TECHNICAL

BULLETIN

Wärtsilä low-speed engines RT-135

Services 2-stroke Issue 1, 07.09.2012

Piston rings At your convenience

Concerned components
Piston rings of Wärtsilä RTA, RT-flex and
W-X engines.
Information to all Owners and Operators of
Wärtsilä RTA, RT-flex and W-X engines Current situation
The last Service Bulletin about piston ring
availability for Wärtsilä 2-stroke engines
was issued over six years ago.
In the meantime new engine types have
been introduced and piston ring standards
have been updated for certain existing
engine types.

Solutions
This Technical Bulletin informs about
general aspects of piston ring and
introduces a new piston ring tensioning
tool.
Some former piston ring versions have
been replaced by new standards.
New standard versions of piston rings and
alternative solutions are listed in Appendix
1.

Note
This Technical Bulletin supersedes
Service Bulletin RTA-43.3 / RT-flex-05,
dated 31.08.2006, entitled “Piston Rings”.

Wärtsilä Switzerland Ltd. Tel (24h): +41 52 262 80 10

PO Box 414 Fax: +41 52 262 07 31
CH-8401 Winterthur technicalsupport.chts@wartsila.com
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Contents
Page
 
Introduction 2 
Piston ring technology 2 
Piston ring designation 4 
Piston ring standard 7 
General recommendations 8 
Ordering of tools and piston rings 9 
Appendix 10 
Contacts 10 

Introduction

Note:
This Technical Bulletin supersedes Service Bulletin RTA-43.3 / RT-flex05, dated
31.08.2006, entitled “Piston Rings”.

This Technical Bulletin offers information and advice on the latest piston ring
specification for RTA, RT-flex and W-X engines.

Piston ring technology

Latest development
The development and availability of new piston ring coatings have allowed
Wärtsilä to test a variety of piston ring versions on their engines. The aim of the
evaluation was to find a ring coating with low wear properties that offers a high
safety margin against the type of unstable piston running conditions that could
lead to sudden severe wear.
The best results were obtained with chrome-ceramic coated piston rings in all
ring grooves, in combination with fully honed cylinder liners.
The Chrome-Ceramic (CC) coating was introduced as the standard configuration
for the top piston ring in 2003, in combination with Running-in Coating (RC) lower
piston rings. The CC-coating has a high resistance against abrasive, adhesive
and corrosive wear, resulting in a higher margin against sudden severe wear.
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Latest standard
A full CC-coated piston ring pack has been recommended as the standard
configuration since 2005. Exceptions are mentioned in the table showing the
various versions; see Chapter “Piston ring standard”.
Based on satisfactory service experience the SCP1RC lower piston rings remain
the standard configuration for several engines. RC top piston rings and K0P
piston rings are still allowed for certain engine types.
Both the top piston ring and the lower piston rings are profiled; the top CC piston
ring has an asymmetric barrel shaped profile “P1” and the lower CC piston rings
have an asymmetric barrel shaped profile “P2”. The RC piston rings have a “P1”
profile, see Figure 2.

Note:
CC-coated piston rings should only be used in combination with Wärtsilä
standard cylinder liners, i.e. with fully honed cylinder liners, no wave cut.

K0P piston rings

K0P piston rings have been re-introduced as one of the alternative versions for
RTA52, RTA52U, RTA62, RTA62U, RTA72 and RTA72U engines.

SIPWA parts
The SIPWA–TP system (Sulzer Integrated Piston-ring Wear-detecting
Arrangement with Trend Processing) was developed to measure the absolute
wear of the top piston ring of each piston at every stroke. A special sensor
located in each cylinder liner just above the scavenge air port was used to
measure the width of a triangular shaped brass insert contained in the SIPWA
piston rings in the top groove. The reduction in width of this triangular section
corresponds directly to the wear of this piston ring.

Remark:
The latest development in piston ring technology and the good service
experience with CC piston rings – low wear rates and increased time between
overhauls – have made the SIPWA piston rings obsolete. As a result, SIPWA
parts are no longer available.
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Piston ring designation

The piston ring type is specified by eight characters.

Designation of piston rings

SC P1 CC 20

Ring gap: SC – Straight Cut

GT – Gas Tight
K0 – Angle cut

Profile: P1 – Asymmetrical barrel shape top ring

P2 – Asymmetrical barrel shape lower ring
P – Profiled
(empty) – Cylindrical

Coating: CC – Chrome-Ceramic
RC – Running-in Coating
CF – Chrome-ceramic with hard chrome
coated lower Flank
PL – Plasma coated
(empty) – Without coating

Ring height: xx [mm]

Fig. 1

Today’s piston rings have an asymmetrical profile as indicated by “P1” or “P2”.

