Lubricating Oil Consumption Research Articles

Research on the prediction algorithm of aero engine lubricating oil consumption based on multi-feature information fusion

Research on the prediction algorithm of aero engine lubricating oil consumption based on multi-feature information fusion

Experimental Study on Performance and Emission of an Electric Turbocharged Hydrogen Direct Injection Engine.

Hydrogen is emerging as a promising zero-carbon emission energy source for vehicle engines. However, the full potential of hydrogen engines and their economic viability remain uncertain. Additionally, comprehensive data on ultralean combustion performance and emissions as well as strategies for improving HC and CO emissions are lacking. This study addresses these gaps by thoroughly examining hydrogen combustion and emissions in a 1.5 L engine. Incorporating a hydrogen direct injection (HDI) system and an electric supercharger, we investigated emissions under various piston ring tensions during lean limit operations. Our findings reveal that hydrogen exhibits a fast combustion speed in the engine within 20 °CA, along with excellent ultralean burn performance, expanding the lambda limit to 3. As the load increases, the thermal efficiency significantly improves, reaching a maximum of 40.8%. NOx emissions peak at a lambda of 1.1 but decrease notably above 2.7, with levels below 10 ppm. At a lambda near 3, NOx emissions hover between 0 and 5 ppm, approaching zero emissions. Additionally, lubricating oil consumption during engine operation yields a minor HC and CO emissions. Higher tension piston rings result in lower HC and CO emissions, typically below 5 ppm, nearing zero emission levels.

Study on the influence of piston ring assembly structure on lubricating oil consumption and optimization design

Study on the influence of piston ring assembly structure on lubricating oil consumption and optimization design

Novel measurement techniques for oil consumption and spark plug temperature measurement to support engine components development in terms of wear and in situ monitoring

Large engines will continue to play a major role in the transportation sector, especially in shipping. In the energy sector, they are essential due to increasingly complex networks and operating strategies. These two sectors are set up for a renewable world through their use of large engines operated with alternative, preferably carbon-free fuels. Intensive research will remain necessary to make these engines even more climate-friendly, to further increase their lifetime and to reduce production, operating and maintenance costs. This research will be supported by the development and deployment of novel key technologies. This paper describes two of these technologies that have been developed at the Large Engines Competence Center: a temperature measurement spark plug and a system for measuring engine oil consumption. Both technologies have in common that they should help engines to run more efficiently, cleaner and with less wear. Spark plug wear impacts engine reliability and maintenance costs. Likewise, wear of the piston assembly and its tribological system is of great importance. This paper provides insight into the development of both technologies and the first instance of their simultaneous application on an engine test bench. It also reveals how spark plug temperature, oil consumption and emissions parameters correlate with each other. The results of an extensive running-in program and endurance runs are presented, and the influence of the manufacturing tolerance of the piston rings on wear and lubricating oil consumption is shown.

Experimental Investigation of Oil Transport during Low Load to High Load Transient in Internal Combustion Engines

Reducing the Lubricating Oil Consumption (LOC) has been a critical focus for engine manufacturers. LOC not only depends on engine operating condition but also the history of the operating condition variations. This work seeks to understand the oil transport in the ring pack during the low load to high load transient through experimental investigations. An optical engine with 2D Laser Induced Fluorescence (2D-LIF) technique, equipped with a modern low-tension Three-Piece Oil Control Ring (TPOCR), was applied to investigate the oil transport in the ring pack. It was found that, after the engine stayed under the blowby separation line long enough, a sudden increase to high load can result in a huge increase of oil ejection to the liner from the top ring groove in the expansion strokes. The mechanism behind it is that, when the load is increased, the oil accumulated inside the top ring groove during the low load condition is pushed out by the gas flow after the peak cylinder pressure is reached. Different combinations of load, speed, rate of change in load and time duration at low load were tested to examine their influence on this leakage mechanism. An operation with a gradual increase of engine load was found to be able to reduce the amount of oil leaked to the liner by releasing more oil to the second land. These findings can help the effort to reduce the oil emission (OE) generated from Spark Ignited (SI) engines equipped with TPOCR in the real-world transient driving conditions as well as the emission tests.

