Flow and Heat Transfer in Jet Cooling Rolling Bearing

Wei Wu, Jibin Hu and Shihua Yuan

## Abstract

The real flow field inside a jet cooling ball bearing is an air-oil two-phase flow since the air entrainment in the lubricant is ineluctable. The flow heat transfer characteristics are thought to have significant impacts in cooling effect forecast and temperature control. To this end, the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of the air-oil two-phase flow inside a jet cooling rolling bearing have been investigated by simulation and experiment herein. A multiphase VOF numerical method for the flow field calculation has been proposed. The temperature distributions of the bearing system have been measured, and the flow pattern under different operation speeds has also been captured. The parameter effects on the jet cooling rolling bearing flow field and temperature distribution have been revealed accordingly. The research findings can be used for the structural optimization and the precise lubrication design of the rolling bearing.

Keywords: ball bearings, jet cooling, two-phase flow, VOF, flow pattern, temperature distribution
