Model comparison of prototype diesel rotating liner engine and baseline diesel engine

Frictional losses in combustion engines have been the subject of many automotive engineers’ research. Understanding the fundamentals behind each frictional loss helps pave the way to finding a solution in reducing the overall frictional power losses and increasing efficiency. The reciprocating piston assembly has been proven to account for over 60% of all frictional power losses within a combustion engine. A major factor contributing to this is when the piston motion is temporarily static at top dead center (TDC) and bottom dead center (BDC). This causes the frictional forces between the cylinder wall and the piston rings to dramatically increase during these time periods. A solution to this would be to rotate the cylinder wall in order to keep the frictional forces in the hydrodynamic regime throughout the entire cycle of the combustion engine process. The prototype diesel rotating liner engine (RLE) is designed to prove this concept. The prototype diesel RLE is a Cummins 4BT engine that has been converted to a single cylinder engine and uses a crank pulley and gear system to rotate the cylinder wall. The purpose of this report is to provide information about the history of this research, a piston assembly friction model comparison between baseline engine and RLE, and a commercial application analysis. The results provide evidence of improved motoring operations and that a successfully operating prototype would be highly valued in the heavy-duty diesel industry.Mechanical Engineerin