Lubricant Oil Consumption and Opportunities for Oil-Free Turbines in the Hydropower Sector: A European Assessment

Lubricant oil is used in hydropower units to minimize friction, improving the turbine efficiency and reducing the wear. However, oil production is a pollutant process, while eventual spills may affect water quality and damage freshwater ecosystems. In this study, the lubricant oil consumption of the European hydropower fleet was estimated (considering its installed capacity of 254 GW). The energy required to extract and process the oil was also estimated based on available literature data. The oil consumption was estimated to be 22 × 103 tons/year, and the associated CO2 emissions are 105 tons/year. The lubricant oil costs EUR 116 million per year. Although this is only 0.0022% of the oil consumed as a primary energy source in the European context, and less than 0.4% of the European industry consumption of lubricant oil, results show that new bearing types and oil-free turbines (e.g., self-lubricating or water-lubricated turbines) can improve the sustainability of the hydropower sector, minimizing the risks and impacts associated with incidental oil spills and leakages. The provided data can also be used for Life Cycle Assessment analyses.

Hybrid digital twin for conditional lubricant oil transport simulation and oil consumption prediction in internal combustion engines

Reducing lubricant oil consumption (LOC) has long been an interest to engine manufacturers in an effort to reduce overall emissions from internal combustion (IC) engines. However, directly correlating engine operating conditions with LOC rates is a challenging task given its complex and multi-physics nature. Building on previous experimental observations and modeling efforts, a baseline hybrid model, which combines traditional physics-based numerical simulation with modern machine learning techniques, was developed. As the first step, the model is to compute the oil exiting the top ring gap with given oil supply rate and locations to the second land. Studies performed using the model reveal a strong dependency of LOC on engine speed, load as well as the relative locations of piston ring gaps. In particular, the close proximity of the oil source on second land to the top ring gap and the reverse gas flow at low load conditions can both induce high LOC. Piston ring gap rotations and the different oil supply mechanisms to the piston ring pack are also found to heavily influence the oil consumption behavior and oil film thickness distribution pattern. The present work is the first step to a more comprehensive model for predicting LOC for healthy systems of piston ring packs. The efficiency of the model made it possible to study the oil redistribution that takes many engine cycles to reach equilibrium and rotation of the ring gaps that could happen in reality at a time scale of minutes and even longer.

Determination of the residual life of an automobile engine according

The article discusses a method for determining the residual life of an automobile engine by the parameters of pressure in the lubrication system and oil consumption for carbon monoxide. The obtained experimental statistical data of public joint stock company "KAMAZ" on wear and macrogeometry of the bearing parts of the crankshaft of KAMAZ engines and parts of the cylinder piston group are described. According to experimental data, graphs of changes in structural and diagnostic parameters from the wear of engine parts are constructed. The methods of mathematical statistics (the least squares method, the method of assessing the adequacy of the model according to the Fisher criterion) were used to approximate various types of functional dependencies. The reliability of functional dependences of forecasting the residual life of automotive engines has been confirmed. Keywords: reliability, failure rate, structural parameter, diagnostic parameter, prediction of residual engine life, experimental data, exponential dependence

Effect of Blowby on the Leakage of the Three-Piece Oil Control Ring and Subsequent Oil Transport in Upper Ring-Pack Regions in Internal Combustion Engines

The lubricating oil consumption (LOC) in internal combustion engines contributes to emission and deteriorates the performance of the aftertreatment. In this work, an optical engine with a 2D Laser-induced fluorescence (2D-LIF) system was used to study operating conditions critical to real driving oil emissions. Additionally, numerical models were used to analyze the ring dynamics, oil flow and gas flow. It was found that the intake pressure that results in zero blowby is the separation line between two drastically different oil flow patterns in the ring pack. With intake pressure lower than the separation line, the oil accumulation of the three-piece oil control ring groove (TPOCR) begins to increase, followed by the drastic increase of the oil accumulation in the third land, second land, and finally visible oil leaking through the top ring gap, given enough time. The time required for the oil to leak through different rings was investigated using both measurements and modeling. The effects of drain holes and rail gaps, as well as their relative rotation on oil accumulation and leakage from the TPOCR groove, were analyzed. These findings contribute to improving ring pack designs and engine calibration in spark ignition (SI), gas, and hydrogen engines equipped with TPOCR to minimize the negative impacts of LOC.

