ENGINE COMPONENTS

(Crank mechanism)

B. B. Ale
Department of mechanical engineering
Pulchowk Campus, IOE
Tribhuvan University
2006
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 PARTS OF ENGINE
• Cylinder head (top part of the engine)
– The cylinder head encloses one end of the engine cylinders and forms the
upper end of the combustion chambers. The piston head and piston rings form
the lower end.
– Cylinder heads are cast in one piece from gray iron, iron ally or aluminium
alloy.
• Cylinder block (middle part of the engine)
– It is the foundation of the engine.
– Everything else is put inside or attached to it.
– Cylinder blocks are cast in one piece from gray iron or iron alloy or aluminium
alloy
• Oil pan (bottom part of the engine)
– The pan is plastic or metal shaped to fit on the bottom of the block. It holds a
reservoir of lubricating oil to lubricate the engine.

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 PISTON
• Piston
– It forms a movable seal between combustion chamber and crankcase
– It transmits the gas pressure to connecting rod and then to crankshaft during
combustion
– It dissipates the heat to cylinder wall
– It controls the mixture flow in 2-stroke engine
• Types of piston
– Single metal pistons
– Controlled expansion pistons (split skirt pistons)
– Ring carrier pistons
– Pistons with forced oil cooling
• Piston materials:
– Aluminium-silicon alloys AlSi12 (ρ = 2.7/dm3), AlSi18 (ρ = 2.68 kg/dm3), AlSi25
(ρ = 2.65 kg/dm3)
– Cast iron (seldom used)
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 REMARKS

• The higher the silicon content, the lower the thermal

expansion and the rate of wear, but the piston
becomes more difficult to manufacture and
machine.
• Chilled-cast or pressed; heat treated.

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 PISTON RINGS
• Piston rings
– Compression rings: responsible for final sealing of the piston in the cylinder
and dissipate heat from piston to cylinder
– Oil scraper rings: remove surplus oil from the cylinder wall back to oil pan
(sump)
• Piston ring material: heat treated cast iron
– Rings filled or coated with molybdenum have excellent thermal conductivity
– The uppermost ring is often given a hard-chromium electroplated surface
(0.06-0.25 mm thick) to protect it against corrosion and wear
• Notes:
– Install the rings with the surface marked “TOP” facing up, towards the piston
crown
– Never install chromed rings in chromium plated cylinder bores

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 PISTON PIN
• It connects the piston with connecting rod
• It transmits the force acting on the piston to connecting rod.
• Materials: case hardened and nitrided steels
– Case hardened: Ck15 (petrol), 15Cr3, 16MnCr5, 15CrNi6 (diesel)
– Nitrided steels: 34CrAl5 or 32AlCrMo4
• Piston pin keepers: to prevent the pin from moving
sideways and damaging the cylinder bore.
– They are steel circlips or snap rings with a radial spring action,
inserted into suitable grooves in the piston pin eyes or bores.

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 The pin is
press fit in
the con. rod

The pin is
clamped by
a bolt in the
con. rod

It has a bush in the

con. rod and circlips
in the piston 11
 PISTON DAMAGES
• Causes of piston damages
– Careless or incorrect handling of the piston during assembly or
installation in the engine
– Use of the wrong spark plugs
– Combustion knock or pre-ignition (SI)
– Inadequate or no lubrication
– Piston overheating due to insufficient engine oil cooling or
retarded ignition
– Very rich mixture
– Negligence in routine maintenance of oil filters and air cleaner
element
• Cylinder diameter (B) = piston diameter + installed
clearance (0.025-0.100 mm).

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 PISTON AND RING SIZES

• Standard: nominal diameter

• 1st oversize: nominal diameter + 0.25 mm
• 2nd oversize: nominal diameter + 0.50 mm
• 3rd oversize: nominal diameter + 0.75 mm

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 CONNECTING ROD
• Functions:
– It connects the piston and crankshaft
– It converts linear motion of piston into rotary motion of the
crankshaft (it transforms the linear force of the piston into a rotary
force or toque)
• Materials:
– tempering steel (0.35-0.45% carbon, alloyed with chromium,
manganese and silicon or molybdenum)
– Spheroidal graphite cast iron
– For racing engines titanium alloy with low density (ρ = 4.45
kg/dm3) and high strength (σ = 900 N/mm2).

