Study on Three Herringbone-Groove Aerodynamic Journal Bearings for a Laser Scanner Motor

Aerodynamic journal bearings have been successfully applied to high speed laser scanner motors. In these devices, herringbone grooved aerodynamic bearings have been usually used due to their high stiffness and excellent stability at high speeds. However, there is a disadvantage that it is slightly difficult to make herringbone grooves on the shaft surface, which raises manufacturing cost. In this paper, a newly designed three herringbone-groove aerodynamic journal bearing is proposed which is much easier to make than conventional herringbone groove bearings. The static and dynamic characteristics of the proposed bearing are investigated theoretically and experimentally. It was found that the proposed bearing has sufficient stiffness and stability at high speeds for a laser scanner motor.