Published Paper Details:

The tribological consideration in the contacts formed by piston ring assembly has attracted more attention over several decades. About 13-17% of total frictional losses observed in I.C. engine and 35-50% of total friction losses are due to PRA(Piston Ring Assembly). This project is a set of experiments were carried out on developed experimental setup at laboratory scale to measure PRA friction of single cylinder engine system indirectly by measurement of power consumption by motorized down method. In experiment the fabricated test rig of single cylinder engine of splendor with crank mechanism and without gear box is used. Crank shaft is coupled with induction motor to drive the engine. A.C. motor is used to drive engine. The experimental results and observations are carried out under different operating conditions in speed ranges from 600 rpm to 1400 rpm. The performance parameters which reduce the efficiency of an I.C. engine are different mechanical losses, like direct friction losses, pumping loss, blow losses, valve throttling losses. These are many geometrical parameters and physical parameters which are responsible for the frictional losses, like stroke to bore ratio, cylinder size and number of cylinders, compression ratio, engine speed, engine load, cooling water temperature, oil viscosity, and number of piston rings. It is understood that the piston ring assembly accounts for the larger part of the mechanical losses in the form of friction in the engine. There are various techniques of measuring piston ring assembly friction. In experiment, motorized test rig is used for non fired engine system of single cylinder engine of splendor and strip method is used to measure friction in terms of power consumption but in this method the effect of cylinder pressure are not measured and test will not be operating at realistic temperatures. Also, power consumption in different operating conditions is measured by dynamometer set up. The dynamometer used is a simple rope brake type dynamometer, which is used to measure the brake power of engine