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 CRANKSHAFT
• Purpose:
– To convert the linear motion exerted by piston and transmitted by
connecting rods into rotary motion so that the force becomes a
torque.
– Most of the torque is passed on to the clutch or transmission of the
vehicle and small portion is needed to drive valve gears, oil pump,
distributor, fuel supply system, cooling system and generator
– The flywheel also absorbs a certain amount of torque
• Materials:
– Tempering steel (e.g. 37MnSi5)
– Nitrided steel (e.g. 34CrAl6)
– Spheroidal graphite cast iron (e.g. GGG-70)
• Steel crankshafts are drop-forged to ensure high strength
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CRANKSHAFT AND FLYWHEEL

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 FLYWHEEL
• Purposes:
– A flywheel is capable of storing energy and delivering it later.
– A flywheel absorbs energy during working stroke (power stroke)
and delivers it during non-working strokes.
– The rim of the flywheel carries the gear ring in which the starter
motor pinion engages.
– The clutch plate presses against a lined surface on the flywheel
to transmit engine torque to the gearbox
• Materials:
– Steel or special grade of cast iron

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 BEARINGS
• Engine bearings:
– To locate and support the crankshaft
– The big-end (connecting rod) bearings and main bearings are split
plain shells also known as ‘sleeve bearings’
– The crankshaft has to be kept from moving back and forth in the block.
To prevent this movement, one of the main bearings is a thrust or end-
thrust bearing. This bearing has flanges on its two sides.
– Multi layer bearing shells are normally used to satisfy the stringent
demands imposed on the bearing materials
• Bearing lubrication:
– The crankshaft is lubricated by the engine oil which is usually supplied
to the main bearings by an oil pump. The bearing shells are drilled
through and often provided with a ring groove.
– This permits the oil to pass through a drillway to the big-end bearings
and, if necessary to the piston pins. 21
Sleeve bearings
Sleeve bearings have the
following main features:

1. Excellent load capability

2. Optimal adaptability to
engine design

3. Maximum durability

4. Resistance to wear and

corrosion
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 BEARING SIZES
• Standard: nominal diameter
• 1st undersize: nominal diameter – 0.25 mm
• 2nd undersize: nominal diameter – 0.50 mm
• 3rd undersize: nominal diameter – 0.75 mm

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 OIL SEALS
• The crankshaft must be sealed where it passes
through the crankcase to prevent oil from escaping.
• The most frequent way of achieving this is to install
radial shaft sealing rings or threads which divert the
oil back into the crankcase.

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 VIBRATION DAMPER
• The twist–untwist action, repeated with
every power impulse, tends to set up an
oscillating motion in the crankshaft and is
called torsional vibration.
• If it were not controlled, it could cause the
crankshaft to break at certain speeds.
• To control torsional vibrations, devices
which are called vibration dampers are
used. These dampers are mounted on the
front end of the crankshaft (opposite to
flywheel) and the drive-belt pulleys are
incorporated into them.

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 CYLINDERS
• Water cooled cylinders (liners prevent direct contact of piston into
cylinder walls)
– Wet cylinder liners are in direct contact with the coolant inside the engine
block, so that the cooling effect is particularly good. However, they have to be
most properly sealed at their joints with crankcase.
– Dry cylinder liners are not in contact with the coolant. They are pressured into
the cylinder bore and may or may not have an upper shoulder.
• Air cooled cylinders
– They are provided with cooling fins as a means of artificially enlarging their
surface area and thus improving the heat dissipation effect.
– Cylinders of air-cooled engines are cast from light alloys individually.

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 CYLINDER BORE WEAR
• As the cylinder wear occurs the pistons are unable to seal
off the combustion chamber completely. Oil then penetrates
from below (increased oil consumption) and fuel leaks
through into the crankcase (power loss).
• The cylinder wall does not wear uniformly, since the lateral
force exerted by the piston becomes lower as compression
pressure falls, and lubrication at the upper end of the
cylinder bore (near TDC) is always less complete.
• Wear tends to be higher at the top of the cylinder than at
the bottom. The normal rate of wear is in the region of
0.01mm per 10,000 km.

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 CYLINDER HEAD GASKET
• Purpose:
– To make a gastight seal at the edge of the combustion
chamber and to prevent water or oil from escaping out
of the coolant passages and oil drillways in the cylinder
block and head.
• Material:
– Asbestos-metal gaskets have proved particularly
successful for this purpose.

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 INTAKE AND EXHAUST MANIFOLDS
• Intake manifolds
– Intake manifold is located between the carburetor and the engine.
– It supplies air-fuel mixture from the carburetor to individual
cylinders.
– To ensure good cylinder filling, the intake manifolds and ports
should be as smooth as possible inside.
• Exhaust manifolds
– It is a set of tubes that carry the exhaust gases from the engine
cylinders.
• Materials
– The intake manifold which is usually made from an aluminium
alloy is sometimes bolted to the cast-iron exhaust manifold to pre-
heat the fuel-air mixture when the engine is cold.

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 CONCLUSIONS
• The service life of engine components can be extended
with the proper maintenance and repair as per company’s
guidelines.
• Wear and tear in the cylinder bore and crankshaft is noticed
as the mileage of the vehicle increases.
• Cylinder is bored to oversize to accommodate larger piston
and rings.
• Very often, the standard liner, piston and rings are fitted
instead of oversize piston and rings.
• Similarly the crankshaft is turned to undersize to
accommodate bearings.

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