Effects of lubricant viscosity and surface texturing on ring-pack performance in internal combustion engines

The piston ring-pack contributes approximately 25% of the mechanical losses in an internal combustion engine. Both lubricant viscosity and surface texturing were investigated in an effort to reduce this ring-pack friction and increase engine efficiency. While both optimizing viscosity and surface texturing are predicted to cause a reduction in ring/liner friction individually, a combined approach may cause an even greater friction reduction while mitigating unwanted side-effects such as oil consumption and wear. Existing MIT models, with some modifications and supplementary programs to allow investigation of the parameters of interest, were used to conduct this research. A ring-pack model based on average flow-factor Reynolds analysis was used for both studies, with a modified form of this program, along with a supplementary deterministic model for surface analysis, used for the study of surface texturing. Although these advanced models are applicable in a wide range of cases, the surface textures studied in this research are very different than a typical cylinder liner surface, and can be represented only approximately by the averaged Reynolds analysis upon which the ring simulation is based.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Takata, Rosalind (Rosalind Kazuko), 1978-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Victor W. Wong.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35644

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/35644