Pump foil for improving damping and load capacity of compliant foil gas bearings

摘要

The load capacity and/or damping characteristics of compliant foil gas bearing having parallel rows of equidistantly spaced bumps (70) is improved by providing a second series of equidistantly spaced bumps (72) of lesser height than the bumps (70) of the first series. The bump foil can be fabricated from metals having a thickness greater than that of conventional bump foils to increase load capacity of the gas bearing without sacrificing compliance required for Coulomb damping.