Influence of External Clearance Variation on Vibration Characteristics of Ship Electrically Assisted Turbocharger Rotor Bearing System

Electrically assisted turbocharging (EAT) technology is an important technical means to effectively solve the problems of insufficient intake air and poor transient response of traditional turbocharged engines at low speed or acceleration, and to realize the electrification of marine internal combustion engine power system. In the EAT design stage, the original rotor model of a marine turbocharger was established and verified. Subsequently, the EAT rotor dynamics design and analysis were carried out, and the influence of the unbalanced phase and external clearance on rotor vibration was discussed. The results show that when the external clearance is small, extensive sub-synchronous vibration occurs and bifurcation occurs at high speed. When the external clearance is large, the sub-synchronous vibration component almost disappears but high synchronous vibration occurs at a high speed. At the same time, the shaft is significantly affected by the gravity load at low speeds, and the rotor makes a balanced motion on the critical limit cycle at high speed. In order to minimize the vibration and noise of the same type of EAT, it is recommended to control the outer clearance of the EAT bearing in the range of 0.30–0.36[Formula: see text]mm. The research content provides a reference for the dynamic design and analysis of the EAT, which effectively helps the development of the original engine of the ship electric auxiliary turbocharger and improves the operation stability of the EAT.