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Oil Transport Analysis of a Cylinder Deactivation
Engine
Zheng Ma
General Motors Co.
ABSTRACT
Engine cylinder deactivation is used to save engine pumping
loss but raises oil consumption concerns for the deactivated
cylinders. In this paper, general mechanisms of oil transport
via piston rings are reviewed. The characteristic of oil
transport and oil accumulation in a cylinder deactivation
mode through the piston ring path are analyzed. Suggestions
to reduce the oil transport to the combustion chamber in a
deactivated cylinder are discussed.
In a deactivated cylinder, the amount of oil brought into the
combustion chamber by the top ring up-scraping due to the
ring/bore conformability difference between intake stroke and
compression stroke is much less compared to a firing
cylinder. However, compared to a firing cylinder, a
deactivated cylinder has more oil entering the combustion
chamber through the top ring end gap and ring groove as a
result of the lower cylinder gas pressure, lower ring
temperature and more frequent top ring axial movements.
Suggestions are given to reduce the net upward oil transport
in a deactivated cylinder, including reducing the ring/groove
clearances and the sizes of the ring gaps and drain-holes,
reducing cylinder bore distortion, designing structures of the
piston-lands and the oil drain-holes to enhance downward oil
flow and restrict upward oil flow, reducing or eliminating
positive static twist of the top ring, and limiting the overall oil
supply from the bottom of the piston.
INTRODUCTION
Engine cylinder deactivation is a technique used to create a
variable displacement gasoline engine that is able to supply
the full power of a large engine under high load conditions as
well as the fuel economy of a small engine for low load
conditions.
Author:Gilligan-SID:12381-GUID:35778931-140.124.35.86
2010-01-1098
Published
04/12/2010
Copyright © 2010 SAE International
In low load condition with large displacement engines, the
engine throttle valve is only slightly open and the engine
pumping loss is high. By using the cylinder deactivation
technique, the engine shuts down half of its cylinders so that
the throttle valve can be opened larger with the same power
output. This increases the intake manifold pressure and
lowers the pumping loss. To do so, cylinder deactivation
keeps the intake and exhaust valves closed through all cycles
for those deactivated cylinders. When the valves are forced to
stay closed, the gases inside the deactivated cylinders are
sealed through all cycles. The trapped gasses are compressed
with the pistons upstroke and decompressed with the pistons
down stroke. Fuel delivery for each deactivated cylinder is
cut-off by electronically disabling the appropriate fuel
injection nozzles.
One concern about cylinder deactivated engines is its oil
consumption. Since a deactivated cylinder doesn't have
combustion during the deactivation period, lubrication oil that
enters its combustion chamber accumulates and is burned
once the cylinder is reactivated. This can cause an exhaust
smoke problem if there is heavy oil accumulation in those
deactivated cylinders.
Engine oil consumption studies in the past suggested that
lubrication oil could enter the cylinder combustion chambers
though three potential paths in a firing reciprocating engine
[1]. Oil can transport from the crankcase to the combustion
chamber through the piston ring path, i.e. the clearances
among the piston, the piston rings and the cylinder bore wall.
Oil mist can also enter the combustion chamber via the intake
manifold system through the recycled blow-by gas flow of
the crankcase ventilation system. Oil can transport from the
cylinder head through the valve guide into the intake port
especially during partial load conditions. Among the three
paths, the valve guide oil path is effectively sealed in modern
engines by employing positive valve stem seals and is
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considered to contribute little to the total oil consumption in groove relative axial or radial motion, and ring twist [6]. The
today's spark ignition engines [1]. Since the intake valves of a groove oil flow caused by gas flow dragging was found to be
deactivated cylinder are closed, the oil mist enters the intake only significant when ring flutter occurred [6]. The rate of the
manifold system through crankcase ventilation system is also ring/groove transport oil mainly depends on the oil
unable to enter the combustion chamber during the cylinder availability and the relative motion between the ring and the
deactivation period. Therefore, in this paper, characteristic of piston [6, 8]. Because oil is supplied at the bottom of the ring
oil transport and oil accumulation in a cylinder deactivation pack, more oil is always supplied at the bottom than at the top
mode through the piston ring path are analyzed. Suggestions of the piston lands and the ring grooves. Consequently, the
to reduce the oil transport to the combustion chamber in a net oil transport due to the ring pumping/squeezing process is
deactivated cylinder are discussed. toward the combustion chamber [8]. A negative ring twist
generates adverse oil-pumping effect which pumps the oil
A REVIEW OF MECHANISMS OF into the upper piston region [9]. The rate at which oil is
supplied to the clearance of the groove mainly depends on the
OIL TRANSPORT VIA PISTON RINGS amount of oil available in front of the ring groove clearance.
IN FIRED CYLINDERS The quantity of oil flowing into the ring grooves appeared to
be mostly determined by the amount of oil that may
Lubrication oil from the crankcase can be transported through
accumulate in the vicinity of the ring groove clearance at the
the piston ring pack into the combustion chamber by a few
time of the ring lift and/or the piston lateral motion [8].
means. One way is the oil film left on the cylinder wall and
During many engine tests, a sudden increase of the amount of
the top flank of the top compression ring through ring motion
oil on the second land was found to result in a significant
and oil scraping. Larger and higher order bore distortion [2],
increase of the oil flow through the top ring groove [8]. The
lower gas pressure, smaller ring tension and higher piston
squeezing action of the oil control ring was observed to be
speed lead to thicker oil film. The excessive oil scraped off
one of the main mechanisms of oil supply to the third land
the cylinder wall by a ring accumulates on the front side of
[8].
the ring and can be further transported to the ring groove and
the piston land next to the ring [6,7,8].
Two abnormal dynamic behaviors of piston rings, i.e. ring
flutter and ring collapse, have significant impacts on gas
Oil as liquid or mist was also found to transport through the
flows and oil transport [9]. Ring flutter is defined as the
ring gaps driven by the gas flow and the inertial force
phenomenon that the ring oscillates up and down inside the
[3,4,5,6,7]. The ring gaps were observed to be the main
groove several times within a portion of an engine cycle [9].
passage through which oil is transported to the upper piston
Top ring flutter can create tremendous blow-by and
ring pack onto the top land [3, 5, 7]. The third land was found
subsequent oil consumption problems through the positive
to contain a substantial amount of oil at all engine running
crankcase ventilation system [9]. When the reverse ring
conditions and in every stroke [7]. To the contrast, large
flutter happens, the reverse gas flow through the top ring
differences on the amount of 2nd land oil were observed from
groove may drive the oil into the combustion chamber from
stroke to stroke due to the oil flow through the 2nd ring gap
the second land and the top ring groove and cause high oil
[3]. Over the whole range of engine operating conditions, the
consumption [9]. Ring collapse happens when the ring is
major mechanism of oil transport toward the crankcase was
pushed inwards and gas directly leaks through the ring/liner
found to be the dragging action of the blow-by gases [8].
interface. During ring radial collapse, the gas directly flows
Blow-by gas was found to carry oil along with the gas stream
to the lower land through the ring-liner interface.
around the circumference of the piston lands from one gap to
Subsequently, the gas flows from the lower land into the ring
another [6]. The rate of oil transport to the ring gaps was
groove and may carry oil with it at the same time. Thus, the
found to depend on the average oil film thickness on the
gas flow induced from ring radial collapse may have an
piston lands and on the cumulative volumetric blow-by gas
adverse effect on oil consumption [9].
flow rate [1]. Oil can be transported through the top ring gap
with the reverse gas flow from the second land when the
The amount of the oil on the piston lands is strongly related
second land pressure is greater than the cylinder pressure
to the engine load or the combined effect of the blow-by and
during the intake stroke, the late part of expansion and early
reverse blow-by gas in the engine cycle to the oil transport
exhaust strokes [1]. Above a minimum engine speed, oil can
[4,5]. Much more oil was observed on the piston lands at
also flow through a ring gap driven by the inertia force which
close throttle conditions than at wide open throttle conditions
overpowers the surface tension force trying to keep the liquid
[4,5]. Decreasing engine load generally decreases the blow-
oil in the ring gap [7].
by flow, and therefore the oil removal from the piston to the
crankcase. At the same time, the overall reverse gas flow rate
Oil was also found to be transported in and out of the ring
through the top ring gap increases as engine load is
grooves due to ring pumping and squeezing actions, gas flow
decreased. The combination of increased oil accumulation on
dragging and ring/groove shearing motion as a result of ring/
the second land with the increase of reverse gas flows

