Interesting bearing design. Can it be used for turntables?

I saw this video on posted on another site and it got me thinking if it’d be able to be adapted to be used on a turntable. Though, I assume the difficulties with doing this would be the relatively low rpms in which turntables spin as well as the added weight of the platter. The benefits would be it never has to be oiled and it’s essentially frictionless when spinning.

Your thoughts?

 

Well, there have always been "frictionless" magnetic turntable bearings, but like this, there is still an axial support needed. The Clearaudio Ceramic Magnetic Bearing (CMB) is a modern version with ceramic shaft, and there are many other versions used throughout the industry, especially in the Chinese high end tables, though some of them use the magnetics to reduce the load on the bearing and not actually float the platter. One downside to the lack of direct contact between the platter and bearing is that there is a compliance introduced between the platter and the tonearm that would allow some forms of vibration to propagate. It also means that the table needs to be sited well so there isn't vertical motion of the platter during normal operation since it acts somewhat like a partially suspended table with very little damping. And also the VTA is weight dependent, to a degree... but with those downsides, it is extremely quiet, and seems to spin forever ...

 

the vid represents a very rudimentary example of how an air bearing works, tech which has examples in record players going back at least 40 years.

 

Really interesting video, thanks for posting.

The principles, which seem not to include the magnetic element alluded to by @Davey (?), seem very/a bit similar to those employed in the Michell inverted bearing albeit that oil is recirculated rather than air and a ball is used
https://www.michell-engineering.co.uk/design-philosophy

As I understand it the air version should be higher pressure and in principle completely contact free (not needing the ball) and therefore effectively near-frictionless.

Cannot see why it cannot be used on a turntable provided the rotational speed is sufficient to create 'lift off', but would 45rpm be lower friction and sound better?

 

True, but they all use an air compressor.