AIR BEARING FOR NEXT GENERATION CT SCANNERS

J.B.M. Soetens1, H.M.J.R. Soemers1,2

1
Philips Innovation services (PInS), Eindhoven, The Netherlands
2
Twente University, Enschede, The Netherlands
INTRODUCTION
Philips is one of the biggest manufacturers of CT
(Computed
Tomography)
scanners.
Development and production are located in
Cleveland. The first CT scan dates back to
1972. The scan took 10 minutes and a one-slice
picture was made. During the following decennia
developments resulted in scans with multiple
slices, high rotational speed and source power.
The assignment for CT Cleveland and PInS was
to jointly develop a novel advanced gantry
platform (frame, rotor structure plus bearing),
which can be used for the coming generations.
This article focuses on the design of the bearing
system.
A CT scanner consists of a source which x-rays
pass through a patient and hit a two dimensional
detector. The detector converts the x-rays into
electrical signals with which an image is
constructed. The x-ray source and detector are
mounted on a rotor which revolves around the
patient in order to get a three dimensional
picture. The mechanics on which the source and
detector are mounted is called the gantry.
source
source

Tilf frame
Tilf frame

Motor
Motor

Rotor
Rotor

Detector not visible

Detector not visible

Stator frame
Stator frame

Bearings
Bearings

FIGURE 1 gantry components.

The system must operate at a maximum speed
of 300 rpm (5 Hz). To meet the safety
requirements the system must be able to pass
an over-speed test with a rotational speed of
450 rpm. The estimated rotor weight is over
1000 kg.
BEARING CHOICE
The roller bearing architecture used in todays
CT scanners is reaching its performance and
reliability limits. Air bearing technology seems

the appropriate technology to meet the

requirements that apply to future CT generations
of scanners
A high speed air bearing motion platform has the
following advantages over roller bearings based
platforms: Higher speeds possible; better
reliability; increased Life time; higher accuracy
and less audible noise.
BEARING SYSTEM
Given the large diameter (approx. 1.6 m) the air
bearing concept must be based on bearing
pads. For the design two different configurations
have been compared (see FIGURE 2). The first
one (called rotor dominant) has opposed
bearing pads with equal suspension stiffness. To
attain a rotor suspension frequency of 20-25 Hz,
the required stiffness per side would become
1e7 N/m. A thickness variation of the race of 0.1
mm would results in 1000 N change in bearing
load. For an exactly constrained version
combining fixed bearing pads with preload pads
(bearings dominant) the bearing stiffness
needs to be a factor 2 higher. In practice the
principal axis of inertia will not be exactly in line
with the rotation axis, which means that the rotor
will be forced away from its principal axis of
rotation. Given the inertia, rotation speed and
alignment error of this rotor, a virtual tilt
stiffness of the rotor of 5e5 Nm/rad is
experienced. The tilt stiffness of the rotor on
the pads is approximately 2e7 Nm/rad and thus
dominant. As a result of 0.1 thickness variation
of the race, the bearing load now becomes a
mere 50N. This is a significantly lower bearing
load, therefore the dominant bearings concept is
chosen.

FIGURE 2 a) opposed bearing pads equal stiffness,

b) fixed bearing pads with preload pads.

This gives air bearing pad configuration

according to FIGURE 3. There are 7 air bearings
pads on the gantry. Two radial pads carry the
rotor for the main part. The axial guiding is
performed at three locations (starting at the
bottom and the other two 120 separated).
Because of the offset of the center of gravity the
bottom pad does not need to be additionally
preloaded. This does not hold for the top axials.
They need to be preloaded by two other flexibly
suspended air bearings.
Axial bearing

Radial bearing

FIGURE 3 bearing configuration.

AIR BEARING
The air bearings are placed on a big radius
(1680mm), which results in high bearing velocity
(30m/s,
approx.
100km/h).
The
high
circumferential velocity causes significant drag
and impacts the pad pressure distribution to
such an extent that in case of orifice bearings at
one side of the pad the load capacity and
stiffness plummets. This being the reason
porous air bearings have been selected.
Simulations of pressure distributions (FIGURE
4) show the porous bearing having a more
advantageous behaviour, however the pressure
point shifts towards the bearing pad output side.

FIGURE 4 a) Load capacity of an orifice air

bearing at stand still and 30 m/s speed, b) Load
capacity of a porous air bearing at the same
speeds.
The conclusion from the simulations was
porous (carbon) air bearings were preferred
the total bearing surface tolerances (pad
corresponding rotor area) had to be within 2
The shift in pressure point lead to the design

that
and
and
m.
of a

pad support placed eccentricaly under the air

bearing.
AIR BEARING SUPPORT
To properly align the air bearing to the air
bearing surface at all times the air bearings
should be mounted on a hinge. To meet the
stiffness and dynamics requirements of the rotor
system, this hinge must have well defined
stiffness in all directions: 1e8 N/m and 1e3
Nm/rad in supporting and tilt directions
respectively. The required tilt freedom and
stiffness demands are realized using flexure
elements.
ACCURACY
The total gantry system accuracy had to be within
0.2 mm in every direction. For the bearing system
50 m accuracy was budgeted (run out). The air
gap geometry however had to be more accurate:
2 m tolerance at a 10 m nominal gap. This
means that the bearing surface should be more
accurate than the specified 2 m. The same
holds for the race surface over the bearing
length. For the whole race this gives an accuracy
tolerance of approx. 20m, which is, given the
large diameter, the attached devices and other
constraints extremely challenging.
RESULTS
The floor stiffness proved an influence on the
system dynamics which could not be neglected.
Nevertheless a sufficiently good dynamic
performance could be reached.
The motion accuracy of the first prototype is
validated using the Spindle Error Analyzer (SEA).
The SEA is the measurement system for spindles
and rotary tables using capacitive sensors that is
capable of measuring without contact the
movements of a calibrated precision ball, which is
mounted in the turning spindle. Measurements
have been done at complete operating range.
The air bearing system is part of the current
Philips Brilliance iCT (intelligent Computer
Tomography) diagnostic imaging system, which
is among the best performing CT scanners of
this moment.
REFERENCES
Internal Philips documents