Borgwarner Inc.

James Finley

Sean Rylance

Rob Daniels

Michael Fischer

Sanjit Chaggar

Martin Bihy

Simon Malins

James Williams

John Elmslie

James Alexander

A bearing housing, or integrated turbocharger housing, with the oil, and optionally air and water galleries, included as as-cast features, thereby avoiding the problems, design limitations and expense associated with conventional post-casting machining. The method of casting preferably uses lost foam casting, or a technique similar to lost foam casting but in which a ceramic shell is formed on the foam form prior to metal casting, but can use any of a variety of casting techniques or a combination of two or more techniques.

Integrated turbocharger casting

Conventionally, turbocharger bearing housings are cast, and then oil passageways are drilled or bored into the casting. As a result, bores are limited to straight lines extending from drill access points. Greater design flexibility is provided by pre-staging in a mold a collection of metal pipes which will define one or more of oil, air and water galleries, and then casting a bearing housing around the pipes. This provides almost unlimited freedom in shaping and locating the oil bores and other features.

Turbocharger bearing housing with cast-in pipes

Growing community of inventors

Horsforth, United Kingdom

James Finley