Fluid Film Bearings & Seals Training

Bearings and seals are the lifeblood of rotating machines. They lay at the core of performance, reliability, efficiency, and durability. Understanding the function, design, selection, and performance is vital to meeting your plant-wide reliability, production, and maintenance objectives.

Specific courses are tailored to the interest and depth requested by the participants.

Training Topics

  • Historical Perspective

  • Basic Elements of Fluid Film Bearing and Seal Operation

  • Description of Bearing Types

  • Bearing Failures

  • Basic Design

  • Advanced Design

  • Effects of Bearing Geometry

  • Manufacturing and Inspection Techniques

  • Case Studies

Contact Us About a Training Short Course

Complete the form or email Training@BRGmachinery.com.

Basic Training

Basic-level courses in fluid film bearings and seals are intended for vibration technicians, mechanics, and plant operators. They are also intended for new engineers working on the design of bearings and seals for turbomachines.

Objectives include:

  • Be conversant with terms such as journal, thrust, tilting pad, fixed pad, multilobe, preload, offset, pivot type, minimum film, film pressure & temperature, power loss, stiffness, damping, labyrinth, honeycomb, hole pattern, dry gas seal

  • Identify & explain the basic operation of a wide variety of bearing & seal types

  • Understand the physics of operation of any fluid film bearing and seal & name the three ingredients required for successful operation.

  • Understand limits of operation, alarm & trip levels

  • To be able to troubleshoot the causes of most bearing failures

Advanced Training

Advanced-level courses are intended for experienced engineers requiring a deeper background, and who need to design, redesign, select, audit, or maintain fluid film bearings and seals.

Objectives include:

  • Use state-of-the-art design and analysis tools to troubleshoot, diagnose, & redesign bearings & seals

  • Optimize designs to improve rotor dynamic performance, reliability, & maintainability

  • Understand basic manufacturing & inspection methods to ensure bearing suppliers meet their requirements

Specialized Instructors

The team of course instructors has a unique blend of end-user, manufacturer and R&D backgrounds, allowing them to be unusually adept at making complex concepts accessible to personnel with a wide range of education and experience. The team of instructors includes:

  • James M. Byrne

  • C. Hunter Cloud

  • Ron Flack

  • Minhui He

  • José A. Vázquez