• Profile designation P1:
for CC top piston rings
and RC rings
• Profile designation P2:
for CC lower piston rings

Piston ring profile

Fig. 2

Note:
The main differences between “P1” and “P2” piston rings are the basic piston ring
material and the thickness of the Chrome-Ceramic (CC) coated layer.
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Gas tight piston rings

The use of Gas Tight (GT) top piston rings may be beneficial when installed in
the following cases:

• Cylinder liners that have reached approximately 40% of the maximum

admissible cylinder liner wear, according to the Maintenance Manual and/or
• Re-honed cylinder liners depending on the liner wear profile

Before installing GT top piston rings, we suggest first contacting Wärtsilä,

providing a complete overhaul measurement record sheet of the subject liner, for
evaluation and recommendation.

A large Straight Cut (SC) piston ring gap causes more gas leakage resulting in
disruption of the oil film and deposits forming on the piston ring lands. This is
prevented by the overlapping ends of the gas tight piston ring. In addition, when
using gas tight piston rings, there is a benefit for reduced deposit formation on
the piston crown lands. Gas tight piston rings should only be fitted when the
piston ring groove is in good condition. Most recent engine types have piston
grooves designed to accept the installation for GT top piston rings and with a
reduced number of lower piston rings, due to the following reasons:

• Reduced blow-by
• Uniform piston ring temperature gives equal piston ring pressure
• Less disruption of oil film due to reduced hot gas blow-by
• Clean piston ring pack due to reduced hot gas blow-by
• Cleaner top land
• Less number of lower piston rings

RC piston rings
Running-in Coating (RC) piston rings are specially coated to facilitate running-in.
On some engine types RC-coated piston rings are specified for the lower piston
rings or can be used as an alternative for the lower piston rings. RC top piston
rings can also be chosen as a lower cost alternative. However, higher wear rates
may be expected.

Older piston ring specification K0 and K0P

K0P piston rings have an angle cut piston ring gap. The “K” denotes a correction
to the piston ring ends. The “0” (zero) indicates the piston ring ends have no
correction whereas the previous KN version had a negative correction. The “P”
indicates the piston ring is profiled, as shown in Figure 3. Coated K0P piston
rings have the extension PL (Plasma coated) or RC (Running-in coated).
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K0P and K0 piston ring shapes

1 3

1. K0P piston ring, 2. Profiled, 3. K0 piston ring

Fig. 3

Wärtsilä piston ring marking

Wärtsilä piston rings are marked as shown in Figure 4.

Marking of Wärtsilä piston rings

WCH VP6 SCP1CC20 TOP xxxxxxxxxx

Wärtsilä Switzerland Ltd

Base material (substrate)

Ring designation

Orientation

Manufacturing date and Batch number

Fig. 4

The piston ring marking is stamped on the upper surface near the piston ring
gap, see Figure 5.

Location of marking on piston ring

1. Marking area on top surface of piston ring

Fig. 5
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Piston ring standard

The table in Appendix 1 shows the current standard for all applications and
alternative solutions deviating from the standard recommendation. The
alternative solutions have been split into three different categories in order to
provide a clear overview and a better understanding of the different versions.
The piston ring pack versions mentioned in the “Standard version” column are
those according to the latest standard and are recommended by Wärtsilä. The
standard and recommended versions ensure an optimum piston running
behaviour and reduced wear rates compared to other alternatives.

Column “Alternative 1” refers to versions with gas tight piston rings, which are
most suitable for use with cylinder liners already exhibiting higher wear at TDC
(Top Dead Centre).

Columns “Alternative 2” and “Alternative 3” refer to versions that generally offer a

lower cost alternative compared to the standard recommendation. However,
shorter overhaul intervals are to be expected. The uncoated piston rings have a
shorter lifetime, i.e. higher wear rates and would require shorter overhaul
intervals.

Remark:
In case of IMO Tier II engines, the versions under “Alternative 2” are only
applicable to de-rated engines after approval from Wärtsilä Switzerland Ltd.

Attention:
When using a piston ring pack combination with CC top and RC lower piston
rings and switching to a full CC piston ring package, the cylinder liner wear
condition must be checked before installing the new piston rings. Any existing
wear step between the top piston ring and the second piston ring must be
removed.

