The effect of load and viscosity on the minimum operating oil film thickness of piston-rings in internal combustion engines

Abstract

Computer simulations are now routinely used in the design and analysis of ring packs for internal combustion engines. Commonly they predict that an increase in engine load decreases minimum operating film thickness because oil availability and oil transport through the ring pack are reduced under these conditions. To assess the reliability of new simulations, investigators compare the output of computer models with experimental measurements of parameters on operating engines. Contributing to this process this paper presents an experimental study of an investigation into the effect of load on the minimum oil film thickness between piston rings and cylinder liner in a fired compression ignition engine. Oil film thickness data were collected using capacitance-based transducers located near top dead centre and mid-stroke. Experiments were performed at 2000 r/min using two mono-grade oils (SAE 50 and SAE 20) and one multi-grade oil (SAE 5W50) under a range of fixed engine loads. The experimental data obtained are discussed in the context of experimental and theoretical work published by other investigators.

Keywords

piston-ring lubrication oil film thickness measurement

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ruddy

B. L.

Dowson

Economou

P. N.

Baker

A. J. S.

‘Piston-ring lubrication — part III. The influence of ring dynamics and ring twist. Energy conservation through fluid film technology’. In Proceedings of the Winter meeting ASME, New York, December 1979, pp. 191–215.

Ruddy

Dowson

Economou

P. N.

‘A theoretical analysis of the twin land type of oil control ring’

Proc. IMechE, Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering Science 232 (1981): 51–62

Dowson

Ruddy

B. L.

‘The elastohydrodynamic lubrication of piston-rings’

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A386 (1983): 409–430

Rohde

S. M.

‘A mixed friction model for dynamically loaded contacts with application to piston-ring lubrication’. In Proceedings of the 7th Leeds—Lyon Symposium, 1980, pp. 262–278, paper IX(v).

M.-T.

Sherrington

Smith

E. H.

‘Development of a comprehensive model for piston-ring lubrication in IC engines with circular and non-circular bores’

Tribol. Int. 3011 (1997): 779–788

M.-T.

‘Evaluation of shear thinning effects in piston-ring pack lubrication with two non-Newtonian models. In Austrib’98’, Proceedings of the 5th International Tribology Conference, Australia, 1998, pp. 371–376.

Priest

Dowson

Taylor

C. M.

‘Predictive wear modelling of lubricated piston rings in a diesel engine’

Wear 231 (1999): 89–101

Saad

Kamo

Mekari

Bryzik

Wong

Dmitrichenko

Mnatsakanov

‘Modelling and measurement of tribological parameters between piston rings and liner in a turobocharged diesel engine’ (2007): SAE paper 2007–01-1440, 2007.

Wing

R. D.

Saunders

‘Oil film temperature and thickness measurements on the piston-rings of a diesel engine’

Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs 186 (1972): 1–9

10.

Söchting

Sherrington

‘Piston-ring oil film thickness measurements for fast running engines’. In Proceedings of TAE 15th International Colloquium on Tribology (Stuttgart/Ostfildern), 2006, paper no. 35.1 (available on CD-ROM).

11.

Shaw

B. T.

Hoult

D. P.

Wong

V. W.

‘Development of engine lubricant film diagnostics using fiber optics and laser fluorescence’ (1992): SAE paper 920651.

12.

Dwyer-Joyce

R. S.

Green

D. A.

Harper

Lewis

Balakrishnan

King

P. D.

Rahnejat

Howell-Smith

‘The measurement of liner-piston skirt oil film thickness by an ultrasonic means’ (2006): SAE paper 2006–01-0648.

13.

Kasolang

Dwyer-Joyce

R. S.

‘Viscosity measurement in thin lubricant films using shear ultrasonic reflection’

Proc. IMechE, Part J: J. Engineering Tribology 2223 (2008): 423–429

14.

Grice

Sherrington

Smith

E. H.

O'Donnell

S. G.

Stringfellow

J. F.

‘A capacitance based system for high resolution measurement of lubricant film thickness’. In Proceedings of Nordtrib'90, the 4th Nordic Symposium on Tribology, Lubrication and Wear, Hirtsals, Denmark, June 1990.

15.

Moore

S. L.

‘Piston ring oil film thickness — the effect of viscosity’. SAE International Congress and Exposition, Detroit, Michigan, February 1985. SAE paper 850439.

16.

Takiguchi

Sasaki

Takahashi

Ishibashi

Furuhama

Kai

Sato

‘Oil film thickness measurement and analysis of a three ring pack in an operating diesel engine’ (2000): SAE paper 2000–01-1787.

17.

Tamminen

Sandstrom

C.-E.

Andersson

‘Influence of load on the tribological conditions in piston ring and cylinder liner contacts in a medium-speed diesel engine’

Tribol. Int. 39 (2006): 1643–1652

18.

Mattsson

‘Measurement of the oil film thickness between the cylinder liner and the piston rings in a heavy duty directly injected diesel engine’ (1995): SAE paper 952466.

19.

Gamble

R. J.

Priest

Taylor

C. M.

‘Detailed ana-lysis of oil transport in the piston assembly if a gasoline engine’

Tribol. Lett. 142 (2003): 147–156

20.

Beaubein

S. J.

Cattaneo

A. G.

‘Piston lubrication phenomena in a motored glass cylinder engine’

SAE J. (1946): 60–67

21.

Saito

Igashira

Nakada

‘Analysis of oil consumption by observing oil behaviour around piston ring using a glass cylinder engine’ (1989): SAE paper 892107.

22.

Lee

P. M.

Priest

Stark

M. S.

Wilkinson

J. J.

Lindsay Smith

J. R.

Taylor

R. I.

Chung

‘Extraction and tribological investigation of top piston ring zone oil from a gasoline engine’

Proc. IMechE, Part J: J. Engineering Tribology 2203 (2006): 171–180

23.

Soejima

Smith

E. H.

Sherrington

Wakuri

‘A review of solutions for the mechanism of oil consumption in internal combustion engines’ (2007): JSAE paper 20077160 (SAE 2007–01-1973)