Piston Rings

Functions and Operating Principle

- sealing the combustion chamber to the crankcase (compression
rings)
- sealing the crankcase to the combustion chamber (oil control rings)
- regulating the lubricating oil at the cylinder face
- heat conduction from the piston to the cylinder wall
- Piston rings must have a split at one point (the ring gap). The gap
clearance of the
installed ring must be small (leakage point), however it may never be
zero (seize).

- The gas pressure provides the sealing by forcing the compression rings
towards the
cylinder liner
- Additionally, the piston rings are pressed against the cylinder wall by
mechanical pre-stress to guarantee sealing during starting and to avoid
vibration in case of high speeds.
- During a combustion cycle, the contact of the piston ring changes back
and forth from the lower and upper ring-groove (mass forces, gas forces,
frictional forces).
-The mass of the sealing rings should not be too high, due to the potential
for ring vibrations.
These vibrations can result, if, shortly before combustion top dead centre,
the piston ring mass force is higher than the resultant from gas and
frictional force. This condition causes the ring to lift prematurely from the
lower groove side and reduces the gas
pressure; subsequently the piston ring can lift off of the cylinder wall.
- Piston rings generally rotate during engine operation.

Piston Ring Designs

- Compression rings typically have a rectangular cross-section.

- Rings that differ from this simple form, such as the conical taperface and the inside bevel, can improve the run-in process by
minimizing the initial contact area.

- In case of coke formation the full keystone ring (double trapezoid ring)
is mainly intended to avoid ring clogging in the trapezoid groove.
- The stepped ring (nose ring) not only provides a sealing effect but also
a distinct oil control effect.
- Oil control rings generally have a circular groove in the centre of their
cylindrical sliding surface which are used to lead the controlled oil to the
bottom of the ring groove.
- To increase the pressure force of the oil control rings (desirable due to
missing gas pressure support), several types of supporting springs are
used; such as
expanders, link springs (for the T-flex ring), and special springs (for
spiral-type
expanders).

Piston Ring Materials and Production

The main requirements of piston ring materials are:
- good running properties (low wear, low friction)
- high elasticity and mechanical strength
- easy production
- These requirements are well met by grey cast iron, and is almost
exclusively used as
a ring material.
- Steel is used only if the mechanical strength requirements are
extreme, even though its elasticity is worse and a running surface must
be applied due to the poor running properties.

- Generally, the sliding surface of the upper piston ring, which is subject
to the highest
degree of wear, is hard-chromium-plated. The chromium-plated ring
surface is typically
ground to a crown shape

- If protection against stains from baking and jamming of the ring is

required, the piston ring running surface is filled or coated with
molybdenum, which has a high melting point (2620 deg C) and good
thermal conductivity.

Typical Piston Ring Defects

If the piston rings are not properly designed or are operated under invalid
conditions,
the following defects can occur: