Feasibility of Gas-Expanded Lubricants for Increased Energy Efficiency in Tilting-Pad Journal Bearings

Lubricants are necessary in tilting-pad journal bearings to ensure separation between solid surfaces and to dissipate heat. They are also responsible for much of the undesirable power losses that can occur through a bearing. Here, a novel method to reduce power losses in tilting-pad journal bearings is proposed in which the conventional lubricant is substituted by a binary mixture of synthetic lubricant and dissolved $CO2$⁠. These gas-expanded lubricants (GELs) would be delivered to a reinforced bearing housing capable of withstanding modest pressures less than 10 MPa. For bearings subject to loads that are both variable and predictable, GELs could be used to adjust lubricant properties in real time. High-pressure lubricants, mostly gases, have already been explored in tilting-pad journal bearings as a means to accommodate higher shaft speeds while reducing power losses and eliminating the potential for thermal degradation of the lubricant. These gas-lubricated bearings have intrinsic limitations in terms of bearing size and load capacity. The proposed system would combine the loading capabilities of conventional lubricated bearings with the efficiency of gas-lubricated bearings. The liquid or supercritical $CO2$ serves as a low-viscosity and completely miscible additive to the lubricant that can be easily removed by purging the gas after releasing the pressure. In this way, the lubricant can be fully recycled, as in conventional systems, while controlling the lubricant properties dynamically by adding liquid or supercritical $CO2$⁠. Lubricant properties of interest, such as viscosity, can be easily tuned by controlling the pressure inside the bearing housing. Experimental measurements of viscosity for mixtures of polyalkylene glycol $(PAG)+CO2$ at various compositions demonstrate that significant reductions in mixture viscosity can be achieved with relatively small additions of $CO2$⁠. The measured parameters are used in a thermoelastohydrodynamic model of tilting-pad journal bearing performance to evaluate the bearing response to GELs. Model estimates of power loss, eccentricity ratio, and pad temperature suggest that bearings would respond quite favorably over a range of speed and preload conditions. Calculated power loss reductions of 20% are observed when compared with both a reference petroleum lubricant and PAG without $CO2$⁠. Pad temperature is also maintained without significant increases in eccentricity ratio. Both power loss and pad temperature are directly correlated with $PAG-CO2$ composition, suggesting that these mixtures could be used as “smart” lubricants responsive to system operating conditions.