By Chenna K. Reddy" fps. 2is'on figs in Le: engines have te perform the following functions: To form a seal for the high pressure gases from the combustion chambar against leak into the crank case, U To provide easy passage for heat flow trom tha piston crown to the cylinder walls, 1D To maintain sufficlentlubricating cli on cylinder walls throughout the entire length of the piston travel, minimising the rings. and cylinder wear, and at the same time, contral the thickness of the oil film so that satisfactory oil control is maintained. The oll is not to be allowed to go up into the combustion chamber vihere eventually it would burn to leave carton deposits. Ring Consiruction construction of a piston ring and tne nomenclature of its various parts is shown in fig.1. The ringis generally asl and machined carefully so that when in position, it is able to exert Uniform pressure against the cylinder walls. A gap has ta be out oul at the | ends so thal while inserting the ring into the piston, it can be expanded, slipped over the piston nead and released into the ring groove, Further, the gap is almost closed when the piston is inside the oylinder, due to whieh the ring is able to exert pressure on eylinderwalis, whichis a must for sealing purpose. Moreover, any circumferential expansion of the fing at higher operating temperature may also be accommodated by the end gap. Some diflerential expansion ofthe ringwith respectto the cylinder is always likely to occur inspite of the equal coefficients of éylinder and ring materials dua to the fact thatthe ring is always operating at_ higher temperatures than the cylinder walls, that is why direction of heat flow is from the rings to tha wails The sealing action of the top ring is due to the fact that the high pressure in the combustion chamber presses the top ring tightly on the base of the pisiton ring groove, thus seating the ring. However some leakage does take place through the end gapofthe top compression ring. This leakage is useful in thatit provides the pressure for sealing action of the second JAFig.i Ring nomenclature pistion ring, where the sealing action take place in the same ways incase of the top compression ring The amount of end gap should, however, ba determined cautiously Excessive end gap would result in blow-by and scuffing of the rings, On tha other hand, lesser clearance ‘would cause the ring ends to but! at highor temperatures, resulting in ‘exGessive and nen-unitorm pressura onthecyinderwall, causing excessive ‘wear. Inppractice piston ring end gap, whan installed, is kept about 0.30 to 085mm. The fing end gaps may be either strainght butt type or tapered or seal cut type as shown in fig.2. Out of these butt type is most common mainly on account ofits economics. Factors Affecting Ring Selection The knowledge about the following factors is necessary to select rings or a particular engine: Dimensions of engine block © Piston design © Piston displacement 0 Piston speed © Cylinder bore material © Carburation © Bore to stroke ratio 3 Compression ratio © Cooling capacity © Crankcase pressures . © Engine perdormance expeciad © Horse power requitement D+ Type al cylinder bore lubrication © Poak manifold vaowun. Types of Rings The piston rings are of two types:t) Compression rings and (ii) oil cantrot sings. The top compression ring (1.¢.the ring nearest to the combustion chamber) has to do the hatd work of gas sealing and transler of heat from the pistsn i "MED, MUGET, Hydra. Engineeiing Advances = Novemer 1987 2erown to the cylinder walls. The compression rings porform a double ole. Thay seal and transfer heat, and. also assist the oil rings in contralling oil The function of the oil contro! rings is evident from their name. To A Finn ‘of piston ring en gaps. a}. Butt ype (b) Tapered type (c} Seat cut ype perform this function effectively, they must prevent excessive amounts of oi from passing © Between tha ring face and the cylinder wall a o Through the ring end gap Around behind the ring. Design Considerations and Modifications Number of rings: The number of rings to be used on a piston varios depending upon the requirements. Earlier two ta four compression rings and one te two oll ‘control rings were used, but with ‘madarn design trends of decreased ‘car and engine heights, the number ot Fingsis rgstricted to usually three, cut ‘of which one is the oil control ring. Aminimurn of two compression rings are required because of the high pressure difference between the combustion chamber and