Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2011
There has been a number of initiatives launched in the field of lubrication as potentialsources of improvements in energy efficiency in a wide range of engineering products,plant and processes. Attention is being focussed on bearings to improve both performanceand efficiency in fields such as automotive, machine tools, industrial and powergeneration plant. This paper reviews some of the background to these drives andillustrates how a novel design of adjustable fluid film hydrodynamic journal type bearingshows promise to both improve performance and save energy. Theoretical modelling andpractical tests have demonstrated clear improvements over conventional fluid filmbearings, along with a number of other characteristics offering benefits that may be ofinterest to designers and users of such bearings.