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Gasoline direct injection and turbocharging enable the progress of clean and fuel efficient SI engines. Accessing potential efficiency benefits requires very high power density to be achieved across a broad rpm range. This imposes risks which in conventional engines are rarely met. However, at torque levels exceeding 25 bar BMEP, the thermal in-cylinder conditions together with chemical reactivity of any ignitable matter, require major efforts in combustion system development. The paper presents a methodology to identify and locate sporadic self ignition events and it demonstrates non contact surface temperature measurement techniques for in-cylinder and exhaust system components.

The exploitation of full load capabilities of DI gasoline engines requires at least the same degree of effort as in MPFI engine development. An optics based sensor and sensing technique is presented, which together with conventional pressure indicating provides identification of self ignition centers as the engine is operated under knock or borderline knock conditions. The knock location sensor is configured as a spark plug providing the relevant spark plug properties together with the multichannel optical access into the upper part of the combustion chamber. Functionality and sensitivity of this sensing technique are demonstrated and results for combustion system development are shown.

An optical imaging technique has been developed which allows the visual observation of fuel vapour within selected planes in optically accessed combustion chambers of Spark Ignition engines. The technique utilises fluorescence radiation of hydrocarbon molecules to image fuel vapour distribution. This fluorescence radiation is induced by a pulsed laser light sheet projected into the transparent combustion chamber and it can be observed with an intensified camera gated synchronously with the pulsed laser at any selected time instant of the engine cycle. In addition to recording mixture distribution, the camera arrangement also allows visualisation of the gasoline flame propagation. These imaging methods are used for he investigation of mixture formation and flame development in a transparent, disc-shaped combustion chamber under low speed and low load conditions.

Formation, ignition and combustion of diesel fuel sprays have been observed in the combustion chamber of an optically accessed single cylinder diesel engine. Two different combustion chamber geometries allowed the fuel sprays to be studied under quiescent and cross flow conditions. The study of the spatial distribution with different single shot photography techniques is complemented with an investigation of the temporal development of spray and flame propagation by an electronic high-speed line-scan technique. This continuous, time resolved analysis technique allows to resolve the influence of temporal variations imposed on the spray propagation and combustion by the fuel injection schedule. The application of these methods to the investigation of diesel sprays highlights mechanisms which govern the propagation and distribution of fuel sprays, fuel evaporation and the formation of a combustible fuel-air mixture.

In order to facilitate the analysis of SI engine combustion phenomena, we have developed a fiber optic system which allows the observation of combustion in essentially standard engines. Optical access to the combustion chamber is achieved with micro-optic elements and optical fibers in the cylinder head gasket. Each fiber views a narrow cone of the combustion chamber and transmits the light seen within this acceptance cone to the detector and recorder unit. A large number of such fiber optic detectors have been incorporated in a cylinder head gasket and this multichannel system was arranged in a geometric configuration which allowed the reconstruction of the spatial flame intensity distribution within the observed combustion chamber cross-section. The spatial information was gained from the line-of-sight intensity signals by means of a tomographic reconstruction technique.

An optical sensor system provides access to standard SI engine combustion chambers via the cylinder head gasket. Flame radiation within the plane of the gasket is observed with optical fibers which are arranged to allow the tomographic reconstruction of flame distribution. The effect of convective in-cylinder air motion generated by variations of inlet ports and combustion chamber geometries on flame propagation is directly visible. A high degree of correlation between flame intensity distribution and NOx emission levels yields a useful assessment of combustion chamber configurations with minimum emission levels. The location of knock centers is identified.