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= . (3)
Hence the whirling frequency of the shaft equals half of the
operation speed of the journal when pressure variation is
ignored. However, bearings support of shaft load is by virtue
of pressure variations. When the pressure varies the whirling
speed is less than half of the shaft speed.
D. Prevention and Control of Oil whirl
Lightly loaded bearing or very large bearing clearances are
most common reasons for oil whirl issues in induction motor.
Various design charts have been developed to predict the
onset of oil whirl based on theoretical and experimental study
which are based on operating, geometrical and design
parameters for various rotor stiffness values [5]. These
design charts can be used to check bearing stability once
geometrical parameters are calculated for optimized
performance parameters. If speed of operation is higher than
the threshold speed of instability then geometrical
parameters such as length, diameter or clearance can be
changed to increase the stability of the bearing. In some
cases due to the combination of bearing design parameters
and operating requirements such as for high speed lightly
loaded bearing operation it may be difficult to design a plain
cylindrical bearing which is free from oil whirl instability. To
overcome this issue, bearings such as offset 2 lobes, 3 lobe,
four lobe, and tilting pads as shown in Fig. 6 can be used to
suppress oil whirl and improve bearing stability. A few of the
disadvantages of using offset or lobe bearings are
a) These are more expensive than cylindrical bearings
b) Due to non uniform cross section oil rings may not
be used with 3 lobe or 4 lobe bearings hence it
requires external lubrication system. This bearing
system requires redundant or backup oil lubrication
system in case of emergency coast down due to
power failure.
c) Since it is special bearing design, spare parts may
have long lead time.
The onset of oil whirl instability is sensitive to bearing
clearance and overall system stiffness values. A situation
may arise that the motor is running free from oil whirl for
many years after commissioning, and it may suddenly run
into oil whirl issue after several years of operations. This may
happen due to increase in bearing clearances which may be
caused due to wear of the babbit or the journal. Oil whirl
instability may also be caused by weak motor foundation
which reduces overall stiffness of the system. Sometime it is
possible to control oil whirl on fields by changing the viscosity
of lubricant. Lubricant viscosity plays a major role in oil whirl
instability. Under normal operating conditions, the lubricant
undergoes a significant change in temperature which causes
a change in viscosity and this affects other bearing
performance parameters such as minimum film thickness
and load carrying capacity. Singhal et al [7] presented the
comprehensive bearing design charts to control oil whirl by
increasing or decreasing the oil supply temperature.
Fig. 5 Journal bearing undergoing oil
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