Proceedings

of the
Combustion
Institute
Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 31 (2007) 3041–3049
www.elsevier.com/locate/proci

Rapid measurements of temperature and H2O

concentration in IC engines with a spark
plug-mounted diode laser sensor
G.B. Rieker a,*, H. Li a, X. Liu a, J.T.C. Liu a, J.B. Jeffries a,
R.K. Hanson a, M.G. Allen b, S.D. Wehe b, P.A. Mulhall b,
H.S. Kindle b, A. Kakuho c, K.R. Sholes c, T. Matsuura c, S. Takatani c

a
High Temperature Gasdynamics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University,
Building 520, Room 520i, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
b
Physical Sciences Inc., 20 New England Business Center, Andover, MA 01810, USA
c
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., 560-2, Okatsukoku, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa 243-0192, Japan

Abstract

Crank angle-resolved measurements of gas temperature and water vapor concentration are made during
the compression stroke of an internal combustion (IC) engine with a novel diode laser absorption sensor.
The temperature is determined from the ratio of optical absorption for two overtone transitions of water
vapor in the intake gas mixture, and the H2O concentration is determined from this inferred temperature
and the absorption for one of the transitions. The measurements sample a short-path region (6 mm) of the
in-cylinder gases near the spark plug, which has been modified to provide optical access. Hence, the sensor
can be installed in nearly any engine via the spark plug port. Wavelength modulation spectroscopy is
employed with second harmonic detection (WMS-2f) to enable the short-path measurements over a range
of temperatures and pressures from 500 to 1050 K and 1 to 50 atm at a bandwidth of 7.5 kHz. The accu-
racy of the sensor is validated in a static cell, giving RMS errors of less than 3% in temperature and less
than 3.6% in H2O concentration over a wide range of conditions. Crank angle-resolved measurements are
performed in unfired and fired engine cylinders, illustrating the potential of this sensor for investigating a
range of difficult-to-model trends in current and proposed IC engine combustion schemes.
 2006 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Diode laser; Wavelength modulation spectroscopy; Thermometry; IC engine

1. Introduction tion engine designers to consider increasingly

The demand for heightened efficiency and
decreased emissions has driven internal combus-
*
Corresponding author. Fax: +1 650 723 1748.
E-mail address: grieker@stanford.edu (G.B. Rieker).
complex combustion schemes: such as exhaust
gas recirculation (EGR), supercharging, turbo-
charging, and variable valve timing on conven-
tional gasoline engines, and new engine types
such as homogeneous charge compression ignition
(HCCI) engines. All of these schemes affect the in-
cylinder gas temperature and species composition,

