Investigation on laser surface texturing for friction reduction in multi cylinder internal combustion engine

ABSTRACT

The frictional losses can be reduced by proper selection of lubricating oil, the material of mating components and surface microstructure of material used in internal combustion engine. The present work focuses on the friction power reduction by changing the surface microstructure of piston rings by Laser Surface Texturing (LST). Piston ring with dimple textured is fabricated and used in the motor-driven engine to study the frictional characteristics and compared with untextured piston ring. The two series of experiments were carried out on developed multi cylinder I.C.Engine test rig under different speeds with repeatability. It is observed that there is a 26% reduction in the frictional losses with the use of texture on the piston ring. It ensures the smooth running of the engine with better performance and higher thermal efficiency. Brake power is increased by reducing friction power with the help of LST on piston ring in I.C. engine which indirectly increase thermal efficiency of I.C.Engine.

KEYWORDS:

• Laser surface texturing (LST)
• piston ring
• frictional losses
• engine performance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is partially supported by the M/S. Modtech Machine Pvt. Ltd. Moraiya (Dist Sanand), Ahmedabad–382213, Gujarat, India (http://www.modtechworld.com) and M/S. Sahajanand Laser Technology Ltd. Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India (http://www.sltl.com) and gratefully acknowledged.