Multi-objective Optimization and Sensitivity Analysis of the Parameters Affecting Sealing Performance of the Piston Rings Face through the Validated Model for the Four-stroke Bi-fuel Engine

A multi-objective optimization study and sensitivity analysis of a SI engine piston-rings pack using dynamics analysis software (AVLExcite Piston&Rings) and optimizer software (modeFRONTIER) are presented. The effects of changing the piston rings' tangential force and face profile on the oil and gas flow behavior inside the piston-rings pack are investigated by calculating the lubrication oil consumption, blow-by, and power losses. The feasibility of the simulation model was determined by comparing it to empirical data obtained from experimental testing of the engine to estimate the amount of oil consumption and blow-by gas flow. Using the statistical modeling algorithm SS-ANOVA, multi-objective optimization investigates the individual and interaction effects of the three rings' tangential forces. This method significantly reduces the time and cost required to find the optimal design, an approach not reported in previous studies. The results showed a strong correlation between simulation and experimental test results, indicating an acceptable match during model validation. Furthermore, the predictions show that tangential forces affect sealing performance; thus, modifying the tangential force resulted in a 30% reduction in oil consumption and less than a 0.8 percent increase in friction. Furthermore, the LKZ oil control ring model efficiently reduces oil consumption by 25% while slightly increasing friction (about 10 percent without face coating).

Deuterium Tracer for Accurate Online Lube-Oil-Consumption Measurement: Stability, Compatibility and Tribological Characteristics

Because of the impact of lubrication on the efficiency and the lifecycle cost and emissions, the lubricating-oil consumption (LOC) is one of the key indicators in the research and development of internal combustion engines. State-of-the-art methods for LOC measurement are based on the use of a certain tracer to track the oil consumption. However, all of the currently available tracers have their downsides (e.g., the use of a radioactive tracer, corrosive emissions, etc.). Therefore, in the course of this research project, a new tracer substance that is based on a stable nonradioactive isotope of hydrogen—deuterium—was developed and tested thoroughly. The LOC is monitored by a hydrogen/deuterium isotopic ration in the exhaust gas by using an isotopic water analyzer. Tribologically important properties, such as the viscosity, stability, and compatibility of the tracer were investigated by laboratory experiments by using several tools, such as infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography, thermogravimetry, etc. The properties relevant to the applicability of the method, such as the accuracy and the reproducibility, were investigated by engine test-bench experiments. Finally, long-term stability tests of the tracer were conducted with a field test.

Remaining Service Life (RSL ) Assessment of Engine Oil in Rock Excavators

The quality of lubricant oil plays a central role in the performance of machineries. Aggressive working environment of industry, particularly in mining industry, remains a dominant point in faster rate of degradation. The colossal consumption of oil is a factor to an inflated maintenance cost which can be averted by optimizing the lubricant oil consumption using scientific and methodical approaches. At present the schedule drain-off interval is accomplished at a regular interval of operation hour recommended by manufacturers. This is a conservative approach and results in loss of useful life. This work aims to determine the Remaining Service life (RSL) of the engine oil in Excavators. The oil properties are measured at regular intervals. Kinematic Viscosity, Viscosity Index (VI), Total Acid Number (TAN) and Total Base Number (TBN) are measured. The measured values suggest the degradation level of oil before filling fresh oil. The remaining service life (RSL) is determined by juxtaposing Parameter Profile Approach (PPA), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Vector Projection Approach (VPA). The approach will be a precursor to the excavator maintenance personnel to drain-off the oil at right time despite of manufacturer’s recommendation.

Prediction and Experimental Verification for Oil Transport Volume around Three-Piece Type Oil Control Ring Affecting Lubricating Oil Consumption

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Reducing of lubricant oil consumption (LOC) remains a major issue for internal-combustion engines. Especially in recent years, in order to comply with Particular Number (PN) regulations and lower oil viscosity to reduce friction loss, need to reduce the LOC has increased. Controlling the upward oil flow, that passes the piston and piston rings, is effective in reducing the LOC. In addition, oil control ring (OCR) has significant effect on upward oil flow. Therefore, development of a high-precision prediction method of oil behavior around the OCR is important for prediction of LOC. So, the model of Three-piece type oil control ring (3POCR) motion within the OCR groove and the model of oil behavior around the 3POCR were developed using the computer aided engineering (CAE) method in this paper. These models calculate in detail the upward oil outflow to the 3rd land from the OCR groove, which is based on the relation between the OCR motion and the gas pressure as well as the inertial force of oil. Since factors that greatly affect the prediction accuracy are the gas pressure around the OCR and the OCR motion, these were measured and verified in the actual engine. Furthermore, oil behavior observation using in-cylinder visualization engine, and oil film thickness measurement using optical fiber were conducted for experimental verification of the oil behavior model around the 3POCR. As a result, qualitative tendency of calculated results and measured results showed good agreement. Also, comparison in two different OCR specification, the similarly tendency was obtained. Therefore, the effectiveness of the developed prediction model was confirmed.</div></div>