1540-7489/$ - see front matter  2006 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.proci.2006.07.158
3042 G.B. Rieker et al. / Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 31 (2007) 3041–3049
which play a pivotal role in the combustion event
and the formation of harmful emissions in
engines. For HCCI engines, combustion is initiat-
ed by spontaneous reaction of the fuel and oxidiz-
er at elevated temperatures and pressures and thus
depends entirely on the state of the cylinder gases
during the compression stroke. To properly
design, optimize, and control these combustion
schemes, it is of utmost importance to know the
temperature and species concentration histories
throughout the mixing and compression processes
that occur prior to ignition.
Diode laser-based absorption sensors have
been widely applied to harsh combustion environ-
ments [1,2]. They provide a rapid, non-intrusive
means to evaluate gas properties. The continuous
wave (cw) tunable diode lasers (TDLs) at the core
of these sensors have matured into hardy, inex-
pensive, fiber-coupled devices with output wave-
lengths conveniently located in the near-infrared
spectral region where quantum transitions of the
major products of combustion, H2O and CO2,
are found. Many TDL combustion sensors devel-
oped thus far have focused on high temperature,
near-atmospheric pressure, continuous processes
such as scramjet combustors [3], coal power plants
[4], plasma etch reactors [5], and IC engine
exhaust streams [6]. Far fewer TDL sensors have
been developed for high pressure, cyclic applica-
tions. Specifically, sensors that utilize fixed-wave-
length direct absorption of multiple wavelengths
have been demonstrated on a pulse detonation
engine [7], and across the diameter of an optical
IC engine [8]. Also, sensors using rapid direct
absorption scans over a large spectral range have
been applied to a pulse detonation engine [9] and
across an optical IC engine [10].
Internal combustion engines provide a particu-
larly challenging environment for the application
of laser absorption sensors. During the compres-
sion stroke, a wide range of conditions is encoun-
tered, with temperatures ranging from ambient to
1050 K and pressures up to 50 atm (for turbo-
charged and supercharged intake configurations).
High pressures lead to broadened, congested, and
overlapped spectra, making direct absorption
spectroscopy difficult. For water vapor-based
sensing, only the low concentration of water
vapor available in ambient intake air (as little as
1%) is present during the compression stroke,
leading to small absorption signals. The gas con-
ditions vary rapidly throughout compression, so
high bandwidth is required to capture crank
angle-resolved gas properties. Finally, optical
access within typical IC engines is difficult due
to harsh conditions, moving parts, and limited
space.
The sensor developed in this work is designed
to measure gas temperature and H2O
concentration for this range of conditions for
the compression stroke of an IC engine. A 6 mm
folded-pathlength (12 mm total), fiber-optic-cou-
pled probe is mounted to the spark plug and
enables optical access to almost any IC engine.
The short pathlength, combined with the low con-
centrations of water vapor and high gas pressures
present during the compression stroke require the
use of a sensitive absorption technique—wave-
length modulation spectroscopy with second har-
monic detection (WMS-2f). This technique has
been applied in harsh environments in the past
when a sensitive, noise-resistant technique was
required [3,11,16–23]. Here the technique is
extended to the large modulation amplitudes
required to capture pressure-broadened spectral
features. The sensor is capable of a 7.5 kHz band-
width, giving it the ability to measure changes in
gas temperature and water concentration that
occur over the space of two crank angle degrees
at 2500 rpm.
We present the first rapid measurements of
temperature and water concentration using this
sensor in an IC engine. Due to the length limita-
tions of this paper, the details of the sensor devel-
opment and associated effort to establish a
suitable spectroscopic database cannot be fully
presented, and are described elsewhere [11–15].
The theory of large modulation amplitude
WMS-2f using injection current-tuned diode
lasers is described in detail in Li et al. [11]. The
design rules and selection of the optimal absorp-
tion transitions for the sensor are covered in Zhou
et al. [12]. Laboratory measurements of the spec-
tral parameters needed for accurate temperature
measurements are described by Liu et al. [13],
and quantitative evaluations of the direct absorp-
tion and WMS-2f spectra at high temperature and
pressure can be found in Rieker et al. [14]. In Ref.
[15], validation experiments to confirm the sen-
sor’s accuracy in the controlled environment of a
static cell and a dynamic evaluation of the sensor
in a shock tube are reported. Here we summarize
the theory, sensor architecture, and static cell
evaluation, and focus our primary attention on
the first measurements using the sensor in unfired
and fired IC engine cylinders.
2. Theory—sensitive detection with WMS-2f
The measurements presented in this work rely
on optical absorption, which is described by the
Beer–Lambert relation.
( )
I X
¼ exp  S j ðT Þ  /j ðT ; P ; x; kÞ  P i  L
Io j
ð1Þ
where I and Io represent the transmitted and inci-
dent intensity at a specific wavelength, k. Sj is the
line strength of transition j, /j is the line shape func-
 G.B. Rieker et al. / Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 31 (2007) 3041–3049 3043

