Effect of Environmental Factors on the Performance Characteristics of an Oil Cooling System Designed for a Turbo-Shaft Engine

High rotor speeds of turbo-shaft engines demand an efficient oil cooling system to keep the bearing temperature within the acceptable limit. This makes the oil cooling system to play an important part in engine lubrication circuit and any malfunction or inefficiency of the system will lead to rotor instability and seizure causing power loss and damage to the engine. An oil cooling system has been designed for a 900 kW class turbo-shaft engine. It has undergone system level tests to study the effect of various environmental conditions such as sand ingestion during desert operation, prolong exposure to high humidity and salt-laden atmosphere during marine/coastal area operation, and with growth of fungus on external surfaces, etc. The paper presents the tolerance of the oil cooling system to different adverse environmental factors and highlights their effect on the performance characteristics of the system.