Single- and double-acting cylinders

Atmospheric beam engine

with one of the first single-acting power cylinders

In mechanical engineering, the cylinders of reciprocating engines are often classified by whether they are single- or double-acting, depending on how the working fluid acts on the piston.

Single-acting

A single-acting cylinder in a reciprocating engine is a cylinder in which the working fluid acts on one side of the piston only. A single-acting cylinder relies on the load, springs, other cylinders, or the momentum of a flywheel, to push the piston back in the other direction. Single-acting cylinders are found in most kinds of reciprocating engine. They are almost universal in internal combustion engines (e.g. petrol and diesel engines) and are also used in many external combustion engines such as Stirling engines and some steam engines. They are also found in pumps and hydraulic rams.

Double-acting

A double-acting cylinder is a cylinder in which the working fluid acts alternately on both sides of the piston. In order to connect the piston in a double-acting cylinder to an external mechanism, such as a

but unusual in other engine types. Many hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders use them where it is needed to produce a force in both directions. A double-acting hydraulic cylinder has a port at each end, supplied with hydraulic fluid for both the retraction and extension of the piston. A double-acting cylinder is used where an external force is not available to retract the piston or it can be used where high force is required in both directions of travel.

Steam engines

, were single-acting. These often transmitted their force through the beam by means of chains and an "arch head", as only a tension in one direction was needed.

Where these were used for pumping mine shafts and only had to act against a load in one direction, single-acting designs remained in use for many years. The main impetus towards double-acting cylinders came when

, used double-acting pistons and became the model for most steam engines afterwards.

Some of the later steam engines, the high-speed steam engines, used single-acting pistons of a new design. The crosshead became part of the piston,^[ii] and there was no longer any piston rod. This was for similar reasons to the internal combustion engine, as avoiding the piston rod and its seals allowed a more effective crankcase lubrication system.

Small models and toys often use single-acting cylinders for the above reason but also to reduce manufacturing costs.

Internal combustion engines

In contrast to steam engines, nearly all

have used single-acting cylinders.

Their pistons are usually

, where the gudgeon pin joint of the connecting rod is within the piston itself. This avoids the crosshead, piston rod and its sealing gland, but it also makes a single-acting piston almost essential. This, in turn, has the advantage of allowing easy access to the bottom of the piston for lubricating oil, which also has an important cooling function. This avoids local overheating of the piston and rings.

Crankcase compression two-stroke engines

Small petrol

. This uses both sides of the piston as working faces, the lower side of the piston acting as a piston compressor to compress the inlet charge ready for the next stroke. The piston is still considered as single-acting, as only one of these faces produces power.

Double-acting internal combustion engines

Some early gas engines, such as Lenoir's original engines, from around 1860, were double-acting and followed steam engines in their design.

Internal combustion engines soon switched to single-acting cylinders. This was for two reasons: as for the high-speed steam engine, the high force on each piston and its connecting rod was so great that it placed large demands upon the bearings. A single-acting piston, where the direction of the forces was consistently compressive along the connecting rod, allowed for tighter bearing clearances.

appeared instead.

Extremely large gas engines were also built as

, and so the double-acting cylinder designs were still adequate, despite their narrow, convoluted passageways.

Double-acting cylinders have been infrequently used for internal combustion engines since, although Burmeister & Wain made 2-stroke cycle double-acting (2-SCDA) diesels for marine propulsion before 1930. The first, of 7,000 hp, was fitted in the British MV Amerika (United Baltic Co.) in 1929.^[3][4] The two B&W SCDA engines fitted to the MV Stirling Castle in 1937 produced 24,000 hp each.

USS Pompano

In 1935 the US submarine

Hydraulic cylinders

A hydraulic cylinder is a mechanical

, and civil engineering.

Footnotes

References

1. ISBN 0-521-45834-X
   .
2. ^ Hawkins, Nehemiah (1897). New Catechism of the Steam Engine. New York: Theo Audel. pp. 110–113.
3. ISBN 9781107672932
   .
4. ^ "Amazing Airplane Motor Doubles The Power", Popular Mechanics, September 1932 cutaway drawing of double action aircraft engine
5. ^
   ISBN 0-85368-203-8
   .
6. ^ ^{a b} Alden (1979), pp. 65, 210.
7. ^ Alden (1979), p. 210.