foil bearing turbos

[jpratt]

I have been reading about foil bearings in turbos. No oil or water is needed for lubrication or cooling. Sir does sound nice. Any more infoon these?

 

[Sleeper-6]

Someone was just telling me about these the other day, but he also had a bunch of other "stories" . Sounds interesting though.

 

[RUQWKNF]

Oh you mean these?

MiTi - Foil Bearing Example Applications - Compressor - Gas Turbine - Turbocharger - Motors

It's called the trickle down theory.
This is military funded technology will first be incorporated into the aerospace industry. Then into the industrial industry. Then maybe, if we're lucky , into the automotive industry. Then in about 5-7 years, this technology will have evolved into an affordable product that us end users can afford.

Realistically, I wouldn't look for it to be made publicly available for another 10 years.

Sure would be nice if Garrett or BW could speed up that process tho.
Modern Marvels had a brief mention of a similar technology on one of their shows back in 2006. Air cooled bearing technology. Which is pretty standard fair in the aerospace industry today.

Patrick

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Here's the turbo setup, showing the brg, etc...
http://www.miti.cc/newsletters/06_oilfree_turbocharger_gas_engine_applications.pdf

 

[Pronto]

That was dated 1999 and said they are developing commericalization plans. Slow comming.