Federal-mogul Corporation

Tenneco Gmbh

Federal-mogul Powertrain LLC

Bruce Inwood

Andrew John Miller

Marc Brandt

Jeffrey L Riffe

A ferrous piston for gasoline powered engines having dimensions which achieve reduced mass and improved performance is provided. The piston crown has a thickness of less than 4 mm and includes valve pockets with an axial clearance between the valve pockets and an uppermost ring groove of less than 1.5 mm. The pin bosses have an axial thickness of less than 3.7% of a bore diameter, which is the largest outer diameter of the piston, measured between a pin bore and the crown at 1 mm from an inner face forming the pin bore. Each pin boss has a radial thickness of less than 3% of the bore diameter measured between the pin bore and a lower end of the pin boss. An undercrown surface presents a projected area of less than 45% of a total piston bore area, wherein the total piston bore area is &#x3c0;BD/4, BD being the bore diameter.

Piston

An assembly including a connecting rod, a bushing, and a locking pin capable of providing different compression ratios in an engine is provided. The bushing is disposed in a bore of the connecting rod. An outer surface of the bushing includes a pair of notches, and an inner surface of the connecting rod includes a corresponding notch for receiving the locking pin. The notches are spaced from one another by greater than 180&#xb0; and by no more than 190&#xb0;. The locking pin is movable in the notch, allowing the bushing to rotate from a low compression position to a high compression position, or vice versa. The bushing has a varying thickness, and thus a center axis of an opening of the bushing is closer to the shaft of the connecting rod body when the bushing is in the low compression orientation than in the high compression orientation.

Variable compression ratio connecting rod

A piston including an abradable coating applied to a round surface of the piston is provided. The shape of the round surface is not greater than 0.1 mm from a circular shape, and thus is relatively inexpensive to machine. As the piston reciprocates in an internal combustion engine, the abradable coating rubs against another component, such as a cylinder liner or wrist pin, to achieve suitable contact geometry, such as an oval, asymmetric, or other non-round shape. Thus, a costly machining process is not required to achieve the desired contact geometry. The abradable coating can also be applied to ring lands, skirt sections, or along pin bores of the piston. The abradable coating can also be applied to a wrist pin or an opening of a connecting rod which receives the wrist pin. The abradable coating can be formed from a polymer-based material or an aluminum-silicon alloy-based material.

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Fenton, MI, United States of America

Bruce Inwood