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through the top ring gap would result in greater oil flow rates
into the combustion chamber. As a result, the mass per engine
cycle rate of oil transport through the piston-ring-pack into
the combustion chamber is highest at 0% load and decreases
along with increased load [1]. At engine loads higher than
50% load little oil is present on the second land to be
transported, therefore oil consumption due to oil transport
through the piston was found to vary little with engine load
[1].
On the piston land, oil is observed to be distributed axially by
the inertia force and circumferentially by the gas flow inside
the piston land [3,6]. Increasing engine speed causes higher
inertial forces acting on the accumulated oil on the piston
land which is expected to increase oil flow in the axial
direction [1]. The oil on the top land was observed to move
upward into the combustion chamber near TDC (Top Dead
Center) by the inertia [3]. The oil displacement on piston land
was found to depend on the engine speed and the oil
accumulation volume [6, 7, 8]. A faster engine speed was
found to induce the oil transport earlier in an engine cycle [7].
A minimum volume of oil was found to be required on the
second land for the oil to reach the vicinity of the top ring
groove [8]. If the amount of oil accumulated on the second
land is below this threshold, oil will not be able to reach the
top ring. In addition, an increasing engine speed would
decrease the average blow-by gas flow rate per engine cycle.
The reduced blow-by gas flow results in less removal of oil
from the piston land to the crankcase [1]. Therefore, with the
increase of engine speed, more oil accumulation is expected
in the upper piston regions due to the decrease of blow-by
and the increase of inertia oil transport on the piston [1]. The
substantial amount of oil on the third land makes the inertia a
dominative driving force of the oil transport of the third land
oil [7].
travels increases whenever additional oil is supplied to the
top land through the top ring groove and the top ring gap [8].
There are other important factors influencing ring pack oil
transport. Increased engine speed or increased engine load
would increase the thermal loading on the engine and result
in higher temperatures of the piston and the liner hence lower
oil viscosity [1]. Also, when rotational movement of a piston
was larger, the amount of the oil drawn up into the
combustion chamber also tended to be greater due to oil
control ring losing its oil control ability [5].
OIL TRANSPORT VIA PISTON RINGS
IN A DEACTIVATED CYLINDER
CYLINDER GAS PRESSURE IN A
DEACTIVATED CYLINDER
In a deactivated cylinder, the intake and exhaust valves are
closed throughout the engine cycles. The gas inside the
cylinder is sealed and compressed with the pistons upstroke
and decompressed with the pistons down stroke. The only gas
flows able to go in and out of the cylinder chamber have to
go through the leakage paths, mainly through the ring gaps
and the clearances among the piston, the piston rings and the
cylinder bore.

