COOLED AERODYNAMIC THRUST BEARING AS WELL AS TURBOCOMPRESSOR WITH SUCH A THRUST BEARING

Abstract

A cooled aerodynamic thrust bearing for axially mounting a shaft for a turbocompressor extending along an axis of rotation A, having two annular thrust bearing washers arranged concentrically with respect to the axis of rotation, wherein the two thrust bearing washers are spaced apart in the axial direction by a spacer washer and form a cavity between them in the axial direction for receiving a shaft sleeve connected to the shaft. The spacer washer extends beyond the thrust bearing washers in the radial direction and is formed to maintain the thrust bearing washers at a predetermined axial distance by means of an annular, radially inner section, and to dissipate heat from the cavity and/or from the thrust washers radially outwards by means of an annular, radially outer cooling section formed as a heat sink.

Claims

1. A cooled aerodynamic thrust bearing for axially mounting a shaft for a turbocompressor extending along an axis of rotation, the aerodynamic thrust bearing comprising: a bearing housing with a first housing section and a second housing section, and two annular thrust bearing washers arranged concentrically with respect to the axis of rotation, wherein the two thrust bearing washers are spaced apart in the axial direction by a spacer washer and form a cavity between them in the axial direction for receiving a shaft sleeve connected to the shaft, and wherein the spacer washer extends beyond the thrust bearing washers in the radial direction and is formed to maintain the thrust bearing washers at a predetermined axial distance by means of an annular, radially inner section, and to dissipate heat from the cavity and/or from the thrust washers radially outwards by means of an annular, radially outer cooling section formed as a heat sink wherein the first housing section and the second housing section each have a sealing region, each formed to abut the spacer washer via a respective sealing body and to separate a radially inner thrust bearing space formed by the bearing housing from a radially outer cooling space in a fluid-tight manner, wherein the cooling space circumscribes the axis of rotation in an annular manner, encloses the cooling section of the spacer washer, and is configured for a cooling fluid to flow therethrough.

2. The aerodynamic thrust bearing according to claim 1, wherein the spacer washer has at least one annular sealing section in the radial direction between the radially inner section and the cooling section, in which the spacer washer is formed to abut both sides of a respective sealing body in the axial direction.

3. The aerodynamic thrust bearing according to claim 1, further comprising the sealing bodies having a predetermined elasticity and formed in particular as sealing rings arranged concentrically with respect to the axis of rotation, wherein the housing sections are formed over their respective sealing regions and an elasticity of the sealing bodies is selected in such a way to seal the thrust bearing space and the cooling space against one another without deformation of the spacer washer.

4. The aerodynamic thrust bearing according to claim 1, wherein the first housing section and the second housing section are sealed against one another radially outward of the cooling space by a further sealing body which is formed as a further sealing ring arranged concentrically with respect to the axis of rotation.

5. The aerodynamic thrust bearing according to claim 1, wherein the spacer washer has at least one positioning aid extending in the axial direction and/or extending in the radial direction for concentrically aligning the spacer washer with respect to the axis of rotation.

6. The aerodynamic thrust bearing according to claim 1, wherein the two thrust bearing washers each have a thrust bearing surface facing the cavity for forming a respective axial gas cushion in a respective thrust bearing gap between the respective thrust bearing surface and the shaft sleeve for axially mounting the shaft.

7. A turbocompressor with an aerodynamic thrust bearing configured according to claim 1, the turbocompressor further comprising: an at least two-part inner housing for receiving a shaft extending along an axis of rotation, wherein a first part of the inner housing forms the first housing section of the bearing housing, and a second part of the inner housing forms the second housing section of the bearing housing.

8. The turbocompressor according to claim 7, wherein the shaft or an impeller arranged on the shaft is formed to generate a fluid flow of the cooling fluid flowing through the cooling space, and/or wherein the shaft or an impeller arranged on the shaft is formed to compress a cooling fluid, wherein the cooling fluid is the cooling fluid flowing through the cooling space.

9. The aerodynamic thrust bearing according to claim 2, wherein the sealing body is flexible.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] Other advantageous developments of the disclosure are characterized in the subclaims and/or depicted in greater detail below together with the description of the preferred embodiment of the disclosure with reference to the figures. In the drawings:

[0033] FIG. 1 shows a two-dimensional sectional view of an aerodynamic thrust bearing;

[0034] FIG. 2 shows a perspective sectional view of an aerodynamic thrust bearing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] The figures are schematic by way of example and each represent a cooled aerodynamic thrust bearing 1 in a sectional view, wherein only a part of the thrust bearing 1 is depicted in FIG. 1. Same reference symbols in the figures indicate same functional and/or structural features, such that individual features do not have to be described for each figure.

[0036] For mounting a shaft, not shown, the cooled aerodynamic thrust bearing 1 has two thrust bearing washers 10 extending in an annular manner about an axis of rotation A of the shaft, as well as a spacer washer 11 arranged therebetween and maintaining the thrust bearing washers 10 at a predetermined axial distance, such that a cavity 12 which is delimited radially outwards by the spacer washer 11 is formed along the axis of rotation A between the thrust bearing washers 10.

[0037] It is very preferred in this regard that the spacer washer 11 extends beyond the thrust bearing washers 10 in the radial direction R and is formed to simultaneously maintain the thrust bearing washers 10 at the predetermined distance by means of a radially inner section 11A circumscribing the axis of rotation A in an annular manner, and dissipate heat from the cavity 12 and/or from the thrust bearing washers 10 at a cooling section 11C circumscribing the axis of rotation A in an annular manner.

[0038] In this respect, the thrust bearing washers 10 and spacer washer 11 are held in a housing having two housing sections 31, 32, wherein the housing sections 31, 32 each have sealing regions 33 which act via a sealing body 21 lying therebetween and formed as an O-ring or sealing ring, respectively, on a sealing section 11B of the spacer washer 11, such that a sealing plane is formed at the sealing section 11B lying between the radially inner section 11A and the cooling section 11C. Consequently, a radially inner thrust bearing space 34 of the housing can be separated in a fluid-tight manner from a radially outer cooling space 35, such that fluid flows around the cooling section 11C of the sealing washer 11 arranged in the cooling space 35 and the heat can be transported away.

[0039] Since the sealing regions 33 are coordinated with the sealing bodies 21 so as not to deform the sealing section 11B and the entire spacer ring 11, respectively, the thrust bearing washers 10 and their bearing surfaces 13 facing the cavity 12 are held exactly in the desired position and are simultaneously cooled.

[0040] For further sealing of the cooling space 35, a further sealing body 22 is provided radially outside, which is provided directly between the housing sections 31, 32 and seals them against one another.

[0041] The disclosure is not limited in its execution to the abovementioned preferred exemplary embodiments. Rather, a number of variants are conceivable which make use of the illustrated solution even in the form of fundamentally different embodiments.