The development and application of advanced sensor solutions for gaining new insights into large engines

Large engines play an important role in today’s increasingly climate focused energy and transportation sectors. New research and measurement technologies are being developed to move forward to alternative, carbon-free fuels and further increases in service life.

A selection of new technologies with potential for advancing combustion engine development will be presented in this publication. Included are a variety of telemetry systems, capable of delivering online measurement data from within the engine, including piston temperatures and (inter-ring-) pressures, connecting rod upper and lower bearing temperatures, cylinder head and liner temperatures, and spark plug electrode temperatures. Descriptions of solutions for the various sensing positions, as well as boundary conditions, mechanical considerations, and design phase iterations, will be outlined.

Finally, results of measurements on large single-cylinder engines will be used to show how these systems can provide new insights into engine processes and thus contribute to the optimization of these engines. During the course of these measurements, experiments involving alternative fuels and combustions processes were performed. The novel component stress caused by these tests was also characterized with these telemetry systems and will briefly be discussed.