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Article history:
Received 3 June 2013
Received in revised form 7 September 2013
Accepted 8 September 2013
Available online 3 October 2013
Keywords:
Ball bearings
Oil-jet
Two-phase ow
Volume of uid
CFD
Precise lubrication
a b s t r a c t
The airoil two-phase ow inside an oil-jet lubricated ball bearing was investigated by the CFD method.
The VOF method for multiphase ow was used to track the airoil two-phase ow. The sliding mesh
plane was applied between the ow eld inside the bearing and the ow eld on both outsides of the
bearing. The results suggest that the airoil distribution inside the oil-jet lubricated ball bearing is not
uniform. The lowest oil volume fraction appears in the upstream side near the nozzle. The ow velocity
and the pressure of the airoil phase increase inside a faster bearing. The average oil volume fraction
becomes lower as the speed increases. With the increase of the oil ow rate, the oil volume fraction in
the bearing and the drag against the rotation of the rolling elements and cage increase. The nonuniformity of the airoil distribution is also enhanced. The nonuniform airoil distribution should be considered for the heat transfer analysis of the oil-jet lubricated ball bearing. Optimizing the oil-jet
lubrication according to the airoil distribution inside the oil-jet lubricated ball bearing is signicant
for the high-speed rotation to achieve lower drag loss and greater cooling effect.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The rolling bearing is commonly used as an important component in various types of machinery. For most low-speed machinery
applications, grease and simple splash lubrication are the main
lubrication means [1]. For high-speed systems, such as aircraft engines, turbomachinery, and drive trains, oil-jet lubrication method
is applied to the bearing lubrication [2]. The development of the
vehicular transmission is now focused on lighter and more compact designs. A higher rated speed is benecial to a greater power
density. To ensure the high-speed capability of main shaft bearings
of the vehicular transmission, an effective lubrication is necessary.
Further, coupled with the compact design requirement of the
vehicular transmission, there is no special bearing chamber commonly used in aircraft engines [3]. The operation speed of a vehicular transmission often circulates not only among the high speed
but also among the low speed, which is a challenge for improving
the lubrication efciency. To a large extent, the lubrication system
has been based on empirical correlations derived from research
and knowledge gathered through years of experience and from
time-consuming experiments. To improve the lubrication efciency and achieve precise lubrication, a further investigation into
86
Nomenclature
d
Db
F
g
M
n
na
nb
nw
p
P
Q
Saoil
t
tw
T
Greek symbols
a
bearing contact angle
hw
angle between the wall and the tangent of the interface
at the wall
l
dynamic viscosity
lair
air dynamic viscosity
loil
oil dynamic viscosity
q
mixture density
qair
air density
qoil
oil density
uair
air volume fraction
uoil
oil volume fraction
s
shear force applied by the airoil two-phase ow
t
velocity vector
x
circumferential azimuth
the airoil two-phase ow, the volume of uid (VOF) method for
multiphase ow is used. The VOF method was developed by Hirt
and Nichols [14] in 1981. It is a surface tracking technique and
the interface between two or more immiscible uids is of interest.
The summation of the volume fractions of all phases in each control volume is set to unity. The VOF method has reasonable accuracy, is less computationally intensive, is relatively simple to use,
and can solve highly complex ows. The VOF method is probably
one of the most convenient methods relative to other two-phase
ow modeling methods [15].
For the two-phase ow modeling inside the oil-jet lubricated
ball bearing, a volume fraction uoil is used to mark the volume fraction of the oil phase in the VOF method. Then, uoil = 0 represents a
cell that is empty of the oil and uoil = 1 represents a cell that is full
of the oil. If 0 < uoil < 1, it represents the interface between the oil
phase and the air phase. Thus, the uoil is dened by
8
uoil 1
in the oil
>
>
>
<u 0
in the air
oil
>
0
<
u
<
1
at the interface
>
oil
>
:
The subscript oil represents the oil phase properties. The interface between the oil and air phases is tracked by solving a continuity equation for the volume fraction of the oil phase. The continuity
equation for the volume fraction of the oil phase is given by:
@
u q r uoil qoil~
t Saoil
@t oil oil
uoil uair 1
where uair is the air volume fraction. The subscript air represents
the air phase properties. In the VOF method, a single momentum
equation is solved. The elds for all variables and properties are
shared by both phases according to the following equation:
@
F
q~
t r q~
t~
t rp r lr~
t r~
tT q~
g ~
@t
where qair is the air density, lair is the air dynamic viscosity, loil is
the oil dynamic viscosity.
