Twisted Skirt Panels for Variable Width Piston Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing piston designs for internal combustion engines face challenges in accommodating variable width pistons while maintaining a compact and lightweight structure, as traditional skirt panels do not efficiently support pin bosses and adapt to curved skirt edges.
Innovation Solution
The piston assembly features twisted panels that extend between pin bosses and skirts, allowing for closer pin boss spacing, narrower pin bosses, and wider skirts at the top, with panels transitioning from a vertical to curved orientation to support variable width pistons effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional planar or curved skirt panels are used to join pin bosses to skirts, then the structure is simple to manufacture, but the pin bosses cannot be closely spaced and the skirts cannot accommodate variable width configurations
Solution Approach 1:
The skirt panels are designed with twisted curved surfaces that transition from a vertical orientation at the pin boss connection to a curved orientation at the skirt edge. This curvature enables the panels to accommodate variable width piston configurations while maintaining structural integrity, directly resolving the contradiction between adaptability and manufacturing simplicity.
2Strength
If pin bosses are spaced farther apart to support wider skirts, then the skirts gain sufficient support, but the piston size and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The panel design introduces a twist along its length, creating a three-dimensional curved surface that transitions from vertical at the pin boss to curved at the skirt edge. This dimensional transformation allows the panels to provide enhanced skirt support capability through optimized stress distribution, enabling closer pin boss spacing and thereby reducing piston weight while maintaining structural strength.
3Strength
If pin bosses are made wider to provide adequate support, then the structural integrity improves, but the piston size and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The panel geometry is optimized by twisting it along its length, changing the orientation parameter from vertical at the pin boss connection to curved at the skirt edge. This parameter transformation allows the pin bosses to be made narrower while maintaining structural integrity, as the twisted panel geometry redistributes and optimizes the stress paths, thereby reducing piston volume without compromising strength.
Data Source
AI summary
A piston assembly is disclosed herein. The piston assembly is integrally formed and unitary and is centered on a central longitudinal axis. The piston assembly includes a head with ring belt having a plurality of ring grooves. The piston assembly also includes first and second skirts, each having a top edge and a bottom edge being radially narrower than the top edge. The skirts also include first and second side edges. The piston assembly also includes first and second pin bosses spaced radially inward from the ring belt to define a short-pin support arrangement. The pin bosses include respective first and second pin bores axially aligned on a pin bore axis perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis. The piston assembly also includes a plurality of panels, each extending between one of the pin bosses and one of the skirts. Each of the panels include a top portion spaced closest to the head and bottom portion spaced furthest the head and a middle portion disposed substantially equally spaced from the top and bottom portions. Each of the panels twists along its length such that a ratio defined by a first distance between the top portion and a first plane perpendicular to the pin bore axis over a second distance between the bottom portion and the first plane increases along at least part of the length.