tion of transition j, Pi is the absorbing species par-
tial pressure, and L is the pathlength. The summa-
tion on the line strength and line shape function
account for the overlapping of transitions that oc-
curs due to collisional broadening at high pressures.
The bracketed group of parameters is referred to as
the absorbance. For thermometry, it is common to
use the measured ratio of the absorbance of two
transitions to infer temperature [3–5,7].
2.1. WMS-2f
The benefits of wavelength modulation spec-
troscopy with second harmonic detection have
been recognized by many past researchers
[16–21]. For the high pressure, low water
concentration application of this sensor, the
technique offers two advantageous traits over
direct absorption spectroscopy. First, it is sensi-
tive to the curvature of the spectral feature
rather than the absolute absorption magnitude,
and is less sensitive to errors in the determina-
tion of the incident laser intensity [19]. These
are very attractive features when absorbances
are small and the spectral features are heavily
pressure broadened, eliminating the non-absorb-
ing ‘‘wings’’ of spectral features that are used by
scanned-wavelength direct absorption to deter-
mine incident intensity. Second, the use of
phase-sensitive detection (lock-in amplifier)
rejects many noise sources, greatly enhancing
the SNR. This is attractive when absorbances
are small and measurements are made in noisy,
harsh environments.
The technique involves rapidly modulating the
laser wavelength about a fixed center wavelength,
passing the light through an absorbing medium to
a detector, and processing the detector signal with
a lock-in amplifier set to isolate the second har-
monic (2f) of the original modulation frequency.
It was shown by Reid and Labrie [21] that the
magnitude of the WMS-2f signal is related to
the ratio of the modulation depth of the laser
and the half-width at half-maximum (HWHM)
of the spectral feature. The maximum WMS-2f
signal occurs when this ratio equals 2.2, and thus
at high pressures, where line widths can take on
values of several wavenumbers, the modulation
depth must be large to obtain the maximum sig-
nal. For this application, the TDL injection cur-
rent is varied to provide the wavelength
modulation, which produces a simultaneous mod-
ulation of the laser intensity. As the modulation
depth becomes large, the effect on the WMS-2f
signal of nonlinear behavior inherent to the diode
laser and the phase shift between the frequency
and intensity modulation become important.
These effects have been accounted for to varying
degrees by several researchers. However, recently
Li et al. [11] systematically examined these non-
ideal effects for specific diode lasers. The work
reported here follows the development in Li
et al. [11] and represents the first application of
large-modulation-depth WMS to practical gas
sensing that includes this treatment of non-ideal
diode laser performance parameters.
When the modulated laser light passes through
an absorbing medium and the harmonic compo-
nents of the transmitted intensity signal are isolat-
ed by the lock-in amplifier, the magnitude of the
WMS-2f signal can be written
"
GI o io
S 2f ¼ H 2 þ ðH 1 þ H 3 Þ cos w1
2 2
  2
H4
þi2 1 þ H o þ cos w2
2

