Development Studies on Utilizing the Self-Caging Spherical Bearing for Directional Gyroscopes.

摘要

Under this contract from the Army Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal,Alabama,Mechanical Technology Inc. carried forward the development of the self-caging,rubber,spherical gas bearing for use in directional gyroscopes. A high-pitched,audible squeal originating from within the first compliant rubber gas bearing was traced to its origin and performance data were revealed which indicated the likelihood of the squeal's interference with the gyro performance characteristics. Variations in the gas venting and feeding to the gyro bearing were studied along with performance tests of compliant surfaces with various orifice feed holes. Data gathered revealed that the bearing performance varied significantly depending on whether the compliant material was placed on the male or female components. The gas feeding experiments revealed many previously unknown characteristics of gas flow through inertial bearing surfaces which contain compliant materials such as silicone rubber. The investigation also revealed tolerance variations which do exist in a sample set of moldings as well as the changes in bearing performance which result from these dimensional variations. The studies also included experiments which determined gyro drift rates (both static and dynamic), caging ability of the as-molded test bearing plates,and the load carrying capability of the operating gyro bearing. (Author)