Influence of piston ring pack configuration on blowby and friction losses in a marine two-stroke engine

Abstract

In the paper a comprehensive model of a piston ring pack motion on an oil film has been presented. The local thickness of the oil film can be compared to height of the combined surface roughness of a cylinder liner and piston rings. Equations describing the mixed lubrication problem based on the empirical mathematical model formulated in works of Patir, Cheng and Greenwood, Tripp have been combined and used in this paper. In addition a model of gas flow through the labyrinth seal of piston rings has been developed. The main parts of the model and software have been experimentally verified abroad by the author at the marine engine designing centre. For the selected two-stroke marine engine, the influence of the number of piston rings used and the type of the top ring lock (straight or overlapped) on blowby to piston underside and on friction losses of the piston-ring-cylinder (PRC) system have been investigated. The developed model and software can be useful for optimization of the PRC system design

Keywords

• marine engines
• piston rings
• gas dynamics
• hydrodynamic lubrication
• mixed friction