A wall adhesion angle in conjunction with the surface tension
model is considered in the simulation, since most lubricant oil
ows along the surfaces of the inner race, rolling elements and
cage of the high-speed ball bearing. The curvature of the surface
near the wall, where the airoil interface meets the solid surface,
is adjusted. The local curvature of this interface is determined by
the static contact angle, hw, which is the angle between the wall
and the tangent of the interface at the wall. The surface normal
at the wall is given by,
~
t w sin hw
na ~
nw cos hw ~
87
nb
1
Db cos a
n 1
2
d
88
the interfaces between two uids, which is the most accurate one
for interface tracking [22]. The mass ow conservation between
the inlets and outlets was used as the calculation convergence
condition. The simulated results of different speeds, ow rates,
oil viscosities and nozzles will be presented in detail.
4. Experimental apparatus
To investigate the lubricant behavior of the ball bearing, an
experimental apparatus has been designed and constructed, as
shown in Fig. 3. The experimental apparatus is designed for installing rolling bearing to operate at variable speeds up to 15,000 r/min.
The speed of motor could be set independently by a variable frequency drive. The motor and the test bearing are connected by
support bearings and a shaft. Fig. 3(a) shows a schematic view of
the test rig. The oil-jet lubrication is used for the support bearings
in the experimental apparatus. The test bearing is lubricated by the
oil-jet lubrication on the unloaded side of the inner ring. A hydraulic system is separately designed to apply the external radial and
axial forces on the test bearing. As Fig. 3(b) shows, there are four
temperature sensors attached to the outer ring of the test bearing.
One more temperature sensor is mounted on the inner ring.
Another temperature sensor is placed near the oil-jet nozzle to
measure the oil temperature. A data acquisition system is also employed to collect and transfer the data to a computer for further
analysis. The technical data of the experimental apparatus is presented in Tables 1 and 2 lists the specications of the tested ball
bearing.
5. Results and discussion
5.1. Nonuniform airoil distribution and validation
Fig. 4 shows the simulated airoil distribution of different number of nozzles. The speed of the inner ring is 10,000 r/min and the
oil-ow rate is 3.0 L/min. The oil viscosity is 0.02 Pa s in the calculation. It is seen that the circumferential airoil distribution in the
Fig. 3. Experimental apparatus. (a) A schematic view of the test rig. (b) Sensors and
nozzles of the test rig.
Table 1
Technical data of the experimental apparatus.
Apparatus and sensor
Technical data
Motorized spindle
Temperature sensor
Oil ow transducer
Vibration transducer
External radial force
External axis force
015000 r/min
Pt1000, 70500 C
FT-110, 1.010 L/min
JHT-II-B, 15 g
Hydraulic loading, 030 kN
Hydraulic loading, 030 kN
Table 2
Specications of the test ball bearing.
Bearing type
50
90
20
12.186
14
40
bearing is not uniform. The volume fraction of the oil phase quite
close to the nozzle is much more than other positions inside the
bearing. The oil volume fraction decreases along the rotation direction of the bearing. Further, the radial airoil two-phase ow also
distributed unevenly due to the centrifugal force, as shown in
Fig. 4(c). The airoil phase with larger density is thrown to the outer race of the bearing. The cooling effect of the oil-jet lubrication on
the inner ring becomes low, especial at higher speeds. The circumferential airoil distributions under different injection methods are
demonstrated in Fig. 4(d) and (e). The measured temperatures of
the outer ring are also proposed. Only the axial load was applied
during the test. Compared with the single-nozzle jet, the airoil
distribution becomes more uniform with the dual-nozzle jet at
the same oil-ow rate. The measured bearing temperature has followed the same trend. The measured temperature of the outer ring
becomes more homogeneous under the dual-nozzle jet. The lowest
volume fraction of the oil phase under both the single-nozzle jet
and the dual-nozzle jet appears in the upstream side near the nozzle. It is because that most of the lubricant oil ows along the circumferential direction due to the agitation of the rolling elements
and cage. The lubricant oil leaves the bearing from the end surface
of the outer ring at the same time. Thus, the oil volume fraction decreases continuously in the circumferential direction. However, the
oil volume fraction increases near the nozzle since some of the lubricant oil splashes out onto the upstream side near the nozzle.
