Friction Reduction Opportunities in Combustion Engine Crank Train Bearings

Author(s):  
Rainer Aufischer ◽  
Rick Walker ◽  
Martin Offenbecher ◽  
Oliver Feng ◽  
Gunther Hager

The development of combustion engines is heavily influenced by environmental regulations and efficiency. Since the environmental regulation have influenced engine design already with special combustion system and exhaust gas treatments, efficiency and the greenhouse gas CO2 has become a major issue for further development. CO2 emissions and fuel efficiency are linked and are directly influenced by the internal friction of the combustion engine. One major part of this internal friction is coming from the crank train bearings. Since we have to consider different operating conditions for the crank train bearings like hydrodynamic and mixed friction (hydrodynamic in combination with boundary contact), working principles as well as different engine operating conditions like full load, idle, start stop etc. different measures need to be employed for a friction reduced crank train. The optimal dimensioning of the bearings in combination with oil viscosity reduction are already known to a certain extent. Nevertheless they result in changes of bearing loads and may in consequence increase the share of boundary friction. Therefore, only looking on these two optimization steps is not enough. In addition the friction coefficient between bearing and shaft as well as the interaction between bearing surface and lubricant need to be addressed to reduce friction loss. In order to gain a complete picture, influences and the interaction of • geometric properties and bearing dimensions, • friction coefficient of bearings in combination with crankshaft materials, • oil formulation, viscosity and their interaction with engine application and duty cycle as well as • losses caused by the lubrication system design and components are investigated and analyzed based on simulation and testing. At first the different steps are investigated individually and secondly combinations and interactions are derived on basis of parameters derived on tribological tests and material data. Oil viscosity as major driver during hydrodynamic operation but also the influence of additive packages during mixed friction is roughly estimated on basis of tribological investigations. Since the overall friction system and its optimization are very complex, an example for a truck engine in different applications shows advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches. Also border lines given by operational risk and improvement limits are explained. The improvement options given by bearing materials and special coatings are explained in combination with different engines and engine applications. Further development activities, ways of collaboration between engine manufacturer and bearing supplier and an outlook on up-coming bearing system are completing the picture for a holistic approach on friction reduction in crank train bearings.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koji Kikuhara ◽  
Philipp S Koeser ◽  
Tian Tian

Abstract It is hypothesized that the sliding surface structures improve the lubrication condition by forming an oil sump on the sliding surface, redistributing the oil, and trapping wear debris. For these reasons, the sliding surface structures have been used as a friction reduction method for a long time. However, how to optimize the sliding surface structure is still controversial. In this work, effects of microstructure laid on the cylinder liner of an internal combustion engine on twin-land oil control ring (TLOCR) and piston skirt lubrication condition were investigated by comparing friction between the conventional fine-honed liner (CFL) and the microstructured liner (MSL) which was made based on the CFL. As a result of the friction measurement using a floating liner engine, it was found that the microstructure improved lubrication condition by reducing hydrodynamic friction. On the other hand, the result showed there was a possibility that the microstructure deteriorated friction depending on the engine operating conditions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 907 ◽  
pp. 489-499
Author(s):  
Reimund Neugebauer ◽  
Carsten Hochmuth ◽  
René Schneider

Cylinder bore finishing requirements are defined by quality features such as roundness and cylindricity as well as by the manifestation of the surface profile. Honing is a proven manufacturing method s to achieve this. Undesirable distortions of the cylinder shape occur under operating conditions in a reciprocating internal combustion engine. These negatively affect the tribological system of piston, piston ring, and cylinder bore. As a result, efficiency deteriorates and oil consumption rises. The cylinder crank cases are finished in a defined tensioned state to compensate for distortions. This results in a highly complex manufacturing process and is only suited for compensating static distortions. Further increasing machining requirements resulting from strategies such as lightweight construction, downsizing, and friction reduction are pushing conventional honing methods to their technological limits.Adaptronic form honing constitutes a production engineering approach to manufacturing a free form in the cylinder bore. The objective is to keep inverse distortion geometries in store as macro shapes. These will then represent ideal cylinder shapes under the influence of distortion mechanisms in a defined engine operating range. Tool and process development and the analysis of machining results with respect to productivity, shape accuracy, and surface topography are presented and viewed as potential options for optimizing the tribological system of piston, piston ring, and cylinder bore. Other options such as shortening the process chain will be derived.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-zhong Wang ◽  
Zhixiang Huang ◽  
Dian Shen ◽  
Lingjia Kong ◽  
Shanshan Li