Numerous experimental observations also showed that the

velocity and the direction of the circumferential oil motion
depended on the relative position of ring gaps [6]. It was
observed that more lined-up compression ring gaps took less
time for oil to reach the top land [5]. On the other hand, a less
lined-up ring gaps results in more oil removed from the
Figure 1. Cylinder gas pressure of a deactivated cylinder
piston land due to the dragging of the circumferential gas
flow [8].

Because there is no circumferential gas flow around the top

land, it is believed that oil accumulated on the top land cannot
be dragged toward the top ring gap and returned to the lower
part of the ring pack unless the ring rotates. Therefore, it is
believed that most of the oil transported to the top land ends
up being lost to the combustion chamber by being thrown
away from the piston or evaporating from the piston crown
[8]. Because a larger volume oil crosses a piston land at a
faster rate than a smaller volume oil under inertia force at
constant engine speed [7], the distance that the top land oil

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OIL BROUGHT INTO CYLINDER

CHAMBER THROUGH RING
SCRAPING

Figure 2. Cylinder gas pressure of a firing cylinder

(a). Simulated top ring groove gas pressure

Figure 3. Piston land gas pressures of a deactivated

cylinder and a firing cylinder

A sample of the cylinder gas pressures of a deactivated

(b). Non-conformed area between top ring surface and
cylinder and a firing cylinder at steady state is shown in
bore surface
Figure 1 and Figure 2 respectively. The engine is under
deactivation mode at 1300 rpm and 65kPa intake manifold
pressure. Since there is no combustion in a deactivated
cylinder, the peak pressure of the deactivated cylinder is
much lower than that of the firing cylinder. Unlike the firing
cylinder in which the cylinder chamber is in a vacuum
condition only during the intake stroke, the deactivated
cylinder is in the vacuum condition for two strokes per engine
cycle. The gas pressure of the deactivated cylinder repeats
every 360 crank angle degrees, or two times in an engine
cycle. It peaks at TDC (0 and 360 degree crank angles) and
bottoms at BDC (180 and 540 degree crank angles). The
shape of the pressure curve appears symmetrical to the TDC
as a result of the compressing and decompressing processes (c). Top ring shape in distorted bore at TDC in intake
of the trapped in-cylinder gas without combustion. stroke of firing cylinder
Corresponding to the low cylinder gas pressure, the land gas Figure 4. Comparison between a firing and a deactivated
pressures of the deactivated cylinder are much lower than the cylinder during intake and compression stroke
land pressures of the fired cylinder, as shown in Figure 3.

