Abstract
Engineers have long searched for a viable method to reliably measure cylinder pressure in real-world, internal combustion engines during normal operation. Although many devices to measure cylinder pressure in a laboratory situation exist, none exist that would serve outside the lab. However, a new optical strain gauge based on the fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (FFPI) may prove to be effective in realworld situations. One FFPI sensor embedded in a fuel injector bolt and three FFPI sensors embedded in head bolts were tested under a variety of operating conditions on a single cylinder, research, diesel engine. The sensors' pressure vs. crank angle output was compared with the output of a piezoelectric pressure transducer mounted, in the engine head. Plots of the FFPI output indicate that the sensor has promise if several sources of noise and tracking error can be eliminated.
Turner, Timothy Troy (1994). An evaluation of an optically-based, cylinder pressure sensor in a single-cylinder, research, diesel engine. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1994 -THESIS -T953.