Development
Foil bearings were first developed in the late 1950s by AiResearch Mfg. Co. of the Garrett Corporation using independent R&D funds to serve military and space applications. They were first tested for commercial use in United Airlines Boeing 727 and Boeing 737 cooling turbines in the early- and mid-1960s. Garrett AiResearch air cycle machine foil bearings were first installed as original equipment in 1969 in the DC-10's environmental control systems. Garrett AiResearch foil bearings were installed on all U.S. military aircraft to replace existing oil-lubricated rolling-contact bearings. The ability to operate at cryogenic gas temperatures as well as at very high temperatures gave foil bearings many other potential applications.
Current-generation foil bearings with advanced coatings have greatly exceeded the limitations of earlier designs. Anti-wear coatings exist that allow over 100,000 start/stop cycles for typical applications. New third-generation bearings can hold over 9,000 times their weight, at extremely high speeds.
Read more about this topic: Foil Bearing
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“The American has dwindled into an Odd Fellow—one who may be known by the development of his organ of gregariousness.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“As a final instance of the force of limitations in the development of concentration, I must mention that beautiful creature, Helen Keller, whom I have known for these many years. I am filled with wonder of her knowledge, acquired because shut out from all distraction. If I could have been deaf, dumb, and blind I also might have arrived at something.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“For the child whose impulsiveness is indulged, who retains his primitive-discharge mechanisms, is not only an ill-behaved child but a child whose intellectual development is slowed down. No matter how well he is endowed intellectually, if direct action and immediate gratification are the guiding principles of his behavior, there will be less incentive to develop the higher mental processes, to reason, to employ the imagination creatively. . . .”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)