Fluid Bearing
Fluid bearings are bearings which support the bearing's loads solely on a thin layer of liquid or gas.
They can be broadly classified into two types: fluid dynamic bearings and hydrostatic bearings. Hydrostatic bearings are externally pressurized fluid bearings, where the fluid is usually oil, water or air, and the pressurization is done by a pump. Hydrodynamic bearings rely on the high speed of the journal (the part of the shaft resting on the fluid) to pressurize the fluid in a wedge between the faces.
Fluid bearings are frequently used in high load, high speed or high precision applications where ordinary ball bearings would have short life or cause high noise and vibration. They are also used increasingly to reduce cost. For example, hard disk drive motor fluid bearings are both quieter and cheaper than the ball bearings they replace.
Read more about Fluid Bearing: Operation, Characteristics and Principles of Operation
Famous quotes containing the words fluid and/or bearing:
“On and on eternally
Shall your altered fluid run,
Bud and bloom and go to seed;
But your singing days are done;”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (18921950)
“My business is stanching blood and feeding fainting men; my post the open field between the bullet and the hospital. I sometimes discuss the application of a compress or a wisp of hay under a broken limb, but not the bearing and merits of a political movement. I make gruelnot speeches; I write letters home for wounded soldiers, not political addresses.”
—Clara Barton (18211912)