Abstract

The paper presents the rotordynamic performance measurements and model predictions of a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) air compressor supported on gas foil bearings (GFBs). The rotor has an impeller on one end and a thrust runner on the other end. The front (impeller side) and rear (thrust side) gas foil journal bearings (GFJBs) are located between the impeller and thrust runner to support the radial loads, and a pair of gas foil thrust bearings are located on both sides of the thrust runner to support the axial loads. The test GFJBs have a partial arc shim foil installed between the top foil and bump strip layers to enhance hydrodynamic pressure generation. During the rotordynamic performance tests, two sets of orthogonally installed eddy-current displacement sensors measure the rotor radial motions at the rotor impeller and thrust ends. A series of speed-up and coast-down tests to 100k rpm demonstrates the dominant synchronous (1X) rotor responses to imbalance masses without noticeable subsynchronous motions, which indicates a rotordynamically stable rotor-GFB system. Finite element analysis of the rotor determines the rotor free-free (bending) natural modes and frequencies well beyond the maximum rotating frequency. The predicted damped natural frequencies and damping ratios of the rotor-GFB system reveal rotordynamic stability over the speeds of interest. The imbalance response predictions show that the predicted critical speeds and rotor amplitudes strongly agree with the test measurements, thus validating the developed rotordynamic model.