Investigation on Sealing Performance and Power Consumption of a Novel Centrifugal Pump Type Oil Flinger for Turbocharger

Abstract

Energy efficient conversion and saving technologies have increasingly become areas of fierce competition among countries all over the world. As a vehicle power multiplier, the turbocharger advances the power output of the engine, but also increases the power consumption due to oil leakage, which aggravates the fuel energy consumption. This work aims to investigate the sealing performance and power consumption of the proposed novel centrifugal pump type oil flinger (CPTOF) to suppress the oil leakage and reduce the power consumption of turbocharger, thereby saving fuel energy. First, the flow characteristics of CPTOF and traditional oil flinger were compared based on the established oil-air flow numerical model. Then, the effects of oil slinging hole number <inline-formula> <tex-math notation= LaTeX >$Z$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, diameter <inline-formula> <tex-math notation= LaTeX >$d_{h}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and inclination angle <inline-formula> <tex-math notation= LaTeX >$\\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula> on pumping air performance and power consumption of CPTOF were analyzed. Finally, the structural parameters of CPTOF were optimized using the orthogonal table L₉(<inline-formula> <tex-math notation= LaTeX >$3^{4}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) and the results were verified through experiment. Results showed that the oil leakage of sealing structure was effectively prevented by the pumping air effect. Moreover, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation= LaTeX >$Z$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation= LaTeX >$\\alpha $ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation= LaTeX >$d_{h}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> also had significant effects on the sealing performance and the power consumption, and the degree of influence raised in turn. The CPTOF with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation= LaTeX >$Z=16$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation= LaTeX >$d_{h}=1.80$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation= LaTeX >$\\alpha = 0^{\\circ }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> had the optimum working efficiency, resulting in the average pressure drop being extended to 107 kPa and the power consumption being reduced by 33.05%.