Lubrication-film height imaging for hydrostatic bearings with fluorescence
With an analytic solution to the plane-parallel, fluorescent radiative transfer equation
P.A. Lok (TU Delft - Mechanical Engineering)
R. Van Ostayen – Mentor (TU Delft - Mechatronic Systems Design)
Erik Van Der Kolk – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - RST/Luminescence Materials)
S. Iskander-Rizk – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Optical Technologies)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
The performance of hydrostatic bearings is in part decided by their lubrication-film height shape. Imaging the shape can be done by dissolving fluorescent dyes in the layer. However, current imaging techniques are rooted in heuristics, and as such, their physics, design parameters, and error sources are not quantitively understood. To fully grasp and consequently design the ultimate measurement system, the governing equation—the fluorescent radiative transfer equation—is solved analytically for a plane-parallel system. The new solution method assumes that fluorescent radiative transfer is well-described by the first two photon generations. Verification is done experimentally and by a concurrent Monte Carlo method. The model also successfully predicted the response of a real measurement setup. Further model analysis led to the understanding of factors such as: camera positioning; light source design; and the effect of the reflective background on which the lubrication layer lays. The insights suggest a practical implementation for a dynamic imaging setup.