It has been proved from many studies and applications that, to improve fuel economy, is necessary to operate near lean limit without exceeding it, to avoid unstable engine running and resulting car surging. On this purpose, besides a precise and flexible control system, an engine stability sensor, to adopt closed loop control strategies, is needed. A research has been carried out on different measurement methodologies with the aim of developing a reliable and low cost stability sensor to be used on production cars. For this reason sensors yet applied in automotive field, like accelerometer and pick-up or oriented to this application, like ring pressure sensors, have been used. As basis of comparison the cyclic dispersion,measured with a pressure sensor inside the combustion chamber, has been considered.