Lubricating Oil Consumption Measurement on Large Gas Engines

Increasing the reliability of combustion engines while further reducing emissions and life cycle costs are the main drivers for optimizing lubricating oil consumption (LOC). However, in order to reduce the lube oil consumption of an engine, it is crucial to measure it accurately. Therefore, a LOC measurement device based on the use of the stable isotope deuterium has been developed. Previous publications have focused on the use of passenger car engines. This publication describes the first application of this newly developed method on a large gas engine. This is of particular interest as large-bore engines might show different oil consumption behavior, much higher LOC in gram per hour and the bigger oil reservoir need larger amounts of tracer. Additionally, a different type of fuel has an effect on oil consumption measurement as well, as presented in this paper. The results showed this method can be applied to large gas engines as well after conducting minor changes to the measurement setup. However, other than liquid fuels, the origin and isotopic composition of the natural gas has to be monitored. Ideally, gas from large storage is used for carrying out these measurements.

A novel method for lubrication oil consumption measurement for wholistic tribological assessments of internal combustion engines

The research and development of combustion engines will face multiple challenges during the next years. Increasing reliability while further reducing emissions and life cycle costs are just a few of them. The reduction of the lubrication oil consumption (LOC) addresses all the aforementioned challenges. Reducing the oil consumption of an engine, reduces emissions like particle emissions, hydrocarbon emissions and combustion anomalies. However, the biggest incitement for optimizing the oil consumption would be to lower the life cycle cost through extending the durability of the exhaust gas aftertreatment system, as contaminants coming from the oil are considered to lead to poisoning of catalytic materials. In addition, it is also important to take the cost of the lubrication oil itself into account as well. Thus, especially for manufacturers of large stationary gas engines, reducing – or rather, optimizing – the lube oil consumption is becoming more and more of a focus. However, a further reduction of the LOC causes state-of-the-art measurement methods to reach their limitations regarding resolution and lower detection limit (LDL). Hence, new methods need to be developed. Most currently available systems are based on the tracer technology, where a naturally abundant or synthetically added substance of the oil is traced down in the exhaust gas. By quantifying the amount of tracer in the exhaust gas, the LOC can be calculated. The newly developed and patented (Rossegger and Engelmayer, 2018) [1] method presented in this article is based on the use of the stable hydrogen isotope deuterium (2H) as a tracer. It is added to the oil by conducting a hydrogen/deuterium (1H/2H) exchange process with synthetic oil, which is then blended into the oil. When operating the engine, the deuterium can be detected in the exhaust gas water vapor using an isotopic water analyzer based on the cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS). The present article will first focus on the synthesis of the tracer, then on the design of a prototype and finally present measurement results collected on a passenger car engine.

Study on the effect of piston and piston ring specifications on engine lubricant oil consumption

Study on the effect of piston and piston ring specifications on engine lubricant oil consumption

Lean lubrication of ultra large modulus open gear and rack pair: A case study of the gear-rack drive mechanism of the Chinese “Three Gorge Dam” ship lift

Large modulus gear-rack mechanism has strong bearing capacity. They are often used in heavy-duty equipment, i.e. for heavy load lifting. This study is focused on the ultra large modulus heavy duty open gear-rack drive mechanism of the Chinese “Three Gorge Dam” ship lift, of which lubrication design and management plays a critical role in safe operation and service life extension of the mechanism. Against the currently adopted manual oiling which raises concerns from ineffective lubrication, high lubricate wastes as well as risks of maintainers, this study aims to propose lean lubrication design method based on parametric modeling and numerical analysis. A three-dimensional linear contact hybrid elastohydrodynamic lubrication model was established to characterize lubrication behavior under effects of contact area size and morphology. With the EHL model, lean oil supply conditions were exploited based on effective lubricating oil thickness. Given the uncertainty and complexity of lubrication state in actual working conditions, texture design was then proposed for better tribological performance under starved lubrication conditions. The proposed models and methods were applied to the gear-rack drive of the Chinese “Three Gorge Dam” ship lift. The numerical results suggested the proposed lean lubrication plan may consume 4.13% less lubricating oil in one mesh cycle than that calculated by conventional methods. The reduction of lubricating oil consumption can be larger if the high waste from oil oversupply by manual oiling is considered. The output of case study may serve as the basis of further development of lean lubrication system for the gear-rack drive mechanism.

