A feed back control system for plain bearings using film thickness measurement

A method for on-line monitoring and control of hydrodynamic journal bearings using film thickness measurement is proposed such that an adequate film thickness is maintained at all times. Such systems are considered to be useful in industrial applications, particularly in large installations such as power plants, rolling mills etc. The method uses the journal speed as the controlling parameter purely for demonstration purposes. Other alternatives such as use of an external lubrication pump to provide hybrid type of bearing operation may be envisaged. An analysis of the control system to predict the stability and steady state error is also included. The initial experimental results show that the proposed system works well.