Effects of Imperfect Grooves in Full-Floating Ring Bearings on Dynamics of a Turbocharger Rotor

Full-floating ring bearings cause nonlinear vibrations of turbocharger rotors, and they have higher hydrodynamic power losses in comparison with rolling element bearings. Both issues can be improved if several shallow axial grooves are machined in the inner surface of the floating ring. The grooves are usually not manufactured precisely in order to keep production costs as low as possible. This work investigates the role of the machining errors on the dynamics of the turbocharger rotor. More specifically, the effects of the precisely-machined grooves on the dynamics of the system are explained. Then the influence of the uncertainties on both vibrations and hydrodynamic power losses in the bearings is investigated.