In a deactivated cylinder, the amount of oil brought into the

combustion chamber by the top ring up-scraping due to the
ring/bore conformability difference between intake stroke and
compression stroke is much less compared to a firing
cylinder, as shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5. Figure 4(a)

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shows the simulated top ring groove gas pressure of a firing
and a deactivated cylinder during the intake and the
compression strokes. Figure 4(b) shows the simulated non-
conformed area between the distorted cylinder bore and the
conformed top ring. This non-conformed area between the
bore surface and the ring sliding surface is plotted at the
different bore axial locations. The shape of the conformed top
ring inside the distorted cylinder bore is calculated by a ring/
bore conforming analysis tool developed by the author and a
sample is plotted in Figure 4(c) when the top ring is at the
TDC (top dead center) during the intake stroke of the firing
cylinder. In the intake stroke of the firing cylinder, the ring
travels downward and the groove gas pressure acting behind
the ring is very low. The ring is not able to conform to the
distorted bore very well so that the area between the ring and
the bore, or the oil film left on the cylinder wall after the ring
passing, is large as shown in Figure 4(b). In the following
compression stroke, the upward moving ring is forced by the
higher groove gas pressure and conforms to the distorted bore
much better than the intake stroke on the upper portion of the
bore. Therefore the clearance area between the ring and the
bore is much smaller shown in Figure 4(b). Since the oil film
in front of the top ring during an up-stroke is the one left at
the location by the top ring itself in the previous stroke, the
excessive oil is scraped off the cylinder wall and accumulated
at the upper flank of the top ring. The area between the two
solid lines in Figure 4(b) provides the calculated volume of
the up-scraped oil by the top ring in the firing cylinder
assuming that the clearance between the top ring sliding
surface and the bore surfaces is always fully flooded with oil
during the down-stroke. Similarly the area between the two
dotted lines gives the calculated volume of the oil up-scraped
by the top ring in one upward stroke in the deactivated
cylinder. Although the gas pressure difference between the
up-stroke and the down-stroke in the deactivated cylinder is
very small, the difference of the non-conformed ring/bore
area is shown in the upper portion of the cylinder bore.
Comparing the pressure difference and the corresponding
non-conformed ring/bore area in Figure 4(a) and (b), it can be
seen that the non-conformed ring/bore area is more sensitive
to the low gas pressure than the high gas pressure. The reason
is that the ring becomes stiffer when the non-conformed ring
segments become shorter as the load increases.
Figure 5 shows the comparison of the calculated rate of the
scraped-oil between the deactivated cylinder and the firing
cylinder. Unlike the firing cylinder, the deactivated cylinder
has two strokes instead of one in one engine cycle in which
the oil is upward scraped off the cylinder bore. In the firing
cylinder, since the top ring groove gas pressure of the
expansion stroke is larger than that of the exhaust stroke, the
top ring conforms better to the bore during the down-stroke
than the up-stroke hence no upward oil scraping. The oil
scraping rate of the deactivated cylinder is much smaller than
that of the firing cylinder. It should be noticed that the oil
scraping rate shown in Figure 5 is based the assumption that
the clearance between the top ring sliding surface and the
bore surfaces in the entrance of the oil flow is always fully
flooded with oil during the down-stroke. The actual oil
scraping rate in the engine is only a fraction of the numbers
shown in the figure dependent on the oil availability in front
of the clearance around the top ring circumferentially.
Figure 5. Calculated rate of scraped oil into cylinder
chamber in deactivated cylinder and firing cylinder
In a firing cylinder, a large portion of the oil film entering the
cylinder chamber is combusted in the engine cycle. In the
deactivated cylinder, however, the scraped oil entering the
cylinder chamber, although much less than the firing
cylinder, would accumulate without combustion. The longer
duration of the deactivation time and the higher engine speed
during the cylinder deactivation mode would cause more oil
accumulation inside the cylinder chamber due to the top ring
oil scraping.
OIL FLOWING INTO CYLINDER
CHAMBER THROUGH RING END GAP
Unlike in a firing cylinder, there is no combustion gas
pressure in a deactivated cylinder to form strong downward
blow-by gas flow forcing the oil from the upper piston
regions toward the crankcase. To make things worse, the
cylinder is under a vacuum condition for more than twice as
long as in a firing cylinder. As a result, the top land pressure
is lower than the 2nd land pressure in a deactivated cylinder
for more than half the cycle, as shown in Figure 3. When this
happens, the gas flow blows upward through the top ring end
gap and forces oil into the combustion chamber. To the
contrast, in a firing cylinder only the intake stroke creates
cylinder vacuum hence much less time for the reverse gas
flow to blow up the oil into the combustion chamber.
Therefore there is a longer time in a deactivated cylinder for
oil to flow upward into the combustion chamber through the
top ring gap due to the longer reverse blow-by time in an
engine cycle. In addition, the downward blow-by gas flow is
much weaker and occupies less time of an engine cycle so

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that less oil is removed from the piston lands towards the
crankcase in a deactivated cylinder.

