Piston Rings

The piston ring is essentially a seal. The piston ring of an internal combustion engine must be

designed with sufficient heat resistance to withstand exposure to high- temperature gas. The
single-piece metallic piston ring with self tension, which is generally used in internal
combustion engines, was first invented by J. Ramsbottom in 1854. Piston rings are mostly
single-piece, slotted, and self-tightening. Their basic shape is a thinwalled, axially short
circular cylinder. To generate the necessary contact pressure against the cylinder wall, the
piston rings are in the shape of an open circular spring. Most piston rings are made from cast
iron or steel.

Purpose and function of piston rings

-Sealing of the combustion chamber, in order to maintain the pressure of the combustion gas.
The combustion gas must not enter the crankcase, and oil must not reach the combustion
chamber.

-Transfer of heat built up in the piston to the cylinder surface (the rings also play an important
role in cooling the piston head).

-Improving heat transfer from the piston to the cylinder wall.

-Controlling the oil balance, where a minimum of oil is needed on the cylinder surface to create
a hydrodynamic situation, while oil consumption needs to be kept as low as possible.

These tasks are performed by the piston rings as follows:

Top or compression ring:
Compression of combustion air or gas mixture, and the resulting gas pressure in the combustion
cycle, transfer of generated heat to the cylinder surface and, to a slight degree, scraping of the
residual oil from the cylinder surface.

Second piston ring: Support of the remaining gas pressure due to blow-by past the 1st piston
ring, scraping of oil from and transfer of generated heat to the cylinder surface.

Oil control ring:

Also known as bottom ring. Scraping of the oil. It is primarily for controlling the supply of oil to
the cylinder wall, in order to lubricate the piston skirt and the oil control rings.