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Engine Testing
Testing of ICEs is an important part of research, development and teaching
Engine tests are performed to - find out performance before mass production and flitting it into a vehicle
- improve the design and configuration, to integrate new materials and technology
- find out the power and fuel consumption, also to test effectiveness of cooling,
vibration and noise, lubrication, controllability, etc.
Basic Instrumentation for Engine Test
Power/torque measurement
Engine speed measurement
Air flow rate measurement
Fuel flow rate measurement
Test Equipment and instruments
- Emission equipment, Thermocouples, Pressure transducers (in cylinder measurement),
Turbine flow meters, Smoke measurement, Fuel measurement, Blow-by measurement, Air
flow measurement
The fundamental output of the engine is engine torque, usually expressed in N-m
Torque/power is measured by a dynamometer or an in-line device
The principle is rather simple - typically the engine flywheel has a band of friction material
around its circumference, and the torque reaction on the friction material corresponds to the
torque output of the engine
The term Brake Horse Power (bhp) derives from the simplest form of engine dynamometer,
the friction brake (or Prony brake)

Dynamometer Types
Another type of dyno is the electric dyno which acts as a generator to absorb power from
the engine
- Advantage of this is that it can be used as motor for starting engine, and for
motoring tests (when the engine is run at operating speeds without combustion) to
determine the mechanical losses in the engine
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 Torque output or load absorbed by the dyno is controlled by the dyno field strength
Other common type of dynamometer is the water brake
- A vaned rotor tums adjacent to a pair of vaned stators
- The sluice gates separate the stators from the rotor, and these control the toad
absorbed by the dyno
Dynamometers can be classified by the type of absorption unit or absorber/driver that they
use
Some of these are as follows:
- Eddy current or electromagnetic brake (absorption)
used in modern chassis dynos
provide the quick load change rate for rapid load setting
air cooled, but some are designed to require external water cooling systems
require an electrically conductive core, shaft or disc, moving across a
magnetic field to produce resistance to movement
use variable electromagnets to change the magnetic field strength to control
the amount of braking
- Magnetic powder brake (absorption)
similar to an eddy current dynamometer, but a fine magnetic powder is
placed in the air gap between the rotor and the coil
The resulting flux lines create chains of metal particulate that are
constantly built and broken apart during rotation creating great torque
typically limited to lower RPM due to heat dissipation issues
- Hysteresis Brake dynamometers (absorption)
use a steel rotor that is moved through flux lines generated between magnetic
pole pieces
as in the usual disc type eddy current absorbers, allows for full torque to be
produced at zero speed, as well as full speed
Hysteresis and disc type EC dynamometer are one of the most efficient
technologies in small (200 hp (150 kW) and less) dynamometer
A hysteresis brake is an eddy current absorber that unlike most disc type
eddy current absorber puts the electromagnet coils inside a vented and ribbed
cylinder and rotates the cylinder, instead of rotating a disc between
electromagnets
The potential benefit for the hysteresis absorber is that the diameter can be
decreased and operating RPM of the absorber may be increased
- Electric motor/generator dynamometer (absorb or drive)
absorption/driver unit can be either an AC motor or OC motor
electric motor/generator dynamometer can be configured as universal
dynamometers
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 universal dynamometers can not only absorb the power of the engine but
also, drive the engine for measuring friction, pumping losses and other factors
generally more costly and complex than other types of dynamometers
- Fan brake (absorption)
A fan is used to blow air to provides engine load
- Hydraulic brake (absorption)
consists of a hydraulic pump (usually a gear type pump), a fluid reservoir
and piping between the two parts
the fluid used was hydraulic oil, but recent synthetic multi-grade oils may be
a better choice
the engine is brought up to the desired RPM and the valve is incrementally
closed and as the pumps outlet is restricted, the load increases and the throttle
is simply opened until at the desired throttle opening
power is calculated by factoring flow volume (calculated from pump design
specs), hydraulic pressure and RPM
renowned for having the absolute quickest load change ability, just slightly
surpassing the eddy current absorbers
- Water brake (absorption)
noted for their high power capability, small package light-weight, and
relatively low manufacturing cost as compared to other, quicker reacting
power absorber types
drawbacks are that they can take a relatively long period of time to 'stabilize'
their load amount and the fact that they require a constant supply of water to
the water brake housing for cooling
The housing attempts to rotate in response to the torque produced but is
restrained by the scale or torque metering cell that measures the torque

Hydraulic Dynamometer
Torque absorbed by the dyno increases with speed
By varying the throttle and sluice gate setting, any operating point should be attainable
For stable operation the dyno operating lines and throttle lines should intersect as close as
possible to 90"

