High speed rotors on gas bearings: design and experimental characterization

Gas bearings are employed in a variety of applications from micro systems to large turbomachinery. As they are free from contaminants if supplied with clean air, gas bearings and pneumatic guide-ways are often used in food processing, textile and pharmaceutical industries. The new research works are focused on expanding the applications of gas bearings, in particular at very high speeds. Dental drills for example operate at speeds of over 500 krpm and it seems that a limit for gas bearings without cooling is 700 krpm [1]. Nevertheless in [2] a spindle with 6 mm diameter that operated at 1.2 million rpm is described.