link: http://www.constructionweekonline.com/article-5528-no_more_ball_bearing_blues/
The US is replacing the air conditioning chillers at its embassies with chillers where the compressors use magnetic levitation instead of ball bearings. This technology reduced energy consumption by 30-50% over current compressor technology. The MagLev chillers have already been installed at the US embassy in Japan and now are being put in place at the US embassy in Geneva Switzerland.
The chiller drive shaft is turns at 40,000 rpm with a clearance in its MagLev bearing of 70 microns. Because there is no metal on metal contact with this type of bearing maintainence costs are greatly reduced. MagLev chillers have been made economically feasible by improvements in magnetic field technology which has been around since 1942; today magnetic fields may be adjusted at 60 Hz while in the past there were only adjustable at 1 Hz.
