Patent ID: 7344092

Claim:
A rotary atomizer comprising: a drive motor including a stator and a rotor; a rotation shaft vertically installed and having a desired length, the rotation shaft being rotated by a rotating force of the rotor; a spray means installed at a lower end portion of the rotation shaft for spraying externally-supplied liquid into the form of fine particles; and a shaft support means for connecting an upper end of the rotation shaft and the rotor with each other so as to enable power transmission and for rotatably supporting the rotation shaft, wherein the shaft support means includes: an upper thrust for connecting the upper end portion of the rotation shaft and the rotor with each other such that rotating force of the rotor is transmitted to rotate the rotation shaft; a lower thrust fixed to the rotation shaft so as to be spaced apart downwardly from the upper thrust; a rotation shaft guide means having a rotation shaft guide body, a journal-side air bearing installed vertically over the entire inner face of an installation hole vertically passing through the center of the rotation shaft guide body so as to form a shaft rotation support hole, an upper and a lower thrust-side air bearing installed in depressed spaces formed in outer peripheral areas of the shaft rotation support hole in a top and a bottom face of the rotation shaft guide body so as to directly oppose a bottom face and a top face of the upper and lower thrusts, respectively, the rotation shaft guide means being installed so as to enable the rotation shaft guide means to move in a vertical direction with respect to the rotation shaft between the upper and lower thrusts and so as to allow the rotation shaft between the upper and lower thrusts to be rotatably inserted into the shaft rotation support hole; and a compressed air inlet/exhaust means having a compressed air inlet port formed at an outer side of the rotation shaft guide body for allowing compressed air to be flown into the journal-side air bearing and the upper and lower thrust-side air bearings, and a compressed air exhaust port for exhausting the compressed air flown into the journal-side air bearing and the upper and lower thrust-side air bearings.