the crankcase at the beginning of the power stroke, This difference may be aas high as 70 atmospheres. A single piston ring eannot take such high pressure, which necessitates the use of at least two compression rings, which divide the pressure between themselves. Incraasing the number of rings (which is restricted the maximum piston height) also reduces the design pressure between the rings and tha eylinder walls which result | in decreased wear ant consequently increased|ifa. Compressionrings Rings width: | The trend ls towards reducing ring width, During the part five decades, the ring widths have been reduced to -abaut half (to about 1.8mm). Coupled ‘with advantages of reduced ring ‘width are also its disadvantages Advantages: (A Fig.a Compression singe a) Plain (b) Taper face {Torsional twist (d) Scraper type toresonal twist {of Tapar tace torsional twist (1) Koy stona’ 1 Good resistance to ing sculfing Lower piston height and consequently lower engine height. Good resistance to ring flutter Problams of ting interia are reduced. Disackantages: Machining vary a Narrow grooves in the Piston’ accurately is difficult 5 Rings with too much reduced. width and without a satisfactory thickness/vidt ratio become unsiable in the ring grooves, ‘Shape The basie ting shapes in present day use are given in fig.3, Tho advantage of the taper face, fig 3(a}, ‘over tha plain ring,tig 3(b), is that it. reduces. the contact with the cylinder wall to a narrow line, Which affords high unit loading on the face of the ring to accelerate ring seating. It also provides a downward scrapping A Fig Tat tings (a) Acton of re west ang (Action 2 pal v0 twist noaction which results in relatively good oil control. Machining of the inside upper corner makes it a torsional twist ring as shown in fig, 3 (e). The internal forces are charged due to machining,so, that when it is installed in the cylinder, it turns about its axis 50 as toprovide a line contact between the ring, ‘and. its groove and also contact with the cylinder ‘wall-at- ils lower edge whieh contributes towards better control al passage ‘of both the combustion gases and the engine oil. ‘The scraper type torsional ‘wist ing fig.3(d) functions like the bevelled torsional twist ring, However, due to its narrow face, it has advantage of the higher ‘unit face loading in the untwisted position. The A taper face, torsional twist Figs tings shown in fig 8(e) is Raaus _ @ combination of the taper face and torsional twist designs. Kay stone rings, fig.3 (1) have inclined side faces and operate in grooves of similar geometry. Relative movement between the ring and the groove in the transverse direction face fing | discourages the build up of carbon deposits and therefore prevents ring stock. Rings of this form are most commonly used for top for the ring in ‘A fa. Boge ved in daa je turbacharged engines. ‘A recent modification of the torsional twist ring is the revarse-twistring (tig fa) whose lower inner edge Is bevelled instead of the upper inner edge in case of torsional twist ring, ‘Also the outer face of the ring is tapered to compensate for the twist which Is in opposite direction so that in ease of notmal positive twist ring as shown in fig 4.(b), the reversed twist ring offers better oll control than @ normal twist ring, but the later affords better blow by contral. Another recent improvement in compression ring design. which has become quite popular is the radius- face ring, (fig.5). The advantage of the radius shape is that there is high unit loading due to the narow-line ‘contact and secondly the contact with the cylinder wall remains in tact even ifthe piston ring groove straightness 's slightly off. Further, this contact is not lost even when the ring changes direction at the extreme of its stroke When a rocking action can take placa. Thus, it results in aged oll and blow by control on high speed ‘output engines. Moreover, ‘the wear at the top of the cylinder wall where the top ring changes directions, isaiso reduced. The radial face ring may be bavelied to make it positive twist or reverse twist itso desired. In india radial face ring has. been used for the first time as top ring in the dissel engine DP-4.90 of Mahindra Jeep MM 540. DP (Fig). Rings for worn cylinders ‘An ordinary piston ring meant for correctly bored cylinder will not work efficiently it tited in a bore which is worn oval, in such cases, spring expander piston sing may ‘be employed. They may be two-piece, three-piece or four-piece type. Spring