Precise instrumentation of a diesel single-cylinder research engine Usman Asad ⇑ , Raj Kumar, Xiaoye Han, Ming Zheng Mechanical, Automotive & Materials Engineering, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Ave., Windsor, Ontario, Canada N9B 3P4 article info Article history: Received 22 September 2010 Received in revised form 3 February 2011 Accepted 28 March 2011 Available online 31 March 2011 Keywords: Single-cylinder engine Diesel Instrumentation Engine setup Engine testing Research engine abstract The accuracy of any empirical result is a direct consequence of the quality of experimental setup and the strict control over testing conditions. For internal combustion engines, a large number of parameters that also exhibit complex interdependence may significantly affect the engine performance. Therefore, this work describes the essentials required to establish a high-quality diesel engine research laboratory. A single-cylinder diesel engine is taken as the fundamental building block and the requirements for all essential sub-sys- tems including fuel, intake, exhaust, coolant and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) are laid out. The measurement and analysis of cylinder pressure, and exhaust gas sampling/condi- tioning requirements for emission measurement are discussed in detail. The independent control of EGR and intake boost is also highlighted. The measurement and analysis tech- niques are supported with empirical data from a single-cylinder diesel engine setup. The emphasis is on providing the necessary guidelines for setting up a fully-instrumented die- sel engine test laboratory. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The subject of engine development and testing has changed considerably in the last few decades, from a purely mechanical task, into the realm of an inter-disci- plinary field, incorporating mechanical, electronics, and computer hardware/software engineering, to name a few. The instrumentation of any engine now incorporates a wide range of sensors and actuators, with varying signal types and communication protocols (analog voltage, digital pulse I/O, TTL pulse I/O, pulse-width modulated signals, controller area network, RS-232, GPIB, etc.). This demands a broad range of knowledge and skills from a test engineer to undertake any aspect of engine testing and successfully meet the test requirements. Moreover, the full implemen- tation of the research plan may not be possible because of the inbuilt limitations within the standard engine control unit (ECU) as well as restricted access to the engine calibra- tion data. Therefore, it becomes imperative at times to bypass the ECU to enable unrestricted access to the neces- sary hardware such as the fuel injection system to explore the requisite engine operation [1,2]. The fundamental tool for undertaking research and development in the field of internal combustion engines is the single-cylinder engine because it allows segregation of the performance within an individual cylinder (com- pared to an averaged performance with multiple cylinder configurations) while also eliminating the often complex inter-cylinder interactions [3]. More importantly, unlike a conventional engine where trade-offs between the simulta- neous availability of intake boost and EGR (exhaust- turbocharger limitations) severely restrict the exploration of borderline engine conditions, a critical advantage of a single-cylinder engine is to enable the test engineer to independently investigate the effects of intake boost pres- sure, intake temperature and gas composition, exhaust back pressure and EGR on the engine operation and performance. Single cylinder versions of multi-cylinder production engines are used extensively to minimize testing times and to carry out high-quality research (including evaluation of combustion chamber designs, valvetrain 0263-2241/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.measurement.2011.03.028 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 519 253 3000x4154; fax: +1 519 973 7007. E-mail address: asadu2@asme.org (U. Asad). Measurement 44 (2011) 1261–1278 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Measurement journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/measurement