Piston

The piston is a disc which reciprocates within a cylinder. It is

either moved by the fluid or it moves the fluid which enters
the cylinder. The main function of the piston of an internal
combustion engine is to receive the impulse from the
expanding gas and to transmit the energy to the crankshaft
through the connecting rod. The piston must also disperse a
large amount of heat from the combustion chamber to the
cylinder walls

pistons are open at one end and consists of the following parts
:
1 Head or crown.. The piston head or crown may be flat,
convex or concave depending upon the design of combustion
chamber. It withstands the pressure of gas in the cylinder.
2. Piston rings. The piston rings are used to seal the cyliner in
order to prevent leakage of the gas past the piston.
3. Skirt. The skirt acts as a bearing for the side thrust of the
connecting rod on the walls of cylinder.
4. Piston pin. It is also called gudgeon pin or wrist pin. It is
used to connect the piston to the connecting rod.

Design Considerations for a Piston

In designing a piston for I.C. engine, the following points
should be taken into consideration :
1. It should have enormous strength to withstand the high gas
pressure and inertia forces.
2. It should have minimum mass to minimise the inertia
forces.
3. It should form an effective gas and oil sealing of the
cylinder.
4. It should provide sufficient bearing area to prevent undue
wear.
5. It should disprese the heat of combustion quickly to the
cylinder walls.
6. It should have high speed reciprocation without noise.
7. It should be of sufficient rigid construction to withstand
thermal and mechanical distortion.
8. It should have sufficient support for the piston pin.

Material for Pistons

The most commonly used materials for pistons of I.C. engines
are cast iron, cast aluminium,
forged aluminium, cast steel and forged steel. The cast iron
pistons are used for moderately rated
Twin cylinder airplane engine of 1930s.
Spark plug
Carburettor
Cylinder head
Propeller
Twin-cylinder
aeroplane engine
1. Front view
2. Side view

engines with piston speeds below 6 m / s and aluminium alloy

pistons are used for highly rated engines running at higher
piston sppeds. It may be noted that
1. Since the *coefficient of thermal expansion for aluminium
is about 2.5 times that of cast iron,
therefore, a greater clearance must be provided between the
piston and the cylinder wall (than with cast iron piston) in
order to prevent siezing of the piston when engine runs
continuously under heavy loads. But if excessive clearance is
allowed, then the piston will develop ‘piston slap’ while it is
cold and this tendency increases with wear. The less clearance
between the piston and the cylinder wall will lead to siezing
of piston.
2. Since the aluminium alloys used for pistons have high
**heat conductivity (nearly four
times that of cast iron), therefore, these pistons ensure high
rate of heat transfer and thus keeps
down the maximum temperature difference between the
centre and edges of the piston head or
crown.
Notes: (a) For a cast iron piston, the temperature at the centre
of the piston head (Tc) is about 425°C to 450°C
under full load conditions and the temperature at the edges of
the piston head (Te) is about 200°C to 225°C.
(b) For aluminium alloy pistons, TC is about 260°C to 290°C
and Te is about 185°C to 215°C.
3. Since the aluminium alloys are about ***three times lighter
than cast iron, therfore, its
mechanical strength is good at low tempreatures, but they lose
their strength (about 50%) at temperatures
above 325°C. Sometimes, the pistons of aluminium alloys are
coated with aluminium oxide by an
electrical method.

Piston Head or Crown

The piston head or crown is designed keeping in view the
following two main considerations, i.e.
1. It should have adequate strength to withstand the straining
action due to pressure of explosion
inside the engine cylinder, and
2. It should dissipate the heat of combustion to the cylinder
walls as quickly as possible.
On the basis of first consideration of straining action, the
thickness of the piston head is determined
by treating it as a flat circular plate of uniform thickness, fixed
at the outer edges and subjected to a uniformly distributed
load due to the gas pressure over the entire cross-section.
The thickness of the piston head (tH ), according to
Grashoff’s formula is given by

Th=√(3p.d2/16σt )
where p = Maximum gas pressure or explosion pressure in
N/mm2,
D = Cylinder bore or outside diameter of the piston in mm,
and
σt = Permissible bending (tensile) stress for the material of
the piston in MPa or N/mm2. It may be taken as 35 to 40 MPa
for grey cast iron,50 to 90 MPa for nickel cast iron and
aluminium alloy and 60 to100 MPa for forged steel.

On the basis of second consideration of heat transfer, the

thickness of the piston head should be such that the heat
absorbed by the piston due combustion of fuel is quickly
transferred to the cylinder walls. Treating the piston head as a
flat ciucular plate, its thickness is given by

th=H/12.56k(Tc-Te) (in mm)

where H = Heat flowing through the piston head in kJ/s or
watts,
k =Heat conductivity factor in W/m/°C. Its value is 46.6
W/m/°C for grey cast iron, 51.25 W/m/°C for steel and 174.75
W/m/°C for aluminium alloys.
Tc = Temperture at the centre of the piston head in °C, and
Te = Temperature at the edges of the piston head in °C.
The temperature difference (Tc – Te) may be taken as 220°C
for cast iron and 75°C for aluminium.
The heat flowing through the positon head (H) may be
deternined by the following expression, i.e.,

H = C × HCV × m × B.P. (in kW)

where C = Constant representing that portion of the heat
supplied to the engine which is absorbed by the piston. Its
value is usually taken as 0.05.
HCV = Higher calorific value of the fuel in kJ/kg.
It may be taken as 45 × 103 kJ/kg for diesel and 47 × 103 kJ/
kg for petrol,
m = Mass of the fuel used in kg per brake power per second, a
B.P. = Brake power of the engine per cylinder.

Notes : 1. The thickness of the piston head (tH) is calculated

by using equations (i) and (ii) and larger of the two
values obtained should be adopted.
2. When th is 6 mm or less, then no ribs are required to
strengthen the piston head against gas loads. But
when tH is greater then 6 mm, then a suitable number of ribs
at the centre line of the boss extending around the
skirt should be provided to distribute the side thrust from the
connecting rod and thus to prevent distortion of the
skirt. The thickness of the ribs may be takes as tH / 3 to tH / 2.
3. For engines having length of stroke to cylinder bore (L / D)
ratio upto 1.5, a cup is provided in the top
of the piston head with a radius equal to 0.7 D. This is done to
provide a space for combustion chamber.