High-speed rotation testing apparatus

Details High-speed rotation testing apparatus High-speed rotation testing apparatus

2002-09-10

2004-11-23

Lefkowitz, Edward (Department: 2855)

Measuring and testing

Dynamometers

Responsive to torque

Reexamination Certificate

active

06820503

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high-speed rotation testing apparatus, and in particular, to a high-speed rotation testing apparatus preferably used to achieve processing of test objects stored in the rotor in a high gravitational acceleration field using centrifugal force generated by rotating a rotor at high speed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, apparatuses have been under development for enabling generation of an extremely large gravitational acceleration field so as to achieve, by an external force, highly condensed sedimentation diffusion of atoms or molecules of condensed substances formed of two or more elements. A high-speed rotation testing apparatus as shown in
FIG. 9
is known to those skilled in the art, and is used for generating a high gravitational acceleration field using centrifugal force by rotating a rotor at high speed. The apparatus will be described.
As shown in
FIG. 9
, the apparatus comprises a combustor (not shown), an air turbine motor
101
and a rotor
102
for storing a test object container. Combustion gas from the combustor is introduced to the air turbine motor
101
as represented by an arrow A in
FIG. 9
, and the rotation torque is applied to a rotor shaft
103
. The rotor shaft
103
is supported by an oil float bearing
104
and a stator bushing
105
. The rotor
102
is secured to the tip of the rotor shaft
103
.
Next, the shape of the rotor
102
will be described by referring to FIG.
10
.
FIG. 10A
shows a fragmentary sectional view of the rotor
102
as viewed from the front while
FIG. 10B
shows the view from the bottom. The rotor
102
has a shape of a cone with the tip being cut off, that is, a substantial conic trapezoid. A shaft hole
102
a
is formed in the rotor
102
so that the rotor shaft
103
is inserted into the center of the circle, the end faces of the rotor
102
. By inserting the rotor shaft
103
to the shaft hole
102
a
and securing a nut
106
to the tip of the rotor shaft
103
, the rotor
102
is interposed between the nut
106
and the stator bushing
105
thereby to be fixed to the tip of the rotor shaft
103
. Also, on one end face of the rotor
102
, that is, the face of the rotor shaft
103
on the tip side, hollows
107
a
and
107
b
for test objects with a predetermined depth are formed along a ridgeline arranged towards the other end face (air turbine motor side). A condensed substance M as the test object is stored in the hollows
107
a
and
107
b
and then the rotor
102
is rotated at high speed. Thereby, the test object can be processed under large gravitational acceleration by the centrifugal force.
Specifically, with the high-speed rotation testing apparatus, an acceleration field more than 200,000 gravitation acceleration (in the followings, referred to as “g”) can be generated at the temperatures over 60° C. In general, the acceleration field &agr; is represented by &agr;=r&ohgr;
2
provided that the angular velocity around the rotor shaft is &ohgr;, and the length of the perpendicular from an object to the rotor shaft is r. The required rotating speed varies according to the size of the inner radius r of the test object container. For example, in the case where the inner radius r of the test object container is 20 mm, it is necessary to achieve high-speed rotation with the maximum rotating speed of 200,000 rpm or more in order to generate 810,000 g of gravitational acceleration.
However, there are problems as described below with the high-speed rotation testing apparatus in the example of the related art.
First, there is a shaft hole provided in the rotational center of the above-described rotor. Thus, the shaft hole cannot endure the stress at the time of high-speed rotation due to a high-gravitational acceleration field, which may result in deformation or the like of the rotor. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the rotating speed of the rotor to a predetermined value.
Also, the atmosphere surrounding the rotor is in the atmospheric air so that there is a frictional resistance generated by windage, which leads to a problem that the rotating speed is suppressed by the resistance. If the frictional resistance by windage is suppressed through decompressing the atmosphere surrounding the rotor, the resistance on the rotor is reduced so that the rotating speed can be increased. However, in this case, heat transfer via the air cannot be utilized so that the heating/cooling efficiency of the rotor is deteriorated. Therefore, it is difficult to control the temperature of the test object and the test contents of the test object are to be limited.
Further, by supporting the rotation shaft by the stator bushing, the relative speed of the rotation shaft and the bushing is increased, thereby causing seizure due to the friction generated therebetween. Hence, it is difficult to continue high-speed rotation of the rotor for a long time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been designed to overcome the foregoing problems. Specifically, an object of the invention is to provide a high-speed rotation testing apparatus which can achieve more high-speed rotation of a rotor to which a test object is stored and can extend the duration of high-speed rotation while enabling the control of the temperature of the rotor at the time of high-speed rotation.
A high-speed rotation testing apparatus according to present invention, comprising: a rotor having a hollow for a test object for storing a predetermined test object; a spindle whose one end portion is connected to a rotation center of said rotor; a torque applying device connected to the other end portion of said spindle for applying a predetermined torque to said spindle; and a casing for storing said rotor by sealing, wherein said casing comprises a decompressing device for decompressing atmospheric pressure inside said casing and a holder for holding said spindle by inserting through said spindle, wherein said holder comprises at least one bushing for supporting said spindle and a bushing supporting member for supporting said bushing by inserting therethrough, wherein an inner diameter of said at least one bushing supporting member is formed larger than an outer diameter of said bushing to be inserted into said bushing supporting member so that said bushing supporting member supports said bushing to be rotatable.
With the configuration, torque applied from the torque applying device to the spindle transmits to the rotor so that the rotor rotates at a high speed under decompressed atmosphere. At this time, the spindle is supported by the bushing provided inside the supporting means. Thus, due to the friction between the spindle and the bushing, torque is applied so that the bushing is also rotated in the same direction as the rotating direction of the spindle. The bushing is supported by a bushing supporting member with a predetermined clearance in between so that the bushing is rotatable against the bushing supporting member. Hence, when the bushing is fixed to the bushing supporting member, the relative rotating speeds of the bushing and the bushing supporting member is suppressed. Thus, the friction generated between the members can be reduced thereby preventing generation of seizure. As a result, more high-speed rotation of the rotor can be achieved and, at the same time, it becomes possible to maintain high-speed rotation for a long time.
And said bushing which is rotatably supported by said predetermined bushing supporting member may be provided only on said torque applying device side of said holder. In other words, the bushing provided in the spindle on the rotor side may be supported by being fixed to the bushing supporting member. Thereby, the spindle is stably supported near the rotor. Thus, swing of the spindle can be suppressed and stable high-speed rotation of the rotor can be achieved. At the same time, friction generated between the spindle and the bushing can be suppressed on the torque applying device side. Therefore, high-speed rotation of the r

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