Methodology to Down Select Journal Bearings for Engine and Gearbox Applications

Historically, all IC engines have used journal bearings for their main and conrod bearings. There have been significant improvements to Journal bearing technology as the loads on the crankshaft have increased. This work focuses on technology down selection methodology for large IC engines and wind turbine gear box journal bearings. The methodology has been described with three case studies: Journal down selection for engine and bearing down selection for engine and wind gearbox applications. It is clear from these case studies that the down selection strategy is strongly tied to the application, and a single strategy will not work. In the case of Journal down selection, only the bearing seizure test was sufficient. In the case of engine bearing down selection, the bearing steady state wear test was used for down selection. Finally, for the wind gearbox bearing down selection, the seizure test and the pin-on-disc friction & wear test were used.