CYLINDER HEAD

CYLINDER HEAD 

•     To cover the top portion of the cylinder liner and hence also known as head (being the top most portion corresponding to the head in the human body).
                                                   OR
  Seals the “top-end” of the combustion chamber .
  
•   Materials: Cast Iron, Cast Steel and Combination both.
•   They have several mountings on them which could vary with the make and model of the engine by typically these could include starting air valve, fuel valve, relief valve and so forth. The cylinder head for a typical Sulzer RD marine diesel engine  will have the various valves such as the fuel injector, air starting valve, relief valve, indicator cock etc, as well as the cooling water passages.
•    The earlier designs used a two piece design construction where the two pieces were made out of cast iron and cast steel but recently single piece cylinder covers made out of cast steel have also become fairly popular.
•      The cylinder head is fixed onto the cylinder block through the use of big bolts which are sufficient to withstand the various forces.
•      They also help to transfer to gas forces acting on the cylinder head to the bedplate via the cylinder block and ultimately are passed on to the hull of the ship