Experimental identification of an Aerostatic Thrust Bearing

Conventional approaches to design aerostatic bearings are based on their static characteristics. However, dynamic predictions are fundamental in order to obtain very precise positioning since air bearings are frequently subjected to dynamic load variations. This paper presents a simple linear time invariant model for aerostatic thrust bearings and the related experimental identification procedure. The experimental procedure identifies the stiffness and damping coefficients of the air gap model. The model validation was obtained comparing the experimental and theoretical bode diagrams of the studied system. The comparison demonstrates that the model leads to good results when neighbours of equilibrium conditions are considered.