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A new engine design concept, characterized by a single cylinder-double piston and a cycloid crank rotor instead of the conventional crankshaft has been developed recently by Gul & Co Development AB, Sweden. The rotor (crank disc) is equipped with an oval groove in the shape of a sinusoidal cycloid according to the expression varies from 0 to 1. Inside the oval groove a ball rolls/slides in order to transfer force from the piston to the rotor. Such a rotor contains groove surfaces for the valve movement control as well. Each turn of the rotor corresponds to four strokes for both the pistons. Thus, a full 4-stroke engine cycle is developed for a single non-conventional crankshaft revolution. Having the extra freedom to select an optimal piston movement, the new design is believed to have the potential to provide low emissions, low noise levels and lower fuel consumption. Therefore, it has been subjected to an engine thermodynamics simulation, to provide an insight to engine performance.

Piston temperature experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder heavy-duty Diesel research engine, based on the Volvo Powertrain D12C engine both by use of optical temperature sensitive phosphor and of thermocouples mounted on the piston surface. In the former case, a thin coating of a suitable thermographic phosphor was applied to the areas on the piston surface to be investigated. The optical measurements of piston temperatures made involved use of an optical window and of an endoscope. The possibility of using optical fibres into guide light in and out of the engine was also investigated. Results of the optical and of the thermocouple measurements were compared and were also related to more global data with the aim of exploring the use of thermographic phosphors for piston- temperature measurements in Diesel engines. Thermographic phosphors thermometry was found to represent an alternative to the thermocouple method since it easily can be applied to various piston geometries.