Experimental investigation of oil consumption through the turbocharger bearing under varying lubrication process parameters and operating conditions

Currently, the trends in automotive and tractor engineering are aimed at creating reliable systems that provide guaranteed performance during their operation. The issue of engine boosting while maintaining its overall dimensions is coming to the forefront. Significant power increase is provided by the turbocharging. At the same time, turbocharging creates many problems associated with the presence of high-precision systems that require the provision of high-quality and continuous lubrication. Moreover, in a turbocharged engine, specific and absolute loads increase. Due to excessive loads, the service intervals are significantly reduced. The installation of an autonomous lubrication system with an independent electric drive of the lubrication system pump can overcome the listed shortcomings. This system will allow controlling the temperature modes under any possible operating conditions. Based on the above justification, the aim of the research is a theoretical and experimental analysis of the oil consumption through the turbocharger (TC) bearing when varying the magnitude of the input pressure and the rotor shaft speed of the turbocharger at a constant input oil temperature of 50 °C. The basis of the theoretical research is the justification of the mathematical apparatus for determining the oil consumption through the turbocharger bearings. The methodological part of the article presents an autonomous lubrication system and an experimental test bench. The turbocharger with installed sensors and measuring devices is also shown. For processing the experimental data, the SigmaPlot program was selected, and a matrix of a multifactor experiment was compiled. As a result of experimental studies, point data of oil flow control through the turbocharger bearing within the range of 25,000...75,000 rpm were obtained. In operating practice, the high compensatory property of the pressure increase mechanism can be used to increase the efficiency limits of the turbocharger bearing lubrication.