Определение норм расхода смазочного масла дизелями с учетом инновационной технологии их регенерации на судах

The article considers the current methods of calculating norms of lubricating oil consumption by marine diesels that provide for three causes of oil loss: oil burning, evaporation rate, and replacement expense. According to the manual, the lubricating oil consumption for replacement is considered only in trunk diesel engines; in main crosshead diesel engines with capacity over 3000 kW it is not considered and not performed. The lubricating oil consumption norms are proposed to carry out in terms of burnout and evaporation, according to the methods of determining fuel consumption norms. To determine consumption norms, it is necessary to know the oil consumption characteristic in relation to the load of the diesels and the load distribution in the ship operating mode. In the low speed crosshead diesel engines the circulating oil is only consumed for evaporation, but the trunk diesel engines consume oil for evaporation, burnout and replacement. The diagram of dependence of the relative cylinder oil consumption on the relative load of the diesel engine in the helical characteristic mode is illustrated. A simplified technological scheme of low-tonnage regeneration of the used motor oils is presented. It is proposed to calculate the oil consumption by the lubrication pump according to a nonlinear dependence based on the speed of the crankshaft at a specific mode. The analysis of the evaporation and burnout is recommended to carry out using a linear relationship, subject to oil consumption in the idle mode. The cost of circulating oil replacement is recommended to calculate according to the diesel operating time. Application of the used lubricating oil regeneration by means of a ship small-sized plant allows to achieve the oil consumption reduction by 19-48% depending on the ship operating mo

Cylinder Bore Deformation Finite Element Analysis Methodology for Inline Engines and Parametric Optimization

Cylinder bore deformation plays an important role between piston and cylinder bore. The cylinder bore deformation may happen due to manufacturing process tolerances, assembly loading, thermal loading and dynamic gas loading. It has significant impact on the friction, fuel economy, lubricant oil consumption, reduction in power, increase in emissions, uneven power generation in different cylinders etc. This work proposes FEA analysis procedure that could be used to evaluate the cylinder bore distortion due to assembly (clamping) load of cylinder head bolts. Cylinder bore deformation due to head bolt clamp loading is predicted using FEA analysis package MSC NASTRAN for 3 cylinder inline Diesel engine. The effect of various parameters like effect of increase in pretension force on amount of bore deformation are studied. The predicted results are compared with previous experimental results and fair agreement have been observed.

Design of a Novel Gasoline Particulate Filter Aging Method

Gasoline particulate filters (GPF) recently entered the market and are already regarded as state-of-the-art for gasoline exhaust aftertreatment systems to enable EU6d-TEMP fulfillment and beyond. Due to its rapid market introduction, the field of GPF lifetime evaluation is still open for research. In this context, the paper describes the advantages of a method for accelerated investigation of filter ash loading during the development of particulate filters. The central task is the simulation of real-world lubrication oil consumption and combustion, which is the major source of ash in the exhaust gases. For that purpose, a burner test bench designed for catalyst aging was additionally equipped with an oil injection unit. The injection unit enables control of the oil volume and the droplet sizes as precursors for the ash particulates. The results obtained with the new filter aging method are compared with data from vehicle endurance runs and with burner test investigations in which the fuel is doped with oil. The latter method is currently considered as the state-of-the-art method for accelerated ash generation. The new method proofed to be vehicle-equivalent in terms of ash-induced backpressure, filtration efficiency, wall ash layer formation, and wall/plug ash ratio. In this context, it turned out that it is important not to atomize the oil droplets too far, since smallest particulates accumulate mainly at the walls and cause unrealistically high backpressures. Furthermore, the ash loading process should include different mass flows in order to achieve stable backpressure results.