In Uence of Load On The Tribological Conditions in Piston Ring and Cylinder Liner Contacts in A Medium-Speed Diesel Engine
In Uence of Load On The Tribological Conditions in Piston Ring and Cylinder Liner Contacts in A Medium-Speed Diesel Engine
In Uence of Load On The Tribological Conditions in Piston Ring and Cylinder Liner Contacts in A Medium-Speed Diesel Engine
Helsinki University of Technology (TKK), Internal Combustion Engine Laboratory, PO Box 4300, FIN-02015 TKK (Espoo), Finland
b
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT Industrial Systems, PO Box 1702, FIN-02044 VTT (Espoo), Finland
Received 31 July 2005; received in revised form 31 March 2006; accepted 2 April 2006
Available online 22 May 2006
Abstract
The present work is an attempt to determine the oil lm thickness in a medium-speed four-stroke diesel engine with a cylinder diameter
of 200 mm. Experimental research on this topic was found necessary due to the limited amount of published information available with
reference to engines of the present size. The experimental part of the study was carried out as ring engine tests, with an instrumented
piston, equipped with telemetric data transmission, and an instrumented cylinder liner in a 6-in-line test engine. The study was carried
out for different parts of the four-stroke working cycle and for different levels of engine power output. The results were compared with
the results of computer simulations, carried out using a commercial software package. The conclusions of the study comprise aspects on
the formation and development of the oil lm between the rings and the liner under a set of load levels together with the periodical
uctuation during different strokes of the working cycle.
r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Oil lm thickness; Piston ring; Cylinder liner; Medium-speed diesel engine
1. Introduction
The thickness of the oil lm between piston rings and
cylinder liners of internal combustion engines is relevant
for the tribological performance of the system. A minor
proportion of the oil on the cylinder wall is burned in the
combustion process, and is thus, in part, responsible for the
exhaust gas emissions, especially the particulate emissions.
Reduction of the exhaust emissions is a central issue in the
development of internal combustion engines, and for this
reason oil lm thickness optimisation is important.
Oil lm thickness measurement results have been
presented by various authors. The lm thickness is
measured from the cylinder liner side, by either capacitive
sensors as Sherrington and Smith [1], Grice et al. [2] and
Mattsson [3], or eddy current sensors as Seki et al. [4], or by
laser-induced uorescence (LIF) as Shenghua et al. [5] and
Takiguchi et al. [6]. In these measurements, the measurement points have been located close to top dead centre
Corresponding author. Tel.: +358 9 451 5981; fax: +358 9 451 3454.
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Table 1
Test engine characteristics
Engine type
Bore (mm)
Stroke (mm)
No. of cylinders
Compression ratio
Engine speed (rev/min)
Rated power (kW/cyl)
Brake mean effective pressure (bar)
200
280
6
15:1
900
170
25.8
Table 2
Geometry of the compression rings
Compression ring 1
Compression
ring 2
5.975
0.145
4.975
0.105
0.45
1.20
2.2. Instrumentation
The cylinder liner of the measuring cylinder was
equipped with four eddy current displacement sensors to
observe the oil lm thicknesses between the liner and the
piston rings. Fig. 1 shows the positions of the displacement
sensors. The locations of the displacement sensors were
chosen such that the whole ring pack would pass each
sensor at TDC and BDC locations.
The ring pack area of the measuring piston was
instrumented with piezo-resistive pressure sensors. The
gas pressure was measured from four locations in the
piston ring area, as shown in Fig. 2. Three thermocouples
for temperature measurements were positioned in the
piston; one thermocouple next to each of the three
uppermost pressure sensors.
Telemetric data transmission was used to supply the
measuring signals from the moving piston to the data
acquisition and processing system. Fig. 3 shows the
telemetric data transmitter and an antenna installed in
the piston. The power supply to the pressure sensors and
the transmitters was arranged by a battery.
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Fig. 5. Oil lm thicknesses (OFT) between the rst compression ring and
the cylinder liner at the location of displacement sensor no. 1, on the thrust
side, close to TDC.
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Fig. 7. Oil lm thicknesses (OFT) between the rst compression ring and
the cylinder liner at the location of displacement sensor no. 2, on the thrust
side at mid-stroke.
Fig. 10. Oil lm thicknesses (OFT) between the second compression ring
and the cylinder liner at the location of displacement sensor no. 1, on the
thrust side at TDC.
Fig. 8. Oil lm thicknesses (OFT) between the rst compression ring and
the cylinder liner at the location of displacement sensor no. 3, on the antithrust side at mid-stroke.
Fig. 11. Oil lm thicknesses (OFT) between the second compression ring
and the cylinder liner at the location of displacement sensor no. 2, on the
thrust side at mid-stroke.
Fig. 9. Oil lm thicknesses (OFT) between the rst compression ring and
the cylinder liner at the location of displacement sensor no. 4, on the thrust
side at BDC.
Fig. 12. Oil lm thicknesses (OFT) between the second compression ring
and the cylinder liner at the location of displacement sensor no. 3, on the
anti-thrust side at mid-stroke.
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Fig. 13. Charge air temperature (T) after charge air cooler, in receiver and
in multiduct (part of the induction manifold closest to the cylinder).
Fig. 15. Oil lm thicknesses (OFT) between the second compression ring
and the cylinder liner at the location of the displacement sensor no. 4, on
the thrust side at BDC.
Fig. 16. Oil lm thickness (OFT) on the thrust side of the rst
compression ring. Simulated curves for absolute oil lm thickness, and
data points measured with sensor no. 1.
Fig. 17. Oil lm thickness (OFT) on the thrust side of the rst
compression ring. Simulated curves for absolute oil lm thickness, and
data points measured with sensor no. 2.
Fig. 18. Oil lm thickness (OFT) on the thrust side of the rst
compression ring. Simulated curves for absolute oil lm thickness, and
data points measured with sensor no. 4
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Fig. 19. Oil lm thickness (OFT) on the thrust side of the second
compression ring. Simulated curves for absolute oil lm thickness, and
data points measured with sensor no. 1.
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Fig. 21. Oil lm thickness (OFT) on the thrust side of the second
compression ring. Simulated curves for absolute oil lm thickness, and
data points measured with sensor no. 4.
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