Due to no combustion in a deactivated cylinder, the

temperatures of the piston, and the rings are much lower than
those in a firing cylinder. At the same time, the temperature
of the deactivated cylinder bore is not far from the
temperature of the firing cylinder bore because the cylinder
block is a good heat conductor and the cylinders share the
same circulating engine coolant flow. Figure 6 shows an
analytical comparison of the cylinder bore dilations between
the deactivated and the firing cylinder bores. At the lower
portion of the cylinder bore, the deactivated cylinder has very
similar bore dilation as the firing cylinder. On the other hand,
the piston rings in the deactivated cylinder have less thermal
expansion than the rings in the firing cylinder because of the Figure 7. Top ring working end gap in a deactivated
lower ring temperatures. As a result, the sizes of the working cylinder and a firing cylinder
ring gaps are larger in the deactivated cylinder as shown in
Figure 7. Consequently, the oil flow through the ring gaps is
enlarged in a deactivated cylinder due to the larger ring end PUMPING/SQUEEZING OIL THROUGH
gap as a result of the lower ring temperature. RING GROOVE
Figure 8 shows the axial motions of the piston rings inside
the grooves. The motions of the 2nd ring and the oil ring for a
deactivated cylinder and for a firing cylinder are very similar.
In the firing cylinder, the top ring lifts from its bottom groove
once in an engine cycle during the intake stroke. In the
deactivated cylinder, the top ring lifts twice from its bottom
groove in an engine cycle with identical ring movements. The
additional top-ring lift in each engine cycle would introduce
twice as much top-ring pumping/squeezing actions for the
deactivated cylinder compared to the firing cylinder.
Therefore more oil would be pumped/squeezed from the 2nd
land to the top land through the top ring groove due to the
more frequent top-ring axial movements in a deactivated
cylinder.

Figure 6. Cylinder bore dilation/Bore radius in a

deactivated cylinder and a firing cylinder

The combined effects of the larger ring working gaps, the

longer reverse gas blow-by and the less oil removal from the
piston lands to the crankcase due to less downward blow-by
gas would all result in faster and heavier oil accumulation on
the piston lands and more oil transport into the combustion
chamber in a deactivated cylinder.

Figure 8. Relative axial position of piston rings inside

grooves

It can be seen from Figure 8 that all the axial movements of

the top ring in the deactivated cylinder happen 45 crank-angle
degrees apart from TDC while the inertia force is acting
upward. At this time, oil on every piston land is moving
upward so that the land oil is being transported from the
lower portion to the upper portion of the piston land. On the

