Cylinder (engine)

1
Cylinder (engine)
Illustration of an engine cylinder with a
cross-section view of the piston, connecting
rod, valves and spark plug.
A cylinder is the central working part of a reciprocating engine, the space
in which a piston travels. Multiple cylinders are commonly arranged side
by side in a bank, or engine block, which is typically cast from aluminum
or cast iron before precision features are machined into it. The cylinders
may then be lined with sleeves or liners of some harder metal, or given a
wear-resistant coating such as Nikasil. Ceramic linings have also been
tried, so far unsuccessfully, except with low-speed "oilless" steam
engines.
[1]
A cylinder's displacement, or swept volume, is its
cross-sectional area (the square of half the bore times pi ) times the
distance the piston travels within the cylinder (the stroke). The engine
displacement is the swept volume of one cylinder times the number of
cylinders in the engine.
A piston is seated inside each cylinder by several metal piston rings which
fit around its outside surface in machined grooves; typically two for
compressional sealing and one to seal the oil (In steam engines only
compressional sealing rings are used of which there can be from two to
five on the piston). A fine vapour of oil is usually maintained suspended
in the steam working in the cylinder. The rings make near contact with the
hard walls of the liner, riding on a thin layer of lubricating oil which is
essential to keep the engine from seizing up. This contact, and the
resulting wear, explains the need for the hard lining on the inner surface of the cylinder. The breaking in or running
in of an engine is a process whereby tiny irregularities in the metals are encouraged to form congruent grooves. An
engine job or rebore is a process in which the cylinders are machined out to a slightly larger diameter, and new
sleeves and piston rings installed.
Heat engines
Cylinder with piston in a double acting steam
engine
Heat engines, including Stirling engines, are sealed machines using
pistons within cylinders to transfer energy from a heat source to a
colder reservoir, often using steam or another gas as the working
substance. (See Carnot cycle.) The first illustration depicts a
longitudinal section of a cylinder in a steam engine. The sliding part at
the bottom is the piston, and the upper sliding part is a distribution
valve (in this case of the D slide valve type) that directs steam
alternately into either end of the cylinder. Refrigerators and air
conditioners are heat engines driven in reverse cycle as pumps.
Cylinder (engine)
2
Internal combustion engines
Malossi air-cooled cylinder for two-stroke scooters. The exhaust port
is visible to the right.
Four-stroke cycle (Otto cycle)
Internal combustion engines operate on the inherent
volume change accompanying oxidation of gasoline
(petrol), diesel fuel (or some other hydrocarbon) or
ethanol, an expansion which is greatly enhanced by the
heat produced. They are not classical heat engines since
they expel the working substance, which is also the
combustion product, into the surroundings.
The reciprocating motion of the pistons is translated
into crankshaft rotation via connecting rods. As a
piston moves back and forth, a connecting rod changes
its angle; its distal end has a rotating link to the
crankshaft. In addition to cylinder-piston engines, there
are also rotary turbines. The Wankel engine is a rotary
adaptation of the cylinder-piston concept which has
been used by Mazda and NSU in automobiles. Rotary
engines are relatively quiet because they lack the clatter
of reciprocating motion.
Air-cooled engines generally use individual cases for
the cylinders to facilitate cooling. Inline motorcycle
engines are an exception, having two-, three-, four-, or
even six-cylinder air-cooled units in a common block.
Water-cooled engines with only a few cylinders may
also use individual cylinder cases, though this makes
the cooling system more complex. The Ducati
motorcycle company, which for years used air-cooled
motors with individual cylinder cases, retained the
basic design of their V-twin engine while adapting it to
water-cooling.
In some engines, especially French designs, the
cylinders have "wet liners". They are formed separately
from the main casting so that liquid coolant is free to
flow around their outsides. Wet-lined cylinders have
better cooling and a more even temperature
distribution, but this design makes the engine as a
whole somewhat less rigid.
A typical four-cylinder automobile engine has a single
row of water-cooled cylinders. V engines (V6 or V8)
use two angled cylinder banks. The "V" is designed to
minimize vibration through destructive interference of harmonic overtones. (The "straight-eight" engine is a thing of
the past.) Many other engine configurations exist.
Cylinder (engine)
3
Air-cooled boxer engine on a 1954 BMW
motorcycle
During use, the cylinder is subject to wear from the rubbing action of
the piston rings and piston skirt. This is minimized by the thin oil film
which coats the cylinder walls, but eventually the cylinder becomes
worn and slightly oval in shape, usually necessitating a rebore to an
oversize diameter and the fitting of new, oversize pistons. The cylinder
does not wear above the highest point reached by the top compression
ring of the piston, which can result in a detectable ridge. If an engine is
only operated at low rpm for its early life (e.g. in a gently driven
automobile) then abruptly used in the higher rpm range (e.g. by a new
owner), the slight stretching of the connecting rods at high speed can
enable the top compression ring to contact the wear ridge, breaking the
ring. For this reason it is important that all engines, once initially
run-in, are occasionally "exercised" through their full speed range to develop a tapered wear profile rather than a
sharp ridge.
Cylinder Sleeving, Cylinder walls can become very worn or damaged from use. In such cases the use of a sleeve can
restore proper clearances to an engine. Sleeves are made out of iron alloys and are very reliable. A sleeve is installed
by a machinist at a machine shop. The engine block is mounted on a precision boring machine where the cylinder is
then bored to a size much larger than normal and a new cast-iron sleeve can be inserted. The sleeves can be pressed
into place, or they can be held in by an interference fit. The interference fit is done by boring the cylinder (between
.003-.006 thousandths of an inch) smaller than the sleeve being installed, then heating the engine block and while
hot, the cold sleeve can be inserted easily. When the engine block cools down it shrink fits around the sleeve holding
it into place. Once a sleeve has been installed the cylinder needs to be finish bored and honed to match the piston.
References
[1] http:/ / www. www. spilling. de/ uk/ index-steamengines.htm. com
External links
The Long History of Reverse-Cylinder Engine Designs (http:/ / motocrossactionmag. com/ Main/ News/
THE-LONG-HISTORY-OF-REVERSECYLINDER-ENGINE-DESIGNS-7056. aspx) -
motocrossactionmag.com
Article Sources and Contributors
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Article Sources and Contributors
Cylinder (engine) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=383044267 Contributors: Ahoerstemeier, Akerans, Alynna Kasmira, Andy Dingley, Ardonik, Ashawley, Axium,
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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
File:Cylinder 2 (PSF).png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cylinder_2_(PSF).png License: unknown Contributors: Andy Dingley, Ariadacapo, Bastique, CarolSpears,
PatrciaR
Image:Cylinder-NF.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cylinder-NF.png License: Public Domain Contributors: Users Ericd, Koyaanis Qatsi on en.wikipedia
Image:Malossi 70cc Morini cylinder.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Malossi_70cc_Morini_cylinder.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader
was Kallemax at en.wikipedia
File:4StrokeEngine Ortho 3D Small.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:4StrokeEngine_Ortho_3D_Small.gif License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors:
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File:R68-opposed-cylinders.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:R68-opposed-cylinders.jpg License: Attribution Contributors: Original uploader was Motorrad-67 at
en.wikipedia Later versions were uploaded by Liftarn at en.wikipedia.
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