Stability analysis of water-lubricated journal bearings for fuel cell vehicle air compressor

This paper presents a stability investigation of the step recessed, hydro-static and -dynamic hybrid water-lubricated journal bearings for fuel cell vehicle compressor. The dynamic coefficients and stability threshold speed of the bearings are numerically calculated by solving the turbulent Reynolds equation by using FEM. Two configuration bearings are comparatively studied and the different dynamic characteristics are revealed. The validity of the theoretical analysis was verified by the experiments on the built fuel cell compressor. Finally, the influences of the turbulence and geometrical parameters on the stability threshold speed are analyzed.