Piston of Large Marine Engine

written by: Willie Scott edited by: KennethSleight updated: 11/6/2011

The piston of a large marine diesel engine consists of the piston crown and the piston skirt. The crown is cast
from special alloys to cope with the high temperatures of combustion. The skirt is cast from grey cast iron and
bolted onto the crown; acting as a guide in the liner.
Modern marine diesel engines have large pistons being made up of the crown and the skirt; the grooves for the
piston rings being machined into the crown.
The skirt is bolted to the crown the studs also passing through the piston rod end, the other end of the piston rod
being connected to the crosshead bearing.
The following sections examine the pistons used on large diesel engines, the first section giving the functions of
the piston.

Function of the Piston in Two and Four Stroke Engines.

The piston converts the force produced by the combustion gases to mechanical power through its
reciprocating motion.

Piston crown forms part of combustion chamber.

The shape of piston crown is governed by shape of the combustion chamber in the cylinder head.

In a crosshead type engine although the skirt is much shorter, it still acts as a guide. However in this case the
side thrust due to the connecting rod angularity is taken up by the crosshead guide and guide shoes.

In a trunk type engine the piston skirt is long; taking up the side thrust due to connecting rod angularity, as well
as acting as guide for the piston in the liner.

Design Features of the Large Piston

As we have seen, the composite piston is composed of two parts; being used in slow and medium speed two and
four - stroke engines. Its design features are discussed below,

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Crown

Crowns can be of a concave or convex contour.

Modern crowns have an inconel alloy layer welded to the top of the crown.
Convex crown is suitable for the high mechanical stress due to thickness of the material.
A thin crown can be used when there is a low thermal stress present.
All crowns are subjected to high mechanical and thermal stresses.

The crown carries a set of compression and oil rings in machined grooves, the grooves are normally chromeplated.
Heat resistance material is used such as; Cr-Mo / alloy steel is used in manufacture of the crowns.
Extensive cooling is essential for the piston crown.
In modern engines, the thicker crowns have lube oil cooling supplied and discharged up through the centre of
a hollow piston rod.
Skirt

In trunk engines it takes up the side thrust due to connecting rod angularity.
Guides piston in the liner and prevents rocking.
In a four-stroke engine the skirt accommodates an oil scraper ring.
Can be provided with wear ring in some design.
Made of wear resistance and low co-efficient cast iron.
A sketch of a piston at TDC in the cylinder liner is shown below;