Hydrostatic Journal Bearings for Cryogenic Rocket Engine Turbopumps: a Review on the Developments

摘要

Cryogenically cooled hydrostatic bearings, when used for supporting turbopump rotor of a cryogenic rocket engine, offer several advantages over the conventional ball bearing system. These include increased rotational speed, reduced pump impeller and turbine wheel size, and improved efficiency of the pumps and turbine. Several attempts have been made world-wide for developing this type of bearing system. This paper consolidates these efforts. The advantages and problems of using cryogenic propellants as the bearing coolant, basic design approaches, experimental requirements and other related issues are also discussed.