Research on the mechanism of variable preload tilting-pad journal bearings
SUN Kexue
WANG Haijun
TAO Liang
WU Yongsheng
XIA Yang
BING Hankun
CHEN Shuai
ZHANG Guoyuan
Abstract：Large rotating machinery equipment widely adopts tilting-pad journal bearings(TPJBs).However,under high load and long-term operation,the oil film thickness of TPJBs decreases,affecting the efficiency of the unit.Rapidly adjusting the preload of TPJBs is an effective way to change the thickness of the oil film thickness.A lubrication model of variable preload TPJBs is constructed.Taking the pad-6 TPJBs used in 1 000 MW units as the research object,the influence laws of different preloads of tilting-pad on the load capacity performance(such as load,pressure distribution,flow rate,minimum oil film thickness,etc.)and dynamic characteristic coefficients are analyzed.The results show that when the preload factors of pad-1 and pad-4 are adjusted,the pressure distribution characteristics of the symmetrical pads of the top pads(pad-2 and pad-6)and the symmetrical pads of the bottom pads(pad-3 and pad-5)are similar.With the increase of the preload factors,the oil flow rate of the TPJBs gradually increases.Compared with adjusting the preload factors of pad-1 and pad-4,adjusting the preload factors of pad-2 and pad-6,pad-3 and pad-5,and pad-3 and pad-6 increased the minimum oil film thickness by approximately 25.9%,7.4%,and 10.3%,respectively.This research can provide a reference for the design of high-performance TPJBs and energy-saving in terms of loss.
Keywords：TPJBsvariable preload factorslubricationstatic and dynamic characteristicsenergy-saving and consumption reduction
Publication Date：2025-12-25
Online Publishing Date：2026-01-26(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 48-52 )