io
þ ðH 1  H 3 Þ sin w1
2
  2 #1=2
H4
þi2 1 þ H o  sin w2 ð2Þ
2
where G is the optical–electrical gain of the detec-
tor and I o is the average laser intensity [11]. The
linear (1f) and first term of the nonlinear (2f)
intensity modulation amplitudes, normalized by
I o , are represented by io and i2, respectively. The
phase shift between the intensity modulation and
frequency modulation is represented by w1 and
w2 for the linear and nonlinear terms. Higher-
order nonlinear behavior exists in diode laser
response, however Li et al. [11] find that even at
large modulation depths the effect on the WMS-
2f signal can be neglected. The normalized intensi-
ty modulation amplitude and phase shift terms are
constant for a given laser and laser settings, and
therefore can readily be measured in the laborato-
ry using the methods described in Ref. [11].
The Hk terms in Eq. (2) can be represented by
H 0 ðT ; P i ; v; aÞ ¼
Z
P iL p X
 S j ðT Þ/j ðT ; P ; v þ a cos hÞ dh ð3Þ
2p p j
Z
P iL p X
H k ðT ; P i ; v; aÞ ¼  S j ðT Þ
p p j
 /j ðT ; P ; v þ a cos hÞ cos kh dh ð4Þ
These terms are cast in terms of known spectral
parameters and hence the expected WMS-2f sig-
nal at a specified wavelength and gas condition
can be simulated.
An important point to note is that in the
absence of absorption, the WMS-2f magnitude
(Eq. (2)) reduces to a non-zero value:
S o2f ¼ 1=2GI o i2 . This background signal results
from the first term of the nonlinear intensity mod-
ulation amplitude (2f), which becomes increasingly
3044 G.B. Rieker et al. / Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 31 (2007) 3041–3049
prominent at high modulation depths of injection
current-tuned diode lasers. In practice, the WMS-
2f background is measured in the absence of
absorption and subtracted from the signal when
an absorbing gas is present so that the remaining
WMS-2f signal is due only to absorption [15]. This
is important because the WMS-2f signal due to
absorption is directly proportional to absorbing
species concentration, while the WMS-2f signal
including background is not.
2.2. 1f Normalization
The WMS-2f magnitude (Eq. (2)) is directly
proportional to the laser intensity and detector
gain, GI o . In harsh environments, this term
can change rapidly due to beamsteering, scatter-
ing, and window fouling. Thus, to accurately
compare the measured WMS-2f magnitude to
simulated values (as will be done to determine
gas properties), the measured signal must be
normalized by GI o . Fortunately, the intensity
modulation of injection current-tuned diodes
provides a very effective method for this normal-
ization using the first harmonic (1f) signal,
which is also directly proportional to GI o .
Therefore, the WMS-1f signal provides a
real-time monitor of the laser intensity and
transmission [22,23], and the ratio of the
WMS-2f magnitude to the WMS-1f magnitude
is independent of these parameters.
The WMS-1f signal shows a weak dependence
on absorption. However, in the limit of small
absorption (<5%), as is typical for the current
experiments, the WMS-1f signal can be used to
normalize the WMS-2f signal for laser intensity
and detector gain with minimal errors [11].
2.3. Calculating gas temperature and H2O
concentration
Once WMS-2f measurements have been
made, the final step to calculating the gas prop-
erties is comparison of the measurements with
simulations. Assuming an independent measure-
ment of pressure is obtained, then only the spe-
cies partial pressure and temperature are
unknown. Recall that after the WMS-2f back-
ground has been subtracted the remaining signal
is directly proportional to species partial pres-
sure. Thus, taking the ratio of background sub-
tracted, 1f-normalized, WMS-2f signals from
two different spectral features of the same target
species cancels the partial pressure dependence
and the ratio is a pure function of temperature
at a given pressure. Therefore, the measured
ratio can be compared to a simulation of the
ratio as a function of temperature at the inde-
pendently measured pressure to yield the gas
temperature. The 1f-normalized, WMS-2f signal
for an individual spectral feature is compared
with the simulation at the measured pressure
and inferred temperature to yield the water
vapor mole fraction.
It should be noted that because the sensor does
not directly measure CO2, the database used to
calculate gas temperature and H2O concentration
neglects the effect of CO2-broadening on water
vapor line shapes. Simulations for even the
extreme case of 50% EGR (7% CO2) at 40 atm
show that the incremental broadening of the water
vapor line widths by CO2 is small, and thus is
neglected here.
3. Sensor design and architecture
The in-cylinder water concentration and tem-
perature sensor is designed to be portable so mea-
surements can be made on a wide variety of engine
test stands. It is composed of two parts: the sensor
system, which contains the lasers, detector, and
data processing equipment, and the sensor probe,
which fits into the spark plug hole of the test
engine. A basic schematic of the experimental
arrangement is shown in Fig. 1.
The sensor probe was designed specifically to
adapt to the spark plug port of most engines. The
optics of the probe are integrated with a working
spark plug to allow firing tests. Two fiber-coupled,
near-infrared, distributed feedback (DFB) diode
lasers are modulated near the maximum obtainable
modulation depth for each laser (0.7 cm1) near
the two target spectral features. The laser light is
multiplexed into a singlemode optical fiber that car-
ries the light to the spark plug probe. The multi-
plexed laser light travels through the body of the
probe in the singlemode fiber, is pitched through a
sapphire window, and traverses a 6 mm open path
to a mirror. This mirror reflects the light back
across the open path (for a total pathlength of
12 mm) and focuses it onto a multimode fiber bun-
dled next to the singlemode pitch fiber. The mirror
is supported by posts which are attached to the probe
(spark plug) body and designed to allow free flow of
the cylinder gases through the measurement path.
The multimode fiber exits the sensor probe
and travels to a large diameter (3 mm) InGaAs
photodetector (bandwidth = 500 kHz). The
resulting detector voltage signal is the superposi-
tion of both laser signals, and is bandpass fil-
tered and sampled continuously at 625 kHz.
The individual laser signals are frequency
demultiplexed using four digital lock-in ampliers
