Design of Novel Hydrodynamic Grooved Journal Bearing with Dual-Layer Herringbone-Grooved Patterns

Abstract

Due to that the load capacity of the conventional herringbone-grooved cylindrical journal bearing (HGJB) decreases significantly with a decreasing dimension, a requirement exists for miniature HGJB with high load capacity in miniaturized spindle motor applications. This paper investigates the design and characterization of a novel HGJB using dual-layer herringbone-grooved patterns for small spindle motors and cooling fans. In contrast to conventional HGJBs, the proposed HGJB contains another set of herringbone-grooved pattern on its outer surface. The performance of the proposed HGJB is characterized numerically using flow field analysis software. Results show that compared to the conventional HGJB presented by the current group in a previous study, the proposed HGJB can improve the load capacity by 53.7% of the previous value.