Turbomachinery Laboratory, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
Abstract
LecturesThe continued market demand to have more efficient machines, thus achieving energy savings and emission reductions, has motivated manufacturers to look for improvements even in area that have never been explored and evaluated till now. In this context, the authors focus the research on a high performance and high efficiency lubricant for Turbomachinery applications. New product has been formulated by a theoretical optimization of power loss reduction limiting the impact on the rotordynamic behavior. The paper reports the entire qualification process of the oil, starting from laboratory tests to certify its chemical properties, then goes through dynamic bearing test rig for the identification of stiffness and damping characteristics to finally present the results of tests on actual machinery (gas turbine, gear box and centrifugal compressor) under real operating conditions in terms of mechanical friction losses, bearing temperatures and rotordynamic behavior
