Turbocharger Compressor Joint Axial Load Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Turbochargers face challenges in containing debris and oil during impeller failure without increasing the size, weight, and cost of the housing, while ensuring safety and preventing fire hazards, especially under extreme conditions.
Innovation Solution
A compressor housing design featuring an outer volute with a clamp groove and inner volute with axially facing surfaces, combined with a clamp plate and bolt system, which engages to retain the inner volute within the outer volute, effectively managing axial loads during burst events without excessive clamping forces during normal operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If massive housings are used to contain burst energy and debris, then containment capability and safety are improved, but volume, weight, and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is divided into separate components (compressor housing, bearing housing, and a joint connecting them) that can be designed and optimized independently. The joint is specifically engineered to handle axial burst loads while the compressor housing maintains compact dimensions, resolving the contradiction between containment capability and housing weight/volume.
Solution Approach 2:
A specialized joint is introduced as an intermediary element between the compressor housing and bearing housing. This joint is designed to carry axial burst loads and transfer energies during impeller failure, allowing the individual housings to be smaller while maintaining overall containment capability.
2Reliability
If the joint preloads the impeller cover to contain axial burst energy, then burst containment is improved, but the load required to carry axial burst energy conflicts with the preload requirement
Solution Approach 1:
The joint is designed with separate functional elements: a preload mechanism that applies clamping force to the impeller cover during normal operation, and a burst load carrying mechanism that engages during impeller failure. This segmentation allows the joint to perform both functions without conflict.
Solution Approach 2:
The joint is designed to be dynamic in its response to loading conditions. During normal operation, it maintains a preload on the impeller cover. During burst events, the joint structure engages to carry axial loads, and the clamp plates can move axially to accommodate burst forces while maintaining containment.
Data Source
AI summary
A compressor housing for a turbocharger may include an outer volute having an outer volute inner surface with a clamp groove defined therein, and an inner volute having an inner volute outer surface and an axially facing surface. The inner volute is inserted into the outer volute through the outer volute inner surface with the inner volute outer surface facing the outer volute inner surface. The inner volute is positioned with the axially facing surface disposed axially inward of the clamp groove. A clamp plate includes a radially outward portion inserted into the clamp groove and a radially inward portion extending downward past the inner volute outer surface. The clamp groove and the axially facing surface engage the clamp plate to retain the inner volute within the outer volute when an axial load is applied to the inner volute.