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Problems in the turbocharger lubrication system can cause serious deterioration in their overall performance and even their complete destruction. The paper describes several tests with different critical lubrication conditions, in order to determine the thresholds at which the operation may be appropriate. In an IC engine, these problems can be produced mainly by several factors: the decreasing in the supply pressure of the oil, a delay in the lubrication oil pressure and an intermittent lubrication interruption. A turbocharger test bench and an IC engine test bench has been used to test the turbocharger, in order to reproduce the conditions and cycles similar to the operation of the turbocharger in an IC engine (pressures, temperatures, mass flows, accelerations, etc..). Thermodynamic variables and mechanic variables measured in the tests help to identify some of the operating limits of lubrication in critical conditions.

The paper analyses a procedure, based on thermodynamics concepts, to calculate the isentropic outlet temperature taking into account the changes in specific heat during the thermodynamic process; the results obtained were compared whit those given by the traditional methods. Besides, using data from tests, performed in a specific turbochargers test bench, the differences in isentropic efficiency have been evaluated and compared too. Moreover, another factor related with the influence of the gas specific heat on turbocharger performance is the effect that the humidity contents on gas has on the efficiency calculations. Normally, ambient conditions are taken into account just to obtain the corrected values of the main variables in compressor calculations, however the humidity ratio is not included and its effect is neglected. This study presents also a theoretical- experimental analysis about the effect of taking into account this factor.

The influence of turbine inlet gas temperature on turbocharger performance is a topic discussed recently by many authors. Some studies present results on adiabatic operation by insulating the turbocharger from ambient conditions and report significant differences in compressor isentropic efficiency. Other authors perform non-adiabatic tests and report a significant influence on compressor isentropic efficiency only at the lowest turbocharger speed. In present work two different levels of gas temperature at the inlet of a Variable Geometry Turbine (VGT) have been tested at two different vane positions and two different corrected turbine speeds. Temperatures have been measured in the outer cases of turbine and compressor in order to determine the radiated power and their relative importance with respect to different power definitions obtained from turbocharger operative variables. The obtained results show the influence on both compressor and turbine isentropic efficiency.

In this paper is described a heat transfer sub-model whose main objective is to help a global 1-D gas dynamic code to calculate reciprocal internal combustion engine performance in steady and transient operation. From the point of view of heat transfer the engine is divided into four different zones that will show different calculation peculiarities: the intake line, the engine cylinders, the exhaust ports and the exhaust line. The heat transfer sub-model has been programmed to deal with three different possibilities with respect the engine walls temperature: constant with time, variable but without thermal inertia considerations and variable taking into account walls thermal inertia. In the paper, the main emphasis will be devoted to explain the temperature calculation of the engine walls, which are mainly ducts in the 1-D calculation codes. In these walls, only radial heat transfer is considered.