Improving fuel efficiency with laser surface textured piston rings

An experimental study is presented to evaluate the effect of partially laser surface textured piston rings on the fuel consumption and exhaust gas composition of a compression-ignition IC engine. Dynamometer tests were performed with a Ford Transit naturally aspirated 2500 cm(3) engine at a wide range of engine speeds under near-half-load conditions. A comparison was made between the performance of reference non-textured conventional barrel-shaped rings and optimum partial laser surface texturing (LST) cylindrical-shape rings. It was found that the partial LST piston rings exhibited up to 4% lower fuel consumption, while no traceable change in the exhaust gas composition or smoke level was observed. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.