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2nd land, oil moves towards the lower flank of the top ring.
Meanwhile, oil on the top land is leaving the upper flank of
the top ring and moving towards the piston crown. This
inertia force makes the lower flank of the top ring the
favorable side of the oil supply from the land oil at the time
of the ring axial movements. This further helps the top ring to
provide more net oil transport towards the combustion
chamber through the ring pumping/squeezing action.
LAND OIL ACCUMULATION
In a deactivated cylinder, as mentioned previously, there is no
combustion blow-by gas flow to remove the oil on the piston
lands toward the crankcase. In addition, more oil gets into the
piston lands due to longer upward gas flow and larger
working ring gaps. Accordingly, there is more oil
accumulation on the piston lands, especially on the upper
region of the piston, compared to a firing cylinder.
Although the engine speeds in a cylinder deactivation
condition are usually not high enough to exceed the engine
speed threshold for a significant land oil transport of a normal
firing engine. The heavy land oil accumulation of the
deactivated cylinder could correspondingly lower the engine
speed threshold and result in significant land oil transport at a
lower engine speed. Because of this, it is important to reduce
the overall oil supply to the oil ring and to the oil drain-holes
from the bottom of the piston.
Because there is no combustion in a deactivated cylinder, the
oil transported onto the top land accumulates cycle by cycle.
The longer the deactivation time, the more oil accumulates on
the top land. The oil moves up and down on the top land
under the inertia force. While the top land oil accumulates, it
moves more and more freely and travels farther and farther
from one cycle to another. Eventually, some of the oil would
reach then leave the top land and be lost inside the
combustion chamber staying on the piston crown surface, the
cylinder bore wall or the cylinder head surface. Meanwhile,
as more oil accumulates on the top land there is more
downward oil transport from the top land towards the 2nd
land through the top ring gap and the top ring/groove
clearance. If the cylinder is deactivated for a long enough
time, there would be a steady state when the top land as a
control volume receives and gives out the same amount of the
oil in an engine cycle. At this time, the flow rate of the oil
lost into the combustion chamber becomes a constant.
OTHER FACTORS INFLUNCING OIL
TRANSPORT IN A DEACTIVATED
CYLINDER
In a deactivated cylinder, the temperature of the piston ring
pack hence the lubrication oil on the piston lands is relatively
low compared to a fired cylinder. Accordingly, the oil
viscosity would be lower. However, since the oil temperature
is hot enough so that the oil viscosity is not sensitive to the
temperature, the scale of the viscosity change would be
unlikely significant. Therefore, the oil viscosity factor is not
likely to have significant impact to the oil transport in a
deactivated cylinder.
Since the cylinder gas pressure is rather low in a deactivated
cylinder, the rotational movement of the piston is relatively
small compared to a firing cylinder. Therefore, the oil control
ring would have a better control of the oil at the smaller
rotational piston movement [5] hence less oil supply towards
the upper region of the piston.
REDUCING OIL TRANSPORT IN A
DEACTIVATED CYLINDER
Generally, the oil transport can be reduced through the
following six approaches, i.e.
• shorter duration of the oil flow
• smaller driving forces of the oil flow
• a smaller oil leakage area
• a smaller bore distortion
• less amount of oil available at the entrance of the leakage
paths
• more stable ring inside the groove
Most of the above six approaches are related to the piston
inertia and the piston land pressures. The driving forces of the
oil include the inertia force and the gas pressure differences
between the neighboring piston lands. The duration of the gas
driven oil flow, as a percentage of the crank-angle in an
engine cycle, is determined by the piston land pressures. The
frequency of the ring axial movements in an engine cycle
which decides the ring/groove pumping/squeezing oil
contribution is also a function of the inertia force and the land
pressures. The amount of the oil available at the entrance of
the leakage paths is strongly related to the inertia and the gas
flows.
Since inertia is decided by engine speed, it is not a design
parameter. The cylinder gas pressure in a deactivated cylinder
is fairly low. Hence the pressure difference between the
neighboring piston lands and the gas flow rate through the
ring gaps are consequently small. As a result, the oil transport
control through the land pressures design would not be as
effective in a deactivated cylinder as in a firing cylinder. The
land oil flow is dominated by the inertia due to the weak gas
flow. The two lifts per engine cycle of the top ring are
inevitable regardless of the land pressure design in a
deactivated cylinder. A land pressure design through its
design parameters such as the ring end gap sizes and the
piston land volumes has to consider its influences to the
whole range of engine operation conditions, not only the

