The evaluation of complex radiation impedance for a square piston source on an infinite circularcylindrical baffle is associated to the Greenspon-Sherman formulation for which novel evaluation methods are proposed. Unlike existing methods results are produced in a very wide range of frequencies and source semi-angles with controllable precision. For this reason closed-form expressions are used to describe the truncation errors of all integrals and infinite sums involved. Impedance values of increased accuracy are also provided in tabulated form for engineering use and a new radiation mass-load model is derived for low-frequencies.

The free piston linear generator is a new range extender concept for the application in a full electric vehicle. The free piston engine driven linear generators can achieve high efficiency at part and full load which is suitable for the range extender application. This paper presents requirements for designing a linear generator deduced from a basic analysis of a free piston linear generator.

In this paper distortion of surface topography measurement results by improper selection of the reference plane is taken into consideration. The following types of surfaces from cylindrical elements were analyzed: cylinder liners after plateau honing, cylinder liners with additionally burnished oil pockets and turned piston skirts. Surface topographies of these elements after a low wear process were also studied. In order to obtain areal surface topography parameters, the form was eliminated using cylinders and polynomials of the following degrees: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12. Parameters of surfaces after form removal were compared. After analysis of results the reference elements for each kind of surface were recommended. A special procedure was proposed in order to select the degree of a polynomial. This method is based on surface topography changes with increase of polynomial degree. The effect of improper form elimination on measuring uncertainty was studied.

In this paper, the author presents the possibility of using phase trajectory for detecting damage in an axial piston pump. The wear on main part of pump elements, such as the rotor and the valve plate, was investigated, and phase trajectories were determined based on vibration signal measured in three directions on the pump's body. In order to obtain a quantitative measure of the analyzed trajectory, the At_{p,i} parameter was introduced, and the relation between this parameter and the wear on the pump's parts was determined.

In the paper, the author analyses a model of a ring pack motion on an oil film. The local thickness of the oil film can be compared to the height of the combined surface roughness of a cylinder liner and piston rings. Equations describing the mixed lubrication problem based on the empirical mathematical model formulated in works by Patir, Cheng [6, 7] and Greenwood, Tripp [3] have been combined [13] and used in this paper. A model of a gas flow through the labyrinth seal of piston rings has been developed [14,16]. In addition, models of ring twist effects and axial ring motion in piston grooves have been applied [15,16].

In contrast to the previous papers of the author, an experimental verification of the main parts of developed mathematical model and software has been presented. A relatively good compatibility between the experimental measurements and calculated results has been achieved.

In this paper, pole placement-based design and analysis of a free piston Stirling engine (FPSE) is presented and compared to the well-defined Beale number design technique. First, dynamic and thermodynamic equations governing the engine system are extracted. Then, linear dynamics of the free piston Stirling engine are studied using dynamic systems theory tools such as root locus. Accordingly, the effects of variations of design parameters such as mass of pistons, stiffness of springs, and frictional damping on the locations of dominant closed-loop poles are investigated. The design procedure is thus conducted to place the dominant poles of the dynamic system at desired locations on the s-plane so that the unstable dynamics, which is the required criterion for energy generation, is achieved. Next, the closed-loop poles are selected based on a desired frequency so that a periodical system is found. Consequently, the design parameters, including mass and spring stiffness for both power and displacer pistons, are obtained. Finally, the engine power is calculated through the proposed control-based analysis and the result is compared to those of the experimental work and the Beale number approach. The outcomes of this work clearly reveal the effectiveness of the control-based design technique of FPSEs compared to the well-known approaches such as Beale number.

The axisymmetric problem of acoustic impedance of a vibrating annular piston embedded into a flat rigid baffle concentrically around a semi-infinite rigid cylindrical circular baffle has been undertaken in this study. The Helmholtz equation has been solved. The Green’s function valid for the zone considered has been used for this purpose. The influence of the semi-infinite cylindrical baffle on the piston’s acoustic impedance has been investigated. The acoustic impedance has been presented in both forms: integral and asymptotic, both valid for the steady harmonic vibrations. Additionally, the acoustic impedances of the piston with and without the cylindrical baffle have been compared to one another. In the case without the cylindrical baffle some earlier results have been used

The motion of a ring pack on a thin film covering a cylinder liner has been analysed. In contrast to the previous papers [30], [31], which considered a primary hydrodynamic phenomena (including mixed lubrication), in the present paper an additional degree of freedom of a ring i.e. a twist motion is also taken into account. Equations describing the twist of rings are presented and used in simulation. The twist phenomena of a single ring have been analysed in the past [25]. In this paper, the twist effects of separate rings forming a ring pack are considered. In the pack configuration, the twist of the upstream ring strongly influences the operation of the downstream ring. The phenomenon commonly treated as secondary effect seems to be influencing the ring motion strongly. Differences between results obtained applying and neglecting ring twist motion are analysed and discussed.

Rising technical standards of customers, legal requirements and the trend to minimize maintenance effort raise the thermal, mechanical and tribological loads on components of combustion engines. In this regard, emphasis is laid on improving the piston ring - cylinder liner tribosystem, one with the highest energy losses. An efficient performance has to be guaranteed during its lifetime. Tribological investigations could be carried out on engine test benches, but they are highly cost-intensive and time-consuming. Therefore, a damage-equivalent test methodology was developed with the analogous tribological model, "ring-on-liner". The research was carried out under two characteristic operating conditions. One with a "standard" operating system, modelled in line with ideal lubrication conditions, and the other "extreme abrasive" operating system, typical to a system running on a lubricant contaminated by abrasive particles. To optimize the tribological loading capacity of the cylinder liner, with focus on these two operating conditions, numerous nitride coatings have been investigated. The key aspects being seizure resistance, running-in characteristics and long term wear behaviour.

The possibility of distinguishing and assessing the influences of defects in particular pump elements by registering vibration signals at characteristic points of the pump body would be a valuable way for obtaining diagnostic information. An effective tool facilitating this task could be a well designed and identified dynamic model of the pump. When applied for a specific type of the pump, such model could additionally help to improve its construction. This paper presents model of axial piston positive displacement pump worked out by the authors. After taking the simplifying assumptions and dividing the pump into three sets of elements, it was possible to build a discrete dynamic model with 13 degrees of freedom. According to the authors' intention, the developed dynamic model of the multi-piston pump should be used for damage simulation in its individual elements. By gradual change in values of selected construction parameters of the object (for example: stiffness coefficients, damping coefficients), it is possible to perform simulation of wear in the pump. Initial verification of performance of the created model was done to examine the effect of abrasive wear on the swash plate surface. The phase trajectory runs estimated at characteristics points of the pump body were used as a useful tool to determine wear of pump elements.

Axial piston pumps with constant pressure and variable flow have extraordinary possibilities for controlling the flow by change of pressure. Owing to pressure feedback, volumetric control of the pump provides a wide application of these pumps in complex hydraulic systems, particularly in aeronautics and space engineering. Mathematical modeling is the first phase in defining the conception of a design and it has been carried out at the beginning of the project. Next very important phase is the check-out of the characteristics at the physical model when the pump has been produced. Optimal solution to the hydropump design has been reached by thorough analysis of the parameters obtained at the physical model by means of the simulation results of the mathematical model. The paper presents the possibilities for selecting the most influential parameters, their correction for certain values, and eventually the simulation at the mathematical model which shows the change of hydropump performances. After all these analyses, appropriate changes are made in design documentation which will serve for prototype production. Finally, when all kinds of tests are done at the prototypes along with fine adjustment of design solution, the series production of hydropump will be organized.