The values of lubricant oil circumferential, radial and axial
velocities are all not zero after the lubricant oil is injected into
the bearing. The circumferential movement is derived from the
great agitation of the rolling elements and cage. The radial movement is mainly caused by the centrifugal force. The axial movement is mostly determined by the initial jet velocity of the
lubricant oil. The lubricant oil swirls around the inner ring and
ows to the outer ring by the centrifugal force. And then the lubricant oil ows out from the end face of the bearing. Due to the nonuniform airoil distribution, the convection heat transfer
coefcient inside the ball bearing changes with the circumferential
azimuth. The bearing temperature distribution is affected by the
nonuniform airoil distribution. The measured outer ring temperatures have represented the nonuniform characteristics, as shown
in Fig. 4(d) and (e). If even faster bearings are desired, the temperature difference of the outer ring should be considered. When the
bearing runs at higher speeds, the preload increases because of the
thermal expansion caused the higher temperature. Further, the
temperature difference makes the thermal expansion nonuniformity. Bearing life is an inverse function of the temperature
89
Fig. 4. Nonuniform airoil distribution inside the bearing. (a) Oil volume fraction distribution under the single-nozzle oil-jet lubrication. (b) Oil volume fraction distribution
under the dual-nozzle oil-jet lubrication. (c) Oil volume fraction distribution due to the centrifugal force. (d) Average oil volume fraction and measured outer ring
temperature under the single-nozzle oil-jet lubrication. (e) Average oil volume fraction and measured outer ring temperature under the dual-nozzle oil-jet lubrication.
difference [2]. To increase the calculation efciency of the proposed CFD model, the effect of the temperature difference on the
oil viscosity is neglected. The small temperature difference affects
the oil viscosity little at higher temperatures.
5.2. Effects of rotational speed
The variation of the airoil distribution with different speeds is
shown in Fig. 5. The oil-ow rate is 3.0 L/min and the oil viscosity is
90
the bearing faster. The oil volume fraction in the bearing remains at
a low level at a higher speed, which has an adverse effect on the
bearing heat diffusion. The bearing power loss increases with a
higher speed and more heat needs to be diffused in the bearing.
The measured power of the spindle motor at different speeds is
shown in Fig. 6(b). The oil-ow rate is 3.0 L/min and the oil-in temperature is 30 C.No external load is applied during the test. However, the average oil volume fraction inside the bearing declines.
This makes the cooling capability decrease. Reducing the speed effect on the ow velocity of the airoil phase is useful to improve
the oil volume fraction inside the bearing at a higher speed. It
can increase the dwell time of the airoil phase in the bearing
and ensure a sufcient heat exchange between the airoil phase
and the bearing components. For the oil-jet lubricated ball bearing,
a more efcient mechanism is required to make full use of the
lubricant oil.
5.3. Effects of lubricant oil
Fig. 5. Simulated airoil distribution inside the bearing at different speeds. (a)
Average oil volume fraction under the single-nozzle oil-jet lubrication. (b) Average
oil volume fraction under the dual-nozzle oil-jet lubrication.
Fig. 7. Simulated airoil distribution inside the bearing at different oil-ow rates.
(a) Average oil volume fraction under the single-nozzle oil-jet lubrication. (b)
Average oil volume fraction under the dual-nozzle oil-jet lubrication.
91
Fig. 8. Bearing performances at different oil-ow rates. (a) Simulated shear force
and moment applied on the bearing at different oil-ow rates. (b) Measured power
of the spindle motor at different oil-ow rates. (c) Measured equilibrium temperatures of the bearing at different oil-ow rates.
Fig. 9. Airoil distribution inside the bearing at different oil viscosities. (a) Average
oil volume fraction under the single-nozzle oil-jet lubrication. (b) Average oil
volume fraction under the dual-nozzle oil-jet lubrication. (c) Measured power of the
spindle motor at different oil-in temperatures.
Table 3
Measured temperatures of the bearing under an axial uniform load.
Temperature sensor
No. 1
No. 2
No. 3
No. 4
63.7
69.3
76.2
63.4
69.0
75.9
63.9
70.2
77.5
64.3
70.7
78.0
92
Table 4
Measured temperatures of the bearing under different speeds.
4000 r/min
Temperature sensor
Temperatures of Single-nozzle (1#), C
Temperatures of Dual-nozzle (1#, 3#), C
No. 1
67.3
59.3
No. 2
68.6
58.3
6000 r/min
No. 4
70.7
59.8
No. 5
75.4
63.8
No. 1
71.0
69.0
8000 r/min
No. 2
71.4
68.3
No. 4
74.0
70.3
No. 5
82.5
78.7
No. 2
89.0
85.2
No. 4
93.7
88.0
No. 5
105.6
99.1
No. 1
78.5
68.2
No. 2
79.0
67.9
No. 4
82.8
69.0
No. 5
93.0
83.1
No. 2
91.2
87.3
No. 4
95.9
89.6
No. 5
106.8
101.7
Table 5
Measured temperatures of the bearing under different lubricant oil ow rates.
3.0 L/min
Temperature sensor
Temperatures of Single-nozzle (1#), C
Temperatures of Dual-nozzle (1#, 3#), C
No. 1
87.2
84.0
4.0 L/min
No. 2
88.1
83.7
No. 4
92.0
86.7
No. 5
105.4
100.6
No. 1
88.7
85.9
5.0 L/min
No. 1
91.1
88.5
93
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