Pioneer: Fluid Pivot Page

Modern high-speed compressors, gas and steam turbines, centrifugal pumps, gear boxes and other advanced machinery require bearings which provide more than just load support. Increasing speeds, the use of more flexible shafts, overhung and aerodynamic loads, to name a few factors, complicate the challenge of controlling vibration response. A variety of bearing designs, including the elliptical, lobed, and tilting pad, can stabilize rotor vibrations in some applications. Of these, the tilting pad design generally has been the most successful.

However, "standard" tilting pad bearing products may not always be the appropriate solution to our customers’ needs. We are prepared to consider all machine variables – the existing condition of the equipment, original design parameters and the performance objectives. We may be able to design a simpler bearing to reduce the cost of manufacture, or increase the bearing’s efficiency. In any case, we always strive to "design in" overall improved performance which extends total machine life.

Pioneer Motor Bearing invented and developed a tilting pad journal bearing to minimize or overcome the drawbacks of conventional, flood lubricated, mechanically pivoted tilting pad bearings (see box). Years of careful testing resulted in a simple, reliable bearing based upon Pioneer’s "Fluid Pivot" principle of operation (covered by U. S. and foreign patents in the 1970’s; now with additional domestic and foreign patents pending).

Our Fluid Pivot^Ž Tilting Pad Bearings have satisfied over 2,500 diverse applications, logging more than 9,000,000 operating hours without a known failure. Gearboxes, compressors, high-speed test rigs, turbine generators, turbochargers and motors have all benefited through the use of Fluid Pivot^Ž bearings. These applications have satisfied the demands of journal velocities up to 415 ft/sec (125 m/sec) and specific loads up to 400 psi (2.75 Mpa). Applications under consideration continue to expand this performance envelope.