Patent DE-19859104-A1 (DE)
Title: Open-end spinner has air bearing as axial support bearing with compressed air fed through opening(s) at one support surface against other to give larger support surfaces without increased friction
Inventor: LOVAS KURT
IPC: D01H4/12
Filed: 1998-12-21
Abstract: The open-end spinner has an air bearing (3) as the axial support bearing. It has one component (30) with a support surface (300) formed by the rotor base, and a second component (31) with a second support surface (311) in a ring shape round the rotor shaft (11). At least one air feed opening (32) is within one support surface (300,311) aligned at the other support surface (311,300).  The air feed opening (32) is preferably at the second support surface (311), connected to a compressed air supply (316), aligned at a second support surface (300) formed by the rotor base. The outer diameter (D2) of the second support surface (311) round the rotor shaft (11) does not exceed the smallest possible diameter (D1) of the support surface (300) of the rotor base. The rotor shaft (11) is supported by two pairs of support disks (2,20), with one drive belt (21) between them and a further drive belt (210) at the end of the rotor shaft (11) extending from the support disks (2,20) at the side away from the spinning rotor (1). The air bearing assembly can have one support surface in a convex shape which is closer to the support disks (2,20) with a small curvature radius, and the support surface further from the support disks has a concave curvature. The curvature radius of the concave surface is max. indefinitely large, and the curvature radius of the convex surface is smaller, to allow relative movement between them. The air bearing can be fitted to the rotor shaft (11) by a plug coupling, with the two support surfaces. The plug coupling has one coupling section at the end of the rotor shaft (11) away from the spinning rotor (1), to engage the other coupling section by an axial movement of the rotor shaft, fitted to the first support surface of the air bearing. The two components (30,31) of the air bearing are contained within a common housing (10), which has the openings for the plug coupling to pass through. The cross section surface of each support surface (300,311) is a multiple of the cross section surface of the rotor shaft (11). The diameter (d) of the rotor shaft (11) is  <=  12 mm and preferably 2.5-6.0 mm. The second component (31) of the air bearing (3) is mounted so that its support surface (311) is parallel to the support surface (300) of the first component (30). The second component (31) is on a mounting for movement at right angles to the support direction, with a swivel bearing (5) at the housing. The second bearing component or the housing is held by a bolt with a swivel bearing on the side away from the rotor shaft (11). The housing can have a clip holder for the second bearing component. A holder (4) is at the second bearing component (31), with an adjustable axial movement. The cross section of the air feed opening (32) expands towards the other support surface. The second support surface (311) can be fitted with a number of equidistant air feed openings (32). The spinning rotor (1) has a concave base towards the rotor shaft (11).