In this issue’s article on Engine Structure I want to look more closely at the cylinder liner and its ability to play a significant role in the overall cooling system in race engines. Despite its passive role historically, this rather simple component has grown in significance in the engine’s cooling system – especially the liner’s exterior, rather than its interior, since guiding the piston requires a more or less round shape there. Where the influence on the cooling...
When I started my first job as a design engineer I was given the task of engineering a crankcase, so the first thing I did was try to understand how a block was what it was. I studied the crankcases of rival engines, as well as earlier versions of ours, and tried to figure out why engineers did what they did and how they came to their decisions. To be honest it took me a lot of time before I had any insights into crankcase design. The main reason was the fact that every design feature in a...
It is said sometimes that engine engineers can ‘feel’ their engine working, and when it is not running properly then they can suffer a lot of stress in resolving that. Would they know that the engines themselves can also suffer internal stress? Designers of complex castings are familiar with internal stresses in engine blocks and heads. The reason for these stresses is the fact that the solidification of the material is not homogeneous throughout the part, leading to internal...
Whenever we mention O-rings everyone knows what we mean – those small black rubber rings, the simplest gaskets you can get. Or so we assume. Since the O-ring was first developed, a long time ago now, enormous strides have been made in its engineering. Ongoing material development has increased its range of applications, while better production toolings and processes have improved its dimensional stability and mechanical robustness. An O-ring is one of the most robust sealing concepts,...
In this article I will take a closer look at the specifics of the liner flange design and what one should take into consideration, with the goal of trying not to crack it. In principle, cylinder liner design does not look too difficult. It is more or less a machined cylindrical component, often with a flange somewhere of somewhat bigger diameter to keep the liner at its correct height. But on closer inspection there are a lot of things that might lead to distortions of either the liner...