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Heat transfer in a turbocharger plays a crucial role in the optimization of turbocharger-engine matching process. Due to high temperature gradients between the hot exhaust gas compared to the compressor as well as the environment, it is well-known, that the heat loss from a turbocharger turbine is significant. Investigations of turbocharger performance are commonly done by quantifying the performance parameters under adiabatic conditions, following the paradigm of the first law of thermodynamics, based on the energy balance method. It turns out that an adiabatic assumption and the energy balance method is insufficient to provide a deep understanding about the aerothermodynamic effects on the turbine performance due to heat transfer. Based on the current state-of-the-art, this study aims to improve the characterization methods for passenger car turbocharger turbines, considering the impacts of heat transfer. Firstly, the turbocharger is measured on a hot gas test bench.

Acoustic measurements, especially interesting for new bearing concepts such as ball bearings, are an important part of the evaluation of turbochargers. Typically, acoustic benchmarking is done at standard conditions, neglecting possible negative effects of very low temperatures, as they might be encountered in real-world applications. For realistic turbocharger measurements at cold environment conditions down to −10 °C, special adjustments to the turbocharger test bench have been made. This article introduces a soundproofed climate chamber built in the turbocharger test bench which is able to achieve low component and oil supply temperatures while still providing adequate conditions for acoustic measurements. In the first part of the paper, the concept of the acoustic climate chamber is presented. Layout calculations are shown as an indicator for the performance of the acoustic and thermal isolation.