A REVIEW ON DESIGN OF PISTON RING

Piston rings of reciprocating engines have several functions. First, to seal the clearance between the piston and cylinder in order to retain gas pressure and to minimize blow-by. Second, to ensure adequate lubricant applied on the cylinder surface to sustain high thrust and gas force loads at high speed while maintaining oil consumption at acceptable levels. Third, to keep piston temperatures relatively low while transferring heat to cylinder walls and coolant [1]. There are two types of piston ring: compression ring and oil ring. Automobile reciprocating engines normally use three rings, two compression rings and one oil ring. Piston ring moves freely within its groove. Such movements depend on the forces and the moments acting on the piston ring system such as: the static ring tension from installation of piston ring in the cylinder liner, the gas pressure forces caused by cylinder pressure and blow-by gas, the hydrodynamic forces caused by lubricant film, the inertia forces related to component mass and engine speed, and asperity contact forces caused by a direct contact to the cylinder walls. The movements are even found to affect sealing efficiency, engine liner wear mechanism, and lubricant consumption mechanism [2–5]. Working conditions of piston rings are very demanding and it is desirable to understand the design of such component subjected to various loads. Recently, finite element analysis has played major role in automotive industry to design various components of automobile. Hence, this work aims to study structural design of piston rings subjected to static loads.