The piston ring versions and order number of the various available piston rings
are listed in Appendix 1.
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General recommendations

Piston ring life

The Chrome-ceramic coating has a long service life expectancy. However, the
actual wear depends on piston running conditions. Wear of the CC-coating can
be monitored by means of a chrome thickness measurement tool.

Remark:
Wärtsilä can provide the chrome thickness measurement tool. For details about
ordering the tool please see Chapter “Ordering of tools” at the end of this bulletin.

Piston ring storage and handling

Piston rings should be handled with care. Store the piston rings in a dry place, lay
them horizontally on a flat surface and keep them in their original packing. When
preparing for use, avoid bumping, knocking or hard contact of the CC-coated
surface against other metal objects. This is particularly important for CC-coated
piston rings.

Fitting instructions
Piston ring tensioning device
A new piston ring tensioning device was introduced in 2008 for all Wärtsilä
2-stroke engines, see Figure 6.

With the piston ring tensioning device of the first generation there might be a risk
of damaging the piston ring by over-expansion, therefore we recommend using
the new piston ring tensioning device (1). The tool provides a better guidance of
the piston ring, increased stability of the piston rings against lateral tilting in the
tensioned condition and facilitates their assembly.
The new piston ring tensioning device will prevent damaging the piston ring
running surface during assembly with the piston head. Such consequential
damage at the piston ring ends (5) could also lead to scratches on the cylinder
liner.

Each piston ring size should be fitted with the corresponding claw (2) specified
for its size in order to prevent damaging the piston ring coating. On engines with
piston rings of different thicknesses each piston ring size should have its own tool
(piston ring tensioning device) or the claws (4) must be exchanged on the tool
every time a different piston ring size is to be fitted.
The tool can be ordered by quoting the tool number 94338. Please also state the
piston ring thickness with the order, see Chapter “Ordering of tools” at the end of
this bulletin.
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Piston ring tensioning device, tool 94338

3 4

1. Piston ring tensioning device, 2. Claws fixed to tensioning device, 3. Piston

ring, 4. Set of interchangeable claws, 5. Damaged piston ring
Fig. 6

Cylinder liner condition

Prior to assembling the unit the cylinder liner should be thoroughly checked for
wear ridges on the liner running surface and sharp edges of the lubricating
grooves and the scavenging ports. For dressing-up instructions refer to the
Maintenance Manual Group 2, Chapter 2124–3.

Ordering of tools and piston rings

The tools can be ordered from your Wärtsilä representative by stating the
respective tool number as listed in Table 1.
It is advisable to also state the engine type, cylinder number and the piston ring
thickness when ordering the piston ring tensioning device.

Tools for piston rings

Designation Tool number

94338
Piston ring tensioning device
Standard tool
Equipment case with instrument for measuring 94356
chrome layers Recommended special tool

Table 1

The piston rings can be ordered from your Wärtsilä representative by stating the
respective spare parts code number as listed in Appendix 1.
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Appendix
• Appendix 1, RT-135_A1
Piston ring versions and ordering numbers

Contacts

How to contact Wärtsilä

For questions about the content of this Technical Bulletin, or if you need Wärtsilä
assistance, services, spare parts and/or tools, please contact your nearest
Wärtsilä representative.
If you don’t have the contact details at hand, please follow the link “Contact us” –
“24h Services” on the Wärtsilä webpage:
www.wartsila.com

Contact details for emergency issues

Operational support
For questions concerning operational issues, please send your enquiry to:
technicalsupport.chts@wartsila.com
or phone 24hrs support: +41 52 262 80 10.

Field service
If you need Wärtsilä Field Service, please send your enquiry to:
Ch.Fieldservice@wartsila.com
or phone 24hrs support: +41 79 255 68 80.

Spare parts
If you need Wärtsilä spare parts and/or tools, please send you enquiry to:
ch.spareparts.wgls@wartsila.com
or phone 24hrs support: +41 52 262 24 02

© 2012 Wärtsilä Switzerland Ltd. – All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
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in this publication and assumes no responsibility for the correctness, errors or omissions for information
contained herein. Information in this publication is subject to change without notice.
Unless otherwise expressly set forth, no recommendation contained in this document or any of its appendices is
to be construed as provided due to a defect in the engine, but merely as an improvement of the engine and/or
the maintenance procedures relating thereto. Any actions by the owner/operator as a result of the
recommendations are not covered under any warranty provided by Wärtsilä and such actions will thus be at the
owners/operators own cost and expense.
NO LIABILITY WHETHER DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL, IS
ASSUMED WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. THIS PUBLICATION IS
CONFIDENTIAL AND INTENDED FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY.