Piston rings are the rationale inner combustion engines can exist. They’re slim rings of steel that hug the outer fringe of the piston, accountable for sealing the combustion stress contained in the cylinder and conserving oil out of the combustion chamber. The science behind piston rings is way extra spectacular than you might ever think about.
The New Thoughts YouTube channel put collectively an in depth historical past and explainer on the piston ring, giving us an in-depth take a look at how the idea was conceived and developed over many years of trial and error and experimentation.
The earliest proof of piston rings may very well be present in locomotive steam engines within the 1800s. As expertise advanced, the rings was forged iron items that supplied higher sealing properties. From there, engineers finally found utilizing three rings—two for sealing the combustion course of, and one for conserving oil out—was probably the most environment friendly strategy to go about utilizing the rings.
The video goes into nice element concerning the forms of rings that exist, how they’re measured to make sure one of the best sealing and effectivity properties, and the way they go about working in such demanding environments for tons of of hundreds of miles. It is all extremely fascinating stuff.
Essentially the most attention-grabbing instance New Thoughts makes use of are the piston rings in a Method 1 automobile. Not like street vehicles, which use three rings, F1 vehicles use simply two rings per cylinder, one for sealing combustion and one other for oil containment. The combustion ring is comprised of a tungsten-carbide coated metal, whereas the oil ring is comprised of titanium. The tolerances are so skinny, they do not operate correctly outdoors of their very skinny working temperature window. Additionally they require a number of oil cooling to keep up that temperature.
