How lubricant system works in engine

The purpose of this article is to enlighten the importance of lubricants and explained the readers how the lubrication is done in engines. This article has well described the lubrication system and their working. Further, it explained the properties of different types of lubricants and which lubricant you should choose according to your conditions.

Introduction:

Lubrication System is the application of lubricants such as greasy and oily substances to produce thin film between the metal surfaces in order to reduce friction and increase sliding smoothness past each other. It is also used to reduce the heat produced by friction and act as a cooling agent in engine.

Importance of lubrication system can be seen that if the system is not properly lubricated it can reduce system life, increased components wear, high energy usage, excess heat buildup, increased operating and maintenance cost.

Types:

Following are the types of lubrication system:

• Mist Lubrication System
• Wet Sump Lubrication System
• Dry Sump Lubrication System

Mist Lubrication System

This type of system is used in two stroke engines where sump (below the crank) is not possible. In this lubrication oil and fuel is mixed in engine. It gets collected in crankcase and then crank suck it and supply it to different parts of engine.

Wet Sump Lubrication System

This system requires a large capacity of oil tank sump at the base of the crank chamber. Sump act as an oil supply or receiver tank. From the oil sump, oil is drawn by the oil pump and supply it to different parts of engine and comes back to sump after serving its purpose by gravity.

Dry Sump Lubrication System

It is generally used in racing cars. In this system the sump is dry and we will not store the lubricating oil in the sump. It is only use for temporary storage of oil. It is used when wet sump cannot cope up with the oil supply, in unusual or extreme conditions such as Heavy acceleration (Racing Cars), steep hills and uneven surfaces. It uses an additional pump as well as a remote oil tank.

Discussion

Majority of Lubricants are made from a single base oil and then we add a variety of additives to impart desirable characteristics. As we know lubricants are made from single base oil but mixtures of the base oils also are used to meet performance requirements. There are different types of lubricants which serves different purposes according to the requirement:

• Mineral Oil
• Synthetic Oil

Lubricant	Cost	Wear Resistance	lubrication	Temperature Effect	Oil Lifespan	impurities	Use
Mineral Oil	Low	Low	High	High	Low	High	Automatic transmission Fluid
Synthetic Oil	High	High	Low	Low	High	Low	High Temperature
Solid Lubricant	High	High	High	Low	High	Low	High Load

• Solid Lubricants

It is important to understand work flow of lubricant engine.If you want to avail lubricant services make sure you know about how it works.Lubricant quantity and level should also remembered.

Conclusion:

In this article, we have seen the purpose of lubrication in the automobile engine and different types of lubrication system. In this article, we have explained the working of different types of lubrication system and in conditions they are applicable like mist lubrication system in two stroke engine, wet sump lubrication system in four stroke engine and dry sump lubrication system in racing cars. I have also discussed the different types lubricants, their properties and their working conditions. Mineral oils can be used in automatic transmission fluid. Synthetic oils can be used in high temperature conditions and solid lubricants can be used in high load transmission.