It has been recognized that purposefully designed surface texturing can contribute to the improvement of tribological performance of elements and friction reduction. However, its optimal parameters may depend on the operating conditions. This paper investigated the effect of a triangle-shaped dimples array on the tribological performance of the lubricated point-contacts under different lubrication regimes, based on the rotational sliding experiment of a patterned steel disk against smooth steel balls. The dimples arrays were produced by laser process and characterized by the 3D profilometer. A series of tests were conducted with different dimple parameters including depth, coverage ratio, size, and direction. Stribecklike curves were obtained to depict the transition of lubrication regimes, and the electrical contact resistance was utilized to qualitatively characterize the lubrication status. The test results showed that the dimples arrays with different sizes, depths and coverage ratios had a distinct effect on the friction behaviors. Compared with the nontextured surfaces, when the dimple depth decreased from 30μm to zero with fixed coverage ratio and size, the friction coefficient firstly decreased, and then increased. The friction coefficient finally approached that of the nontextured surface, during which the lowest value appeared at the dimple depth of approximately 10∼15μm. The coverage ratio of texture showed the similar effect on the friction coefficient. Usually, the coverage ratio of approximately 10% resulted in the lowest friction coefficient. The dimple size and direction also had obvious effects on the friction coefficient. Thus, it can be concluded that there exists a set of optimal values for the dimple depth, coverage ratio, size, and direction to realize the friction reduction.


Author(s):  
Rosalind Takata ◽  
Victor W. Wong

The piston ring-pack contributes a large portion of the mechanical losses in an internal combustion engine. In this study, the effects of lubricant viscosity are evaluated with the goal of reducing these mechanical losses. Oil viscosity affects friction directly in the hydrodynamic regime, where hydrodynamic friction increases with viscosity. It also influences boundary friction indirectly via oil film thickness — higher viscosity causes oil films to be thicker, which reduces asperity contact. At the optimum viscosity (the viscosity at which minimum friction losses are incurred) there is a balance between these hydrodynamic and boundary effects. As piston speed, ring loading, and other parameters change during the engine cycle, the optimum oil viscosity also changes. If the variation of viscosity could be controlled during the cycle, it could be maintained at an optimum at all times. In this study, several theoretical and realistic cases were studied to quantify the friction benefit that could be obtained if this were possible. Idealized cases with low viscosity near mid-stroke (to reduce hydrodynamic friction) and high viscosity near end-strokes (to reduce boundary contact) were considered, as were several more realistic cases based on temperature and shear-rate dependencies. It was found that, for the oil control ring studied, the effect on friction of keeping viscosity high near end-strokes is very small, and does not provide a substantial benefit (in terms of friction) over allowing viscosity to vary naturally with temperature and shear rate. Two mechanisms lead to the relatively small size of the friction benefit: the contribution to total cycle ring friction from the dead-center area is small, because of low piston speeds there; and any reduction in asperity contact due to increased viscosity is accompanied by an increase in hydrodynamic friction, which cancels out some of the benefit. Oil viscosity near mid-stroke, where most of the ring/liner friction is generated, is the dominant viscosity that controls the overall friction losses for the ring. Although its contribution to friction reduction is not large, maintaining high lubricant viscosity near dead-centers can lead to a reduction in wear in that region, because asperity contact decreases. For the ring-pack studied, a friction reduction of ∼7% is predicted when viscosity is reduced in the mid-stroke region (based on OCR effects alone). If end-stroke viscosity is also kept high, the end-stroke regions, where current engines experience the most wear, will see a reduction in asperity contact (although there will still be a slight wear increase in the mid-stroke). An end-stroke wear reduction of up to 25% is predicted by the current model.