expanders are made al spring steel with crimps yg spaced uniformly along rig 7 the circumerance. The Sprig outercast ironing exerts sxpander only @ part of tne total Pen pressure on the walls, the rast being contributed by the spring expander which is putinside the outercast Engineering Advances - November 1997 a“Ceres cat edu = 22 phesphovous peat ray inci cast med phesores paaetiray Ian, ype NB ophieree “Tanta 10% mae Cento cst Nall arg esa sae Nee oe fron one, (tig.7)..n three piece type, apart from the cast iron ring and spring expander, a spiral stee! side rail sonsisting of two turns of thin flat steel is located below the cast iran ring. In four-piece type, thery are two such side rails placed one below and the other above the cast iron ing. This type of ring adapts itselt 10 the imegulartios of the cylinder bore due to comparatively better flexibility of the ting and also radial pressure exerted dus to the internal spring ‘expander, Oil controled rings Commonly used oil control rings are ‘shown in fig.8, Recent research has shown that for performing | its funetians properly, the oll control ring apart from having increased rin tension and reduced ring eylinder wal contact area, must conform to the cylinder wall. From this point of view, steel expander type of rings are most appropriate Faw such rings are shown infig.8. The fing shew in fig.9(a) I. equipped with polygonal. flat strip steel expanders bearing on the bottom of the plston groove. These rings are ideal for use in chrome-plated bores, Having independence ot groove dopth, confarmabia al rings (19.9(b)) have high comformabilty but require sufficient back clearance for ventilation. Loading is achieved by cireurnferential abutment of the expander which may be either axially crimped or @ coil spring. Materials ‘The material generally used for piston tings Is fine-grained alloy cast Iron coniaining silicon and manganese. hhas good heat and wear resisting _ ‘qualiies. The hardness on rockwell B | ‘scale is about 100. Some piston ring materials are given in table -1, Alloy stea! have also been usod as ring material. Chromium plated rings which have resulted in considerable saving imeylinder bore ite. Chromium itself is very hard due to which itis normally expected to wear Engineering Advances November 1597 65tne-eylindsr nails rapialy. Yet it does the rick because of very fine finish of its coating on the ring. Chromium plating furiner helps the rings to resist Eeutting because i ie difficult te be welded locastiron cylinder, However, these rings should nal be used when the oylinder bore itsel is lined with Chromium orany such hard material Rings with molyodenum-tiled face have also been introduced recently, ‘The molytsdenum surface has larger oil carrying capacity. it, therefore, provides better eylinder wall lubrication with resultant longer engine lle. The higher melting point (of molybdenum (2620°C) enables the fing 10 stand higher temperatures than other fing metals anc thus resist scuffing. A more recent development is thermochemical treated chromium chrome) especially suited for top ting applications where lubrication is marginal. ‘A Fig. 9:08 conta! regs 5) Flaod rg 0) Caniormabi ring Stainiess steel oil rings resist pitting and carresion to.remain clean and do nat clog with carbon as quickly as ‘other rings. Further, these resist ‘oxcessive tension less at engine ‘operating temperatures. Conclusion Advanced engineering designs and nenly developing materials may reduce/eliminate piston ring failures (viz.rapid wear, scuffing and beakage) and increase aver-all efficiency of internal combustion engines. Tha use of radius face ring, the wear at the top of the cylinder wall where the top ring changos direction is roduced. Flings with molybdenum tilled {aca and thermachemically treated chromium rings are especially suited for top ring applications where lubrication is marginal | ‘The country’s only journal on air conditioning, refrigeration & environment. And keep yourself abreast of D Innovative products & systems OG Tumkey projects D Trendy technologies, and 1 Revolutionary materials rill related to HVAC. — | Please enrol me a: @ subscriber 1o The Innovative ACR Herewith ea DD/Chequefor Rs towards my subscription for Publishing Pot. Utd.” | Name adders Mumbai» 400 001 (INDIA). Phone : 2025024) 2621576«Fax: (91-22) 2682975 GE ces ee sce) Boe y. ta pecs Mail This Coupon DEEL year/s drawn in favaur of “High- Te ch Signature As, 20 toms bar chaos ngingering Advances » Noveriber 1997 66