Study on Analytical Method for Thermal and Flow Field of a Turbocharger With the Catalyst Unit

Abstract

The analytical and experimental study on thermal and flow field of a turbocharger with the catalyst unit has been conducted for the thermal management at the downstream side of turbochargers, which have crucial effects on activation of catalyst units. CHT (Conjugate Heat Transfer) calculations, working for simulating heat transfer with mutual dependence between solid structures and fluid, are applied to the turbocharger including the turbine section, the bearing housing and the catalyst unit to acquire the whole of thermal and flow field accurately. The modeling for catalyst element has also been developed. In addition, the gas stand test demonstrated turbochargers under cold start-up condition to validate CHT calculations. Analytical results are evaluated against experimental data. Eventually, the proposed analytical method has been proved to have the advantage of designing for heating catalyst units.