Polymer journal bearings are frequently used as a water-lubricated bearings of small marine units’ propeller shafts . Choice of these bearings is based on their simple construction and relatively low purchase and maintenance costs. Although properly designed and installed water lubricated bearings may well last for over a decade, rapid wear or failure of these bearings can be observed in practice. Some of these failures may be caused by la ck or limited lubricant’s flow through the bearing e.g. due to inlet chocking by some ocean debris. This leads to overheat especially in the bush material. Author’s latest research indicates that certain bearings continue to work properly despite the absence of lubricant flow. This is due to the low motion resistance levels resulting from low friction. The paper presents follow- up tests of insufficient lubrication of the polymer bearings performed on the new built test rig, which enables to investigate real scale bearings with shaft diameter of 100 mm at high power propulsion (220kW). Thanks to this, the simulated conditions resemble those present on a small ship where the transmitted power is high enough to destroy the bearing completely with melted polymer bush flowing out from the housing.
Authors
Additional information
- Category
- Aktywność konferencyjna
- Type
- publikacja w wydawnictwie zbiorowym recenzowanym (także w materiałach konferencyjnych)
- Language
- angielski
- Publication year
- 2017
