A PROVEN NON CONTACT SOLUTION

EASIER TO INSTALL
Magnetic bearings require that your rotating artifact or guide surface be magnetic, or integrate a magnetic assembly to allow for electromagnetic suspension. In comparison, porous media air bearings use nothing but the pressure produced by a film of air between two surfaces, a phenomenon well understood since the turn of the 18th century, now backed by 21st century materials. We manufacture multiple product lines designed as drop in ready replacement for existing contact bearings, and mounting systems can be easily retrofitted in house.
MORE RELIABLE AND TRANSPARENT
Electromagnetic bearings are not a passive technology. Once in suspension, a complex system of active feedback controllers and sensors continually make micro-adjustments to the magnetic field strength, as magnetic bearings cannot naturally produce an equilibrium state, per Earnshaw’s theorem.Virtually every magnetic bearing system must be paired with an external computer solely tasked with maintaining bearing stability; the control system associated with magnetic bearings is computationally complex, requiring nonlinear controls and transfer functions simply to ensure continued operations.
By contrast, New Way Air Bearings are self-stabilizing owing to the squeeze film effect, producing a positive correlation between stiffness and damping. For machine operation, this means that a rotating shaft suspended on air bearings naturally finds its center of rotation, making them ideal for turbomachinery and shaft balancing operations. Additionally, air bearing behavior can be modeled to the first order by spring-mass-damper equations, while higher order, closed form modeling has already been performed and validated by our industry partners, which we happily make available for your use.
SAFER TO OPERATE
Magnetic bearings require a constant power supply to both the bearings and their feedback control system. As such they require backup contact bearings, should power loss result in levitation collapse. Porous media bearings likewise require power to maintain air pressure, but because the flow volume is orders of magnitude lower than orifice air bearings, loss of power results in a gentle depressurization onto the guide surface or rotating artifact. Furthermore, the soft carbon face of our bearings (compressive strength of 91MPa) acts as an ablative surface, absorbing the blow. Even in a worst case scenario, New Way bearings can operate without an impact to performance even after 50 simulated crashes, and such damage only requires replacement of the bearing face itself.
SIMPLER TO MAINTAIN IN HOUSE
Due to the complex feedback controllers, strong electromagnets and proprietary software to log and monitor bearing health, using active magnetic bearings inextricably ties you to your bearing supplier. Here at New Way, we believe in supporting you as both a supplier and a systems integrator, while also supporting customer independence in the long term. The simple physics which underlies our bearings’ remarkable performance means you can do all the necessary calculations to adjust bearings yourself; using nothing more than basic algebraic expressions (page 66) to tune volumetric flow and pressure in response to supporting a lighter or heavier stage.