2015 ◽  
Vol 138 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiqiang Liu ◽  
Arup Gangopadhyay

Combining the contact model of elastic-layered solid with the concept of asperity contact in elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL), a mixed-lubrication model is presented to predict friction coefficient over rough surfaces with/without an elastic-layered medium under entire lubrication regimes. Solution of contact problems for elastic-layered solids is presented based upon the classical model of Greenwood and Williamson (GW) in conjunction with Chen and Engel's analysis. The effects of the Young's modulus ratio of the layer to substrate and the thickness of the layer on the elastic real area of contact and contact load for a fixed dimensionless separation are studied using the proposed method, which is used for the asperities having contact with an elastic coating. Coefficient of friction with elastic-layered solids in boundary lubrication is calculated in terms of Rabinowicz's findings and elastic-layered solutions of Gupta and Walowit. The effect of rough contacts with an elastic layer on friction coefficient in lubrication regimes has been analyzed. Variations in plasticity index ψ significantly affect friction coefficients in boundary and mixed lubrications. For a large value of ψ, the degree of plastic contact exhibits a stronger dependence of the mean separation or film thickness than the roughness, and for a small value of ψ, the opposite result is true. The effect of governing parameters, such as inlet oil viscosity at ambient pressure, pressure–viscosity coefficient, combined surface roughness, and El/E2 on friction coefficient, has been investigated. Simulations are shown to be in good agreement with the experimental friction data.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilya Ovchinnikov ◽  
Artur Karahanyan ◽  
Igor Ovchinnikov

General approaches to the application of bionic approach to the design of building structures, in particular bridge structures are considered. It is shown how the development of bionic design ideas influenced the development of bridge design and how the ideas of bionic design are improved, creating a new language for the future bridge design industry. It is noted that today in Russia the problem of bionic approach in the design of bridges, despite the appearance of a number of works is little studied. Briefly describes the history of the use of the bionic approach in architecture and construction. The possibility of applying the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) when using a bionic approach to design is indicated. A number of examples of bridge structures designed using the bionic approach are given, their advantages and disadvantages are analyzed. Moreover, both stationary bridge structures and living bridges that change their configuration depending on the operating conditions are considered. In conclusion, it is pointed out that, although the topic under study is rather poorly studied in Russia, but this direction is very promising and therefore needs further development.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 5805
Author(s):  
Senthil Kumaran Selvaraj ◽  
Kathiravan Srinivasan ◽  
Jainendra Deshmukh ◽  
Darshit Agrawal ◽  
Sailam Mungilwar ◽  
...  

Ceramic coating has applications in enhancing the material’s properties and can significantly improve the material’s usability in varied temperatures and adverse operating conditions and widen its applicability scope. It can add to the various properties such as wear resistance, high-temperature degradation, thermal conductivity, material toughness, tensile strength, corrosion resistance, friction reduction, electric insulation, and the lifespan of the material. Various techniques have been suggested and implemented to achieve ceramic coating on a metal surface, each having their respective advantages and disadvantages. Hence, they can be distinguished for their applicability in different places. The bonding mechanism of metal particle systems has been researched to date, but there are still certain uncertainties regarding the ceramic particle system because of the dissimilarities in properties. The paper aims to profoundly investigate the various coating technologies available through welding processes and do a comparative study through numerical analysis and experimental results on the properties of coatings obtained from two broad categories of welding—solid-state and traditional/fusion processes. It was found that the solid-state processes in which the temperature remained well below the fusion temperatures overcame the mismatch in property and produced reliable coatings with enhanced mechanical properties.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 276-289
Author(s):  
N. V. Savenkov ◽  
V. V. Ponyakin ◽  
S. A. Chekulaev ◽  
V. V. Butenko

Introduction. At present, stands with running drums are widely used for various types of tests. Power stands play a special role. Such stands take the mechanical power from the driving wheels of the car. This simulates the process of movement of the vehicle under operating conditions. Such equipment has various designs, principles of operation and performance. It is also used in tests that are different by purpose, development stages and types: research, control, certification, etc. Therefore, it is necessary in order to determine the traction-speed, fuel-efficient and environmental performance characteristics.Materials and methods. The paper provides the overview of the power stands with running drums, which are widespread on the domestic market. The authors carried out the analysis of the main structural solutions: schemes of force transfer between the wheel and the drum; types of loading devices; transmission layout schemes and features of the control and measuring complex. The authors also considered corresponding advantages and disadvantages, recommended spheres of application, demonstrated parameters and characteristics of the units’ workflow, presented components and equipment.Discussion and conclusions. The authors critically evaluate existing models of stands with running drums. Such information is useful for choosing serial models of stands and for developing technical tasks for designing or upgrading the equipment.


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