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Dynamometer Types
- Compound dyno (usually an absorption dyno in tandem with an electric/motoring dyno)
Torque measurement is somewhat complicated since there are two machines in
tandem; an inline torque transducer is the preferred method of torque measurement in
this case
An eddy current or water brake dynamometer with electronic control combined with
a variable frequency drive and AC induction motor is a commonly used configuration
of this type
Disadvantages include requiring a second set of test cell services (electrical power
and cooling) and a slightly more complicated control system
Fuel Consumption Measurement
A common measurement system for fuel consumption is to time the consumption of a fixed
volume and then converted to a gravimetric consumption by using the density
In a fuel-injection system, if the spill flow is fed back to the tank this must be measured
separately

Orifice-type flow meter gives instantaneous readings, but is less accurate

Automatic flow meter adopts both of these
A continuous measurement system employs a hydraulic equivalent of a Wheatstone bridge
Another system uses Coriolis acceleration principle to measure fuel flow rate. It uses a Ushaped tube
Air Flow Measurement
A simple system to measure the air flow rate is obtained by connecting the air intake to a
large rigid box with an orifice at its inlet
- The box should be large enough to damp out the pulsations in the flow and be free or
resonances in the normal speed range of the engine

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Temperature and Pressure Measurements

Mercury-in-glass thermometers and thermocouples both provide economical means of
measuring temperature, with the potential of achieving and accuracy of about 0.1 K - same
level of accuracy can be obtained from platinum resistance thermometer
Bourdon pressure gauges and manometers provide a cheap and accurate means of
measuring steady pressures
- Pressures in the range of 1 - 100 kN/m2 can be measured with an accuracy of about 1
Percent
Pressure transducers utilize a piezo-resistive effect
In-cylinder Pressure Measurement
The simplest form of engine indicator is the Dobbie Mclnnes mechanical indicator
The area of the diagram corresponds to the indicated work per cylinder
imep = k hd = k (Ad/Id)
where Ad = diagram area
Id = diagram length
hd = mean height of diagram
Mechanical indicators can only be used at speeds of up to 600 rpm

Electronic systems are now very common for recording indicator diagrams - the pressure is
plotted on a time instead of a volumetric basis
A pressure transducer is used to measure the pressure inside the cylinder, the output of
which is sent to an oscilloscope
An inductive pick-up coil is connected to record the position of tdc accurately
- Since tdc occurs during the period of maximum pressure change, a 1" error in
position of tdc can cause a 5% error in imep

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 The location of tdc is not straightforward because of

- the finite stiffness of the crank-slider mechanism
- the flexibility of the crankshaft is such that at full load there can be about 1 twist at
certain speeds
To convert the time base to a piston displacement base it is usual to assume constant
angular velocity throughout each revolution
The output from an oscilloscope can be plotted in an x-y plotter
Techniques for Estimating Indicated Power
Very often a pressure transducer cannot be readily fitted to an engine, so alternative means
of deducing imep are useful
The difference between indicated power and brake power is the power absorbed by friction
- often assumed to be dependent only on engine speed
However, the friction power also depends on the indicated power since the increased gas
pressures cause increases in piston friction
If the friction power is assumed to be independent of the indicated power, then the friction
power can be deduced from the Morse test
- This is applicable only to multi-cylinder engines, as each cylinder is disabled in turn
- When a cylinder is disabled the load is reduced so that the engine returns to the test speed
the reduction in power
correspond to the indicated power of that cylinder
For a n-cylinder engine
indicated power - friction power = (brake power)n
With one cylinder disabled
indicated power - friction power = (brake power)n-1
Subtracting:
indicated power of disabled cylinder = reduction in brake power

A method for estimating the friction power of compression ignition engines is Willans line
A more accepted figure used to compare the performance of engines of differing capacities
is the BMEP - Brake Mean Effective pressure

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Engine Test Conditions

Various standards authorities (BS, DIN, SAE, ASTM) are involved with specifying the test
conditions for engines, and how allowances can be made for variations in ambient conditions
Corrections for datum conditions vary, and in general they are more involved for CI
engines
Energy Balance
Experiments with engines very often involve an energy balance on the engine
Energy is supplied to the engine as the chemical energy of the fuel and leaves as energy in
the cooling water, exhaust, brake work and extraneous heat transfer
- The heat transfer to the cooling water is found from the temperature rise in the
coolant as it passes through the engine and the mass flow rate of the coolant
- The energy leaving in the exhaust is more difficult to determine
- Heat transfer from the engine cannot be readily determined
- Brake power should be used in the energy balance

Experimental Accuracy
Whenever an experimental reading is taken there is an error associated with that reading
There are three main sources of error
- the instrument is not measuring what is intended
- the instrument calibration is inaccurate
- the instrument output is incorrectly recorded by the observer

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