Towards Ecological Alternatives in Bearing Lubrication

Hydrogen is the cleanest fuel available because its combustion product is water. The internal combustion engine can, in principle and without significant modifications, run on hydrogen to produce mechanical energy. Regarding the technological solution leading to compact engines, a question to ask is the following: Can combustion engine systems be lubricated with hydrogen? In general, since many applications such as in turbomachines, is it possible to use the surrounding gas as a lubricant? In this paper, journal bearings global parameters are calculated and compared for steady state and dynamic conditions for different gas constituents such as air, pentafluoropropane, helium and hydrogen. Such a bearing may be promising as an ecological alternative to liquid lubrication.