Effect of Operating Speed on Turbocharger Compressor Blade Wear

Abstract

In harsh environments, turbochargers require continuous adjustment of the rotating speed, which can lead to differences in erosive wear on the blades compared to erosive wear under constant speed conditions. In this study, the erosion model expression for an aluminum alloy plate with a fitted Ks value of 20 μm under the erosion of 160 μm SiO₂ particles is obtained through erosive wear experiments. Taking a turbocharger compressor as the research object, the influence of four commonly used working speeds on blade wear is analyzed. The results show that when the speed increases from 70,000 rpm to 130,000 rpm, the maximum wear rate concentration values for the main and splitter blades increase by approximately 590% and 310%, respectively.

Graphical Abstract

HIGHLIGHTS

• Finnie erosion model of real compressor blades was fitted through experiments.

• The working speed has a significant impact on the particle trajectory.

• As the speed increases, the wear area of the main blade gradually concentrates.

• As the speed increases, the wear area of the diverter vanes decreases abruptly.

Keywords:

• Turbocharger
• compressor blades
• erosive wear
• surface roughness

Novelty statement

This work considers the relationship between material surface roughness and Finnie wear model, and obtains a more realistic erosion wear model of compressor blades through erosion wear experiments. Based on the optimized model, this research also explains the differences in erosion and wear areas of compressor blades at different speeds, and how these differences are caused. Finally, by quantitatively analyzing the changes in erosion and wear rate values on the blade surface, the influence of rotational speed on blade erosion and wear is further elaborated.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this article. The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests.

Data availability statement

All data used can be found in the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52075165, Grant No. 52175091); The Key Research and Development Project of Hunan Province of China (Grant No. 2022GK2023); and The China Aviation Development Independent Innovation Special Fund Project (Grant No. KY-1003-2021-0019).