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deactivation mode. Due to the above reasons, piston land
pressure is not chosen here as a design factor for oil transport
control in a deactivated cylinder.
In order to effectively reduce the net upward oil transport in a
deactivated cylinder, the focus is put on reducing the oil
leakage area, reducing the bore distortion, decreasing the
amount of the oil available at the entrance of the upward
leakage flow and increasing the amount of the oil available at
the entrance of the downward leakage flow. The top ring
reverse flutter should be avoided. The overall oil supply of
the oil ring and the oil drain-holes from the bottom of the
piston should be designed small enough to avoid significant
land oil transport.
RING/GROOVE CLEARNCE
The ring/groove clearances of all the piston rings, especially
of the top ring due to its unavoidable busy ring axial
movements, should be designed as small as possible. It is one
of the most effective approaches with least downsides to
reduce the amount of the oil transported into the combustion
chamber in a deactivated cylinder.
RING GAP AND DRAIN-HOLE SIZES
To reduce the oil leakage area, smaller piston ring gaps,
especially for the top ring, and smaller-diameter drain-holes
are desirable. However, although a smaller ring gap would
reduce the oil transport in the cylinder deactivation mode, it
is not always true for the engine in other operating
conditions. Smaller ring gaps would reduce overall engine
blow-by and could significantly change the relationship
among the piston land pressures in the firing conditions, so
that the oil consumption could be increased. A balance of the
oil consumption in a deactivation mode and the other
conditions of the engine in the whole range of operating
conditions needs to be carefully designed.
All the discussions above about a deactivated cylinder are
about the steady state condition. Looking at the transient
period from the start of the cylinder deactivation to the time
when the land pressures reach the steady state, there is an
additional benefit of smaller ring gaps. Smaller ring gaps
would prolong the transient duration due to the reduced gas
flow rate. During the transient time, the peak cylinder gas
pressure gradually decreases from cycle to cycle when the
gas sealed inside the combustion chamber of the deactivated
cylinder gradually leaks through the ring-pack leakage paths
into the crankcase. The longer the transient time, the less oil
is able to be sucked into and accumulated in the combustion
chamber due to the higher cylinder gas pressure.
Author:Gilligan-SID:12381-GUID:35778931-140.124.35.86
CYLINDER BORE DISTORTION
Figure 9. Comparison of Top Ring Up-Scraped Oil for
3rd and 4th Order Bore Distortion with Different
Amplitude of a Firing Cylinder
A smaller bore distortion, especially the 3rd and higher order
bore distortions, reduces the average ring/bore oil film
thickness and the up-scraped oil rate of the top ring. It
improves the ring/bore conformation for all the piston rings
so that the oil film thickness between the unconformed ring/
bore surfaces is smaller. Figure 9 shows a comparison of the
top ring up-scraped oil for the 3rd order and the 4th order
bore distortion with different amplitude of a firing cylinder.
Doubling the amplitude and changing the bore distortion
from the 3rd order to the 4th order can result in around 11
times of higher top ring up-scraped oil. Therefore, the up-
scraped oil of the top ring is less in a bore with small and low
order bore distortion.
STRUCTURE DESIGN OF PISTON
LAND AND DRAIN-HOLE
Designs of piston-land and drain-hole structures which
promote downward preferred oil flow are desirable.
The goal of this kind of piston land design is to route and
pocket the piston land oil driven by the inertial force or the
gas flow so that the land oil would always prefer to stay on
the lower part of the land and above the upper flank of the
piston ring on the bottom of the land. As a result, the upper
part of the piston land and the lower flank of the piston ring
on the top of the land would accumulate less oil. In this way,
the upward oil flow through the ring gaps and the grooves
would get less oil supply in the entrance of the flow. The
downward oil flow through the ring gaps and the grooves
would get more oil supply in the entrance of the flow. As a
result, the preference of the downward oil transport would be
introduced.
A similar idea for the drain-hole structure design is to prevent
upward oil flow and promote downward oil flow. The design
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would reduce the oil supply from the bottom of the piston
towards the drain-holes by routing the oil flow away from the
entrances of the drain-holes, increase the head loss of the
upward drain-hole oil flow and reduce the head loss of the
downward drain-hole oil flow through designs of different
shapes of the drain-hole ends.
ABOUT TOP RING TWIST
Although a positive static twist of the top ring is widely used
in an engine to avoid ring flutter at high speed and low load
conditions, it might hurt engine oil consumption in cylinder
deactivation mode. The positive ring twist increases the
possibility of reverse ring flutter in a deactivated cylinder
which is very harmful to the oil consumption. Therefore, a
top ring with positive twist angle is not desired for the
deactivation cylinder. For a deactivation engine which has a
positive twist top ring, the twist angle of the ring should be
carefully designed so that the top ring reverse flutter is
avoided in the cylinder deactivation mode.
CONCLUSION
Engine cylinder deactivation is used to save engine pumping
loss by shutting down half of the engine cylinders. In cylinder
deactivation mode, the intake and exhaust valves of the
deactivated cylinders are closed through the engine cycles.
The lubrication oil entering the combustion chamber of the
deactivated cylinder accumulates and causes the oil
consumption concerns when the cylinder is reactivated.
