a micro system

The performance of an air bearing system in a micro device was investigated. For journal bearing, it is found that due to very low aspect ratio of L/D, the compressibility is not obviously observed and the load capacity of the journal bearing linearly increases with bearing number. For thrust bearing, parametric study is carried out at both aero-static and aerodynamic working conditions. The optimum values of the important parameters are explored and presented. The stability analysis of the thrust bearing shows that motion stability and load capacity impose contradictive requirements on the groove pattern of the thrust bearing. Hence, requirements both from load capacity and motion stability should be considered and compromised for a better and stable performance of the thrust bearing.