Tribology and Lubricants

Korean Tribology Society (한국트라이볼로지학회)
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Development of Cryogenic Test Rig for Ball-Bearing and Evaluation of the Performance of the Prototype Ball-Bearing of Turbo pump

극저온 환경용 볼베어링 시험장치 개발 및 터보펌프용 볼베어링 시제품의 성능평가

  • Jo, Jun Hyeon (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yonsei University) ;
  • Rhim, Yoon Chul (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yonsei University) ;
  • Lee, Sungchul (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha Technical College) ;
  • Kim, Choong Hyun (Center for Bionic Systems Korea Institute of Science and Technology)
  • 조준현 (연세대학교 공과대학 기계공학과) ;
  • 임윤철 (연세대학교 공과대학 기계공학과) ;
  • 이성철 (인하공업전문대학 기계과) ;
  • 김충현 (한국과학기술연구원(KIST) 바이오닉스연구단)
  • Received : 2012.05.21
  • Accepted : 2012.07.03
  • Published : 2012.08.31
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Abstract

The turbo pump of a liquid rocket engine is composed of three main parts: the oxidizer pump, fuel pump, and turbine. Liquid oxygen ($LO_X$) is the working fluid in the cryogenic environment in the oxidizer pump, but tests are usually performed using liquid nitrogen ($LN_2$), which has a boiling point similar to that of $LO_X$ but is comparatively safer and easier to use for the test. In this study, a bearing test rig is developed and its performance is evaluated using a cryogenic ball bearing with $LN_2$ as the working fluid. Verifying the performance of the bearing test rig is crucial for ensuring correct working of the turbo pump unit in the liquid rocket engine. A stable test rig for the bearing in a cryogenic environment makes the bearing technology enhance its reliability. The test results show that the system operates stably and the requirement of performance time of 500 s is met. The test results of temperature, motor speed, and torque are discussed. The developed cryogenic bearing test rig is expected to help in widening knowledge and expanding research on ball bearings in the future.

Keywords

References

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  2. CFD-Based Flow Analysis of Rolling Elements in Water-Lubricated Ball Bearings vol.29, pp.4, 2013, https://doi.org/10.9725/kstle-2013.29.4.218