Patents Awarded for a New Way to Take the Friction Out of Cooling
Gas Bearings operating on refrigerants move the sustainability needle for commercial and industrial cooling.
PHILADELPHIA, June 8, 2023 (Newswire.com) - New Way Air Bearings announces the awards of two patents for porous gas bearings operating within a refrigerant environment: US patent 11619263B2 "Externally pressurized oil-free freon bearing" and US patent 11536316B2 "Externally pressurized porous gas bearings or seals operating on refrigerant."
These patents are significant milestones in New Way's ongoing development of technology and products to increase efficiencies in commercial and industrial cooling applications. Gas bearings reduce the parasitic sheer losses that are inherent in the hydrodynamic oil bearings typically used in these larger machines. These shear losses, which can reach 3 percent, are almost completely removed by utilizing gas bearings. Additional efficiencies and cost savings are gained through the elimination of the oil pumps and filters and the need to cool the oil. The removal of the oil further reduces risk by avoiding oil leaks into the refrigerant which carries into the heat exchanger where the oil insulates the surfaces thereby reducing thermal transfer efficiency. Removal of the oil also provides significant environmental advantages.
In recent decades equipment manufacturers have turned to magnetic bearing technology to eliminate oil risk and improve efficiencies. More than one major builder has acquired a magnetic bearing company to protect their position in the oilless bearing space. Magnetic bearings allow for hermetic operation that eliminates the need for high-speed seals that are additional reliability and cost factors. However, most large chiller equipment continues to be built with conventional oil based bearings for a number of reasons; magnetic bearings are complex systems which are expensive to purchase and operate, they are not serviceable by on-hand maintenance personnel, they require back up bearings, and ongoing software updates. Process owners can be frustrated by the "black box" characteristics of magnetic bearing technology.
New Way's porous gas bearings though, offer the efficient, hermetic, oilless characteristics of magnetic bearings but at a similar price, form, fit and simplicity of traditional oil-based bearings. Nick Hackett, president at New Way notes "We have 2 of the largest OEMs in refrigeration equipment qualifying our gas bearing technology for future product release. These developments continue the natural evolution we are seeing from oil to magnetic to gas bearings that Dedert announced last year when promoting their new ABA atomizers." Gas bearings can also be retrofit into current oil-based bearing machines giving them an additional advantage over magnetic bearings that can only be designed into new machines.
Of particular value to the refrigeration industry, these new patents describe how the refrigerant itself can be used as the gas that provides the load carrying film in the bearing. This further decreases both operational complexity and potential contamination issues. Drew Devitt, founder and CTO at New Way and inventor on over 40 patents related to porous bearing technology, expressed satisfaction with the comprehensive and succinct claims that were granted. "Having conducted extensive experimentation and research on this subject a decade ago, and having consistently maintained the patent family, our patents predate many of the developments in the field and these most recent patent grants will have a significant impact on the intellectual property landscape in industrial and commercial cooling."
Other links;
New Way Refrigeration Bearing Technologies
Centrifugal Revolution (Compressor Tech2 Magazine)
Damping and Stiffness, A Primer (Turbo Machinery Magazine)
Externally Pressurized Gas Bearings for Use in Rotating Equipment (bentlybearings.com)
Source: New Way Air Bearings
