Directionally controllable squeeze film damper using liquid crystal

Liquid crystals (LC) are characterized by its phase, which appears as an intermediate state between crystalline solid and isotropic liquid. This intermediate, phase is caused by orientation of molecules, and it can be controlled by an externally applied electric or magnetic field. Subjected to an electric field, the viscosity of the LC varies according to the applied electric field strength, which is called the electroviscous effect. This paper describes an application study of the electroviscous effect of a LC to a controllable squeeze film damper (SFD) for a rotating machine. A prototype controllable SFD using a LC was constructed and its performance was studied. It should be noted that the present SFD can produce anisotropic damping force for a flexible rotor at the supporting position, which enables us to stabilize a flexible rotor in a wide range of its rotating speed.