The most concerned path of the oil transport for a deactivated
cylinder is the piston ring path. In this paper, general
mechanisms of oil transport via piston rings are reviewed.
The characteristic of oil transport and oil accumulation in a
cylinder deactivation mode through piston ring path are
analyzed. Suggestions to reduce the oil transport to the
combustion chamber in a deactivated cylinder are discussed.
In a firing cylinder, the top ring conforms to the distorted
cylinder bore much better in the compression stroke
compared to the intake stroke due to the difference of the gas
pressure between the two strokes. As a result, the top ring
scraped upward a significant amount of oil into the
combustion chamber. In a deactivated cylinder, the cylinder
gas pressure is low and fairly symmetrical to TDC due to the
compressing and decompressing processes of the trapped in-
cylinder gas without combustion. Consequently, the amount
of oil brought into the combustion chamber by the top ring
up-scraping due to the ring/bore conformability difference
between down-stroke and up-stroke is much less compared to
a firing cylinder.
Compared to a firing cylinder, a deactivated cylinder has
more oil blown-up into the combustion chamber through the
top ring end gap. The reverse blow-by time in an engine cycle
Author:Gilligan-SID:12381-GUID:35778931-140.124.35.86
is longer. The downward blow-by gas is shorter and weaker
hence less oil removal towards the crankcase. The ring gap
sizes are larger due to the lower ring temperature.
Consequently, more oil is accumulated on the piston lands.
The top ring of the deactivated cylinder moves more
frequently up and down inside the groove hence introducing
more oil into the combustion chamber by the pumping/
squeezing actions between the ring and the groove. In
addition, all those axial movements of the top ring happen
when the inertia force points upward. The inertia-driven land-
oil further helps to provide more oil supply for this oil
transport.
Although the engine speeds in the cylinder deactivation
condition are usually not high enough to exceed the engine
speed threshold for a significant land oil transport of a normal
firing engine. The heavy land oil accumulation of the
deactivated cylinder could correspondingly lower the engine
speed threshold and result in significant land oil transport at a
low engine speed. Therefore it is important to reduce the
overall oil supply of the oil ring and the oil drain-holes from
the bottom of the piston.
The lower oil viscosity as a result of lower temperature is not
likely significantly helpful on reducing the oil transport in a
deactivated cylinder. However, the smaller rotational
movement of the piston as a result of the low deactivated
cylinder gas pressure would help the oil control ring to have a
better control of the oil hence provide less oil supply towards
the upper region of the piston.
To reduce the net upward oil transport in a deactivated
cylinder, the following suggestions are made regarding the
designs of the piston and rings.
• Reducing ring/groove clearances, especially for the top ring.
• Reducing ring gap sizes, especially for the top ring, and
drain-hole sizes - Caution: To do so, a balance of the oil
consumption in the cylinder deactivation mode and the other
conditions of the engine in the whole range of operating
conditions needs to be carefully designed.
• Reducing cylinder bore distortion, especially the 3rd and
higher order bore distortions.
• Design of piston-land structure which enhances downward
oil flow - The design would help to route and pocket the
piston land oil driven by the inertial force or the gas flow so
that the land oil would always prefer to stay on the lower part
of the land and above the upper flank of the piston ring on the
bottom of the land. In this way, the upward oil flow gets less
oil supply and the downward oil flow gets more oil supply at
the entrances of the flows.
• Design of drain-hole structure which reduces upward oil
flow - The design would reduce the oil supply from the
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bottom of the piston by routing the oil flow away from the
entrances of the drain-holes, increase the head loss of the
upward drain-hole oil flow, and reduce the head loss of the
downward drain-hole oil flow.
• Reducing or eliminating positive static twist for the top ring
to avoid reverse flutter of the top ring in cylinder deactivation
mode.
• Limiting the overall oil supply of the oil ring and the oil
drain-holes from the bottom of the piston so that significant
land oil transports are avoided.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author gratefully appreciates John B. Fisher for revising
the paper as well as his support, discussions and suggestions.
The author also would like to express special thanks to Alan
Miller, Richard Ricchi, Thomas Halka, Robert Paull, Fanghui
Shi, Kenneth Schroeder, Annette Cusenza and Michael
Harper for the discussions and suggestions. The help from
Rehurem Bravo and Johar Shaik for providing the sample
engine data in the study are appreciated.
6. Thirouard, B. and Tian, T., “Oil Transport in the Piston
Ring Pack (Part I): Identification and Characterization of the
Main Oil Transport Routes and Mechanisms,” SAE Technical
Paper 2003-01-1952, 2003.
7. Vokac, A. and Tian, T., “An Experimental Study of Oil
Transport on the Piston Third Land and the Effects of Piston
and Ring Designs,” SAE Technical Paper 2004-01-1934,
2004.
8. Thirouard, B. and Tian, T., “Oil Transport in the Piston
Ring Pack (Part II): Zone Analysis and Macro Oil Transport
Model,” SAE Technical Paper 2003-01-1953, 2003.
9. Tian, T. :“Dynamic behaviours of piston rings and their
practical impact. Part 1: ring flutter and ring collapse and
their effects on gas flow and oil transport”, Proc Instn Mech
Engrs Vol 216 Part J: Engineering Triblogy, PP.209-227.

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doi:10.4271/2010-01-1098

Author:Gilligan-SID:12381-GUID:35778931-140.124.35.86