Development of a grease lubrication system for an expendable small turbomachine

Abstract

The feasibility of operating a mainshaft ball bearing on a small high-speed turbomachine with grease lubrication has been demonstrated at high speeds. Angular contact ball bearings of 8 mm bore were used with a 137 N axial load. In order to examine the reliability of grease lubrication at very high speeds, the bearings have been subjected to a variety of hostile tests. From the tests, it was found that the bearings could be operated up to a speed parameter of 0.87 × 106 DN with grease lubrication, and the life of the grease lubricated bearing at 100000 r/min should be limited to 10 h without replenishment of grease.