# US 10,480,575 B2 · Bearing structure and turbocharger

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 10,480,575 B2
- Document ID: US10480575B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/885,931
- Filed: 2018-02-01
- Published: 2018-06-07
- Granted: 2019-11-19
- Earliest claimed: 2015-08-11
- Assignees: IHI Corporation
- Applicants: IHI Corporation
- Inventors: Kenji Bunno; Yutaka Uneura; Shinichi Kaneda; Yuichi Daito; Hideyuki Kojima; Tomomi Sugiura; Shunsuke Nishii
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10480575B2

## CPC

- F16C 33/1025: {with liquid, e.g. oil, as lubricant}
- F01D 25/162: {Bearing supports}
- F01D 25/166: {Sliding contact bearing (gas bearings F01D25/22)}
- F01D 25/18: Lubricating arrangements (of machines or engines in general F01M)
- F16C 17/10: for both radial and axial load
- F16C 33/1045: {Details of supply of the liquid to the bearing}
- F02B 39/14: Lubrication of pumps; Safety measures therefor
- F05D 2220/40: in turbochargers
- F16C 27/02: Sliding-contact bearings
- F16C 2360/24: Turbochargers
- F16C: SHAFTS; FLEXIBLE SHAFTS; ELEMENTS OR CRANKSHAFT MECHANISMS; ROTARY BODIES OTHER THAN GEARING ELEMENTS; BEARINGS
- F01D: NON-POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT MACHINES OR ENGINES, e.g. STEAM TURBINES (machines or engines for liquids F03; non-positive displacement pumps F04D)
- F02B: INTERNAL-COMBUSTION PISTON ENGINES; COMBUSTION ENGINES IN GENERAL (gas-turbine plants F02C; hot-gas or combustion-product positive-displacement engine plants F02G)
- F05D: INDEXING SCHEME FOR ASPECTS RELATING TO NON-POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES OR ENGINES, GAS-TURBINES OR JET-PROPULSION PLANTS

## Abstract

A bearing structure includes: a housing; a bearing hole formed in the housing and provided with a bearing for pivotally supporting a shaft; a clearance groove provided in the bearing hole, having an opposing wall portion radially opposed to the shaft, and communicating with an oil drainage passage provided below a shaft center of the shaft; and at least one of a narrow portion or a wide portion in the opposing wall portion of the clearance groove with a boundary right above the shaft center of the shaft, the narrow portion provided in a rear side in a rotation direction of the shaft, the narrow portion having a narrower gap from the shaft than that in a front side in the rotation direction of the shaft, the wide portion provided in the front side in the rotation direction of the shaft, the wide portion having a wider gap from the shaft than that in the rear side in the rotation direction of the shaft.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A bearing structure, comprising:
a housing;
a bearing hole formed in the housing and provided with a bearing for pivotally supporting a shaft;
a clearance groove formed on an inner circumferential surface of the bearing hole, having an opposing wall portion radially opposed to the shaft;
an oil drainage passage provided below a shaft center of the shaft;
a communicating opening formed in the housing, communicating the clearance groove with the oil drainage passage;
a scattering space formed in the housing, positioned between an impeller provided at one end of the shaft and the clearance groove, and communicating with the oil drainage passage;
an annular protrusion formed in the housing, positioned between the clearance groove and the scattering space, and annularly surrounding the large diameter portion of the shaft; and
a wide portion in the opposing wall portion of the clearance groove with a theoretical boundary right above the shaft center of the shaft, provided in a front side in a rotation direction of the shaft, having a wider gap from the shaft than that in a rear side in the rotation direction of the shaft, wherein a curvature radius of the wider gap increases in the rotational direction toward the communicating opening.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A turbocharger comprising the bearing structure according to claim 1.