Importance of Connecting Rod and Crankshaft Roughness Accuracy on Sliding Bearing Performance 2015-36-0311

In recent years, the concern about pollutants emissions has increased along with as customer requirements for more efficient internal combustion engine (ICE). To satisfy these demands, new technologies have been introduced in ICE, such as smaller engine bearings, a reduction in the number of cylinders, variable displacements, peak cylinder pressure (PCP) increases, among other things. Sliding bearings are responsible for vital function under engine operation and also friction losses, impacting on fuel consumption as well as pollutants emissions. To maximize the bearing’s performance, it is important to guarantee a hydrodynamic regime, in order to reduce wear and avoid power loss due to metal-to-metal friction, and consequently, premature failure of engine components. Material roughness indicates, with oil film, the lubrication regime as boundary, mixed or hydrodynamic. Thus, it is important to characterize sliding bearings based on roughness in order to achieve tribological performance optimization, which ultimately impacts fuel consumption. Based on the above, this work shows different ways to characterize the bearing roughness for simulation, and the influence of this parameter on bearing performance.