International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies E-ISSN2249–8974

Research Paper
DESIGN AND PREDICTION OF TEMPERATURE
DISTRIBUTION OF PISTON OF RECIPROCATING AIR
COMPRESSOR
Bhaumik Patel1, Ashwin Bhabhor2
Address for Correspondence
1
PG Student, ME Thermal, 2Asst. Prof, Mechanical Engg. L.D.R.P Institute of Technology and Research,
Gandhinagar, Gujarat Technological University, Ahmedabad India
ABSTRACT
In this study, the work is carried out to design of Piston of reciprocating air compressor with the help of MATLAB software.
It can be seen that MATLAB gives the accurate result of design of piston and also reduce the time to design. Also the work
is done to predict the temperature distribution on the surface of the piston. Because distribution of temperature will predict
that actual condition of the piston during the operating conditions, so damage of the piston can be reduced before taking into
operations. Also it is seen that in the flat topped piston the center of the crown is hottest and the outer edge cooler by 20 to
50 0C and if the heat flux is higher so temperature at this point is also higher and it is quite difficult to reduce the
temperature.
KEYWORDS Piston, Prediction of Temperature, ANSYS, MATLAB
1. INTRODUCTION the special light alloys to form the piston. Magnesium
The main requirement of piston design is to measure and its alloys have much larger creep rates than other
the prediction of temperature distribution on the metals and therefore can usually not sustain the same
surface of piston which enables us to optimize the load and temperatures as steel or aluminum. A heat-
thermal aspects for design of piston at lower cost. pipe system can drastically reduce the temperature of
Most of the pistons are made of an aluminum alloy the piston crown from about 700ºC to only 350ºC.
which has thermal expansion coefficient, 80% higher Therefore, using heat-pipe technology makes it easier
than the cylinder bore material made of cast iron. to employ magnesium alloys in pistons.
This leads to some differences between running and Cooling gallery pistons are manufactured with water-
the design clearances. Therefore, analysis of the soluble salt cores or as‘‘cooled ring carriers’’ with a
piston thermal behavior is extremely crucial in sheet metal cooling gallery attached to the ring
designing more efficient compressor. carrier. An adjusted jet with a fixed housing injects
Good sealing of the piston with the cylinder is the the cooling oil into the annular cooling gallery
basic criteria to design of the piston. Also to improve through an inlet orifice in the piston. Maintaining the
the mechanical efficiency and reduce the inertia force correct quantity of oil decisively influences heat
in high speed machines the weight of the piston also dissipation. The outlet is formed by one or more
plays major role. To allow for thermal expansion, the bores inside a piston, preferably positioned on the
diameter of the piston must be smaller than that of side of the cooling gallery approximately opposite the
the cylinder. The necessary clearance is calculated by inlet.
estimating the temperature difference between piston 4. PISTON TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
and cylinder and considering the coefficient of Generally the heat flux is highest in the center of the
thermal expansion of piston. cylinder head, in the exhaust valve seat region, and to
2. PISTON FUNCTION AND ASSOCIATED the center of the piston. Cast-iron pistons run about
PROBLEM AREAS 40 to 800 C hotter than aluminum pistons. In the flat
The function of the piston is to absorb the energy by topped piston the center of the crown is hottest and
the gas / air which enters in the cylinder and then the outer edge cooler by 20 to 500 C. The maximum
accelerates to produce useful mechanical energy. So temperatures occur where the heat flux is high and
to prevent the leakage & proper compressor of air / access for cooling is difficult. Such locations are the
gas the piston must be sealed with the cylinder bridge between the valves and the region between the
surface. This is accomplished by the piston rings exhaust valves of adjacent cylinders. The heat
which also help to prevent oil from entering in the generated by friction between the piston and the liner
cylinder from underneath the piston. Another is a significant fraction of the liner thermal loading.
function of the rings is to keep the piston from Temperature distributions in the piston can be
contacting the cylinder wall. Less contact area calculated from the knowledge of the heat fluxes
between the cylinder and piston reduces friction, across the component surface using finite element
thereby increasing efficiency. As a result of this analysis techniques. For steady-state engine
process, heat is transferred from the combustion operation, the depth within a component to which the
gases into the piston and other components that make unsteady temperature fluctuations (caused by the
up the cylinder walls. This reduces the variations in heat flux during the cycle) penetrate is
thermodynamic efficiency of the process, and small, so a quasi-steady solution is satisfactory.
therefore also diminishes power. In this finite element analysis, the actual piston shape
3. PISTON COOLING was approximated with a three-dimensional grid for
The reduction of Temperature in the piston can be one quadrant of the piston. A standard finite element
done by heat pipe cooling method. This system analysis of the heat flow through the piston yields the
allows for a channel inside the piston skirt that directs temperature distribution within the piston. The
heat away from the piston itself. This will increases thermal stresses can therefore be calculated and
the heat transfer through the piston, which does not added to the mechanical stress field to determine the
help the efficiency of the compressor, but we can use

IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue III/April-June, 2012/172-174

 International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies E-ISSN2249–8974

total stress distribution. This can be used to define the The above programme is for Design of Piston of
potential fatigue regions in the actual piston design. Reciprocating air Compressor. By entering various
5. DESIGN DATA OF COMPRESSOR: input parameter we can get the Output of the
• Power Capacity : 5 H.P Programme which shows the design of Piston.
• Speed : 1440 R.P.M OUTPUT
• Piston Displacement : 500 LPM k = 0.0400
n = 1.2500
• Atmospheric Pressure : 1.01325 bar
Enter the Value of atm. Pressure1.01325
• Working Pressure : 10 bar p1 = 1.0133 bar
• Temperature on top surface of Piston: 158.530 C Enter the Value of working Pressure14
The above data is taken for the design of piston p3 = 14 bar
through which various geometries of the piston can p2 = 3.7664 bar
be found out which are mentioned below. The VE = 0.9257
material of the piston is Aluminum alloy 6061. ME = 0.8000
Design of the Piston can be done by general Enter the Value of Brake Power 3.73 KW
BP =3.7300 KW
programme in MATLAB Software.
IP =2.9840 KW
6. PROGRAMME IN MATLAB WD =179.0400 KW
clc R = 0.2870 KJ/Kg K
clear T1 =273 K
k=0.04 T2 = 354.9799 K
n=1.25 m = 0.6616 kg/sec
p1=input('Enter the Value of atm. Pressure') m1 = 0.0110 kg/min
p3=input('Enter the Value of working Pressure') N =1440 R.P.M
p2=sqrt(p1*p3) FAD = 2.0714 x 10 -6 m3
% VE=Volumetric Efficiency Vs = 2.2377 x 10 -6 m3
VE=1-(k*((p2/p1)^(1/n)-1)) L = 0.1000 m
% ME=Mechanical Efficiency D = 0.0534 m
% BP=Brake Power D1 = 53.3777 mm
% IP=Indicated Power p = 1 N/mm2
% WD=Work Done ts = 56.4000 mm
ME=0.80 th =3.0777 mm
BP=input('Enter the Value of Brake Power') Enter the Value of Tensile Stress19.6 N/mm2
IP=(ME)*(BP) ts =19.6000 mm
WD=(IP)*60 Pw = 0.0350 N/mm2
R=0.287 t1 = 3.9068 mm
T1=273 mu = 0.1000
T2=T1*((p2/p1)^((n-1)/n)) R = 223.7736 N
% T1=atm. Temperature Pb = 0.2500 N/mm2
% T2=Intermediate Temperature l = 16.7691 mm
% m=Mass of Air Delivery
Fig.1 shows the solid model of the piston of
m=(WD*(n-1))/(R*n*((p2/p1)^((n-1)/n)-1)*(T1+T2))
m1=m/60
reciprocating air compressor. This model is generated
% FAD=Free Air Delivery by Creo Elements which is the new version of PRO-E
% N=Revolution per Minute WILDFIRE 5.0.
N=1440
FAD=(m1*R*T2*10)/(p2*1000*N)
% Vs=Swept Volume
Vs=FAD/VE
% L=Stroke of Piston
% D=Diameter of Piston
L=0.1
D=(sqrt((Vs*4)/(pi*L)))*10 Fig.1 Piston solid model generated by Creo-
D1=D*1000 Elements
% th=Thickness of head In ANSYS workbench the above model is meshed
% ts=Tensile Stress using 76832 nodes and 44249 elements. A mesh
% p=Working Pressure convergence analysis showed that this level of mesh
p=1 refinement is adequate to perform both the static and
ts=56.4
thermal analysis of the model.
th=sqrt((3*p*(D1^2))/(16*ts))
ts=input('Enter the Value of Tensile Stress')
% t1=Radial Thickness of Piston Ring
Pw=0.035
t1=D1*(sqrt((3*Pw)/ts))
% mu=Coefficient Of Friction
% R=Maximum Side Thrust
mu=0.1
R=(mu*pi*(D1^2)*p)/4 Fig.2 Meshing in ANSYS of the Piston
% l=Length of Piston skirt 7. BOUNDARY CONDITIONS FOR
% Pb=Bearing Pressure THERMAL ANALYSIS
Pb=0.25 The thermal analysis of piston is important from
l=R/(Pb*D1)
different perspectives. First, the highest temperature
of any point in piston must not exceed more than
IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue III/April-June, 2012/172-174
 International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies E-ISSN2249–8974

