Reciprocating compressors, as the name suggests, use piston rings to perform repeated work to compress gas and ensure the operation of the machine. Due to the fact that the piston is constantly undergoing such intense movement during the operation of the reciprocating compressor, the piston rings of the reciprocating compressor are prone to malfunction under the combined effect of increased usage time, installation errors, and improper operation. Piston rings generally experience three types of faults. The following is a brief explanation of these three situations.
The piston rings of reciprocating compressors are prone to jamming faults. During the manufacturing and design of piston rings, due to the objective requirements of the position and function of the piston rings in the reciprocating compressor, the volume of the piston rings is relatively small, and the gap between the ring grooves is very small. Generally, the volume of substances expands when heated and shrinks when cooled. Therefore, during the heating process, the piston rings are very likely to expand and get stuck. Another situation is that the designer did not conduct a thorough investigation into the heating degree of the material used to make the piston rings and was unaware of the expansion degree after heating. As a result, the produced piston rings were too thick, which could also lead to the occurrence of jamming.
The piston rings of reciprocating compressors are prone to wear faults. The working principle of piston rings is that the power for the operation of reciprocating compressors comes from the up and down sliding of the piston in the cylinder. Therefore, to meet this working principle, it is necessary to maintain a certain gap between the piston and the cylinder. As the piston will generate some gas during the sliding process, in order to ensure that these gases do not leak out, the designer adopts a sealed form. In other words, it is to seal all the piston ring clearances. However, such a design will impose relatively high requirements on the matching degree between the piston and the cylinder. If the piston of a reciprocating compressor is designed to be relatively large, the gap between the piston and the cylinder will be relatively small. During the operation of the reciprocating compressor, the piston will constantly rub against the cylinder, and the gas generated inside will also accelerate the service life of the piston. If the piston of a reciprocating compressor is designed to be relatively small, the gap between the piston and the cylinder will be relatively large. Although there will be no friction between the piston and the cylinder during the operation of the reciprocating compressor, due to the excessive gap between them, the generated gas will constantly impact the lubricating film. Over time, the lubricating film will be damaged.
The piston rings of reciprocating compressors are prone to fracture faults. The breakage of piston rings is generally caused by two situations: One is that there is an error in the design process of the piston ring and the cylinder liner, resulting in an incomplete match between the two. During the operation of the reciprocating compressor, due to the relatively small gap between them, under the dual action of the generated gas, the piston ring breaks. Secondly, although the piston rings and cylinder liners are perfectly matched, as the usage time accelerates, the wear becomes increasingly severe and eventually breaks through the critical value of the material's elasticity, causing the piston rings to break.