66% of the melting point temperature of the alloy.

This limit temperature for the current engine piston
alloy is about 640 K. Temperature distribution leads
to thermal deformations and thermal stresses. The
piston thermal deformation has an important role in
piston skirt design which has a potential to reduce
friction and piston slap. It is generally assumed for
the piston temperature to remain constant throughout Fig. 7 Shear Stress Distribution
a working cycle and not dependent on operating 9. CONCLUSION
states. In this design the thermal stresses must be It can be seen from the thermal analysis of piston of
considered indicating the importance of piston reciprocating air compressor that the stresses
thermal analysis. Fig.3 and Fig. 4 shows the heat produced during the operations are less as compared
transfer coefficient for the piston at different to the design stress. The distribution of the
positions. temperature can be determined by this study.
Average piston temperature beneath piston ring is
about 1300C. Also we have described the general
programme of piston in MATLAB so we can design
any piston by entering the different parameters. So
This study is also useful to reduce the time to design
of piston.
10. REFERENCES
Fig.3 Thermal boundary condition for Piston 1. Srecko Manasijevic, Radomir Radisa, Srdjan Markovic,
Head Zagorka Acimovic-Pavlovic , Karlo Raic, “Thermal
analysis and microscopic characterization of the piston alloy
AlSi13Cu4Ni2Mg”, Intermetallics 19 (2011) 486 – 492.
2. Vladimir Chlumsky, “Reciprocating and Rotary
Compressor”.
3. Klaus Mollenhauer, Helmut Tschoeke, “Handbook of
Diesel Engines”.
4. Esfahanian, A. Javaheri, M. Ghaffarpour, “Thermal analysis
of an SI engine piston using different combustion boundary
condition treatments”, Applied Thermal Engineering 26
Fig.4 Thermal Boundary Condition for Piston (2006) 277–287.
Length 5. Gifford Nick, “Advances in Internal Combustion Piston
Design”.
8. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 6. Heywood John B., “Internal Combustion Engine
The temperature distribution is shown in Fig.5 within Fundamentals”.
piston below. From Fig.5 it can be seen that the
prescribed operating temperature inside the cylinder
penetrates the piston crown through nearly 45 % of
its thickness before piston ring dissipates some of
heat. The average piston temperature beneath the
piston ring is about 1300C.

Fig. 5 Temperature Distribution on the surface of

Piston.
Fig. 6 shows the total heat flux flows on the top
surface of the piston as well as from side of the piston
length. It can be seen from the Fig. 6 that from the
top surface of the piston 0.57148 to 0.71435 W/mm2
amount of heat transfer.

Fig. 6 Total Heat Flux Transfer

Fig. 7 shows that the material of the piston will work
well under the prescribed operating conditions and
the design is safe to resist the pressure of 10 bar or 10
Mpa.

IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue III/April-June, 2012/172-174