tuned to the first (1f) and second (2f) harmonics
of the two modulation frequencies (70 kHz and
87.5 kHz for this work). The lock-in amplifiers
provide approximately 45 dB of rejection to sig-
nals outside of a 12 kHz band centered on their
respective target frequencies, greatly reducing
crosstalk between the laser signals and rejecting
outside noise sources.
 G.B. Rieker et al. / Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 31 (2007) 3041–3049
Fig. 1. Sensor layout. Pressure transducer not shown.
An independent pressure measurement by a
transducer mounted on the engine is sampled by
the sensor system. This signal and the lock-in
amplifier signals are processed by the sensor into
temperature and water concentration as described
in Section 2.
4. Sensor validation
Before the sensor was applied to make mea-
surements in an internal combustion engine, it
was first validated with controlled experiments.
This section will summarize the process of select-
ing the two spectral features probed by the sensor
and measuring the spectral parameters of each
feature. It will also describe the validation of the
sensor system in a controlled high-temperature
and -pressure optical cell.
4.1. Line selection
Two spectral features were chosen for the sen-
sor through a systematic search of the thousands
of water vapor features tabulated in the HITRAN
database [24] for the near-infrared region from
1.25 to 1.65 lm. The goal was to find an optimal
feature pair for thermometry and water concen-
tration measurements over a region of pressure
and temperature space from approximately 5 to
50 atm and 450 to 1050 K. This covers most of
the possible compression stroke conditions for a
variety of different engine cycles (HCCI, super-
charged-intake, large EGR, etc.). Detail on the
selection of spectral features can be found in Zhou
et al. [12]. A pair of lines in the m1 + m3 combina-
tion band were chosen: the (J = 5, Ka = 5,
Kc = 0) fi (5, 5, 1) transition with E00 (lower state
energy) = 742 cm1 located near 7203.9 cm1,
and the (12, 1, 12) fi (13, 1, 13) transition with
E00 = 1558 cm1 located near 7435.6 cm1. For
3045
simplicity, the lines will be referred to as the low
E00 and high E00 lines throughout the rest of the
paper.
4.2. Spectral parameter measurements
The HITRAN database provides a good search
tool to find optimal spectral features. However,
accurate measurements of gas properties at high
temperatures and pressures require that the spec-
tral parameters of target transitions be measured
carefully in the laboratory for two reasons: first,
to verify and refine the HITRAN values, and sec-
ond, to measure spectral parameters that are not
found in the database (broadening and frequency-
shift temperature exponents and CO2-broadening
and frequency-shift parameters). Therefore, mea-
surements in a quartz cell at low pressures
(<1 atm) and high temperatures (to 1000 K) were
performed by Liu et al. [13] on the high E00 and
low E00 spectral features. Neighboring transitions
within 2 cm1 were also included in the study
because of their influence on the target spectral fea-
tures at high pressures due to collisional
broadening.
To evaluate the quantitative spectral simulations
based on the measured spectral parameters from
Ref. [13] and the WMS-2f theory for large-modula-
tion-depth TDL lasers from Ref. [11], experimental
measurements of direct absorption and WMS-2f
spectra at high pressures and temperatures were
performed in a controlled static cell. Improved
agreement with measurements was obtained with
simulations using the parameters from Ref. [13] rel-
ative to simulations using HITRAN parameters.
Details can be found in Ref. [14].
4.3. Sensor system validation
Before applying the sensor to an environment
where the gas properties are unknown, it is desirable
3046 G.B. Rieker et al. / Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 31 (2007) 3041–3049
1000 Cell Temperature
Sensor Measurements
900
Temperature (K)
800
700
600
500
xMeasured/xActual
400
1.1
1.0
0.9
0 5 10 15 20
Pressure (atm)
Fig. 2. Validation measurements of the sensor system in
a controlled high temperature and pressure optical cell.
to have some measure of the expected accuracy of
the system. The sensor was validated under con-
trolled, static conditions in a high-temperature
and -pressure optical cell located in a tube furnace
with a highly uniform temperature distribution. A
detailed description of the experimental setup, full
results, and complete discussion can be found in
Rieker et al. [15].
Measurements performed in the static cell at
known temperatures of 500, 700, and 900 K and
pressures ranging from 1 to 25 atm are shown in
Fig. 2. The water vapor mole fraction was deter-
mined at each condition using an independent
measurement. The top panel of Fig. 2 shows a
comparison of the temperature measured by
the sensor at each condition with the thermo-
couple-measured static cell temperature. At
500 K, the RMS error between the measured
and actual temperatures over the full range of
pressure is 10 K (2%). At 700 K the RMS error
is 16 K (2.3%) and at 900 K it is 26 K (2.9%).
The bottom panel of Fig. 2 shows the ratio of
the mole fraction measured by the sensor using
the high E00 line (xmeasured), and the independent-
ly measured mole fraction (xactual). Ideally, the
value of this ratio would be unity. At 700 K,
the RMS error between the measured mole frac-
tion and the actual mole fraction is 3%, and at
900 K the RMS error is 3.6%. Thus excellent
agreement is found between expected and mea-
sured values for both temperature and mole
fraction. The errors in the measurements are pri-
marily attributed to error in the WMS-2f simu-
lations that are used by the sensor to calculate
the temperature and mole fraction (as described
in Section 2.3).
5. Engine results
The sensor was applied to two different inter-
nal combustion engines. The first, a single-cylin-
der, variable-compression-ratio research engine,
was used to test the sensor in a motoring only
(unfired) configuration during sensor and probe
development. The second, a single-cylinder engine
with specifications matching a production auto-
motive engine, was used to test the sensor in a
fired arrangement. The results from this engine
confirm the utility of the sensor for evaluating
new engine concepts of mixture preparation and
combustion.
5.1. Motored case
25 For the unfired case, a single-cylinder, vari-
able-compression-ratio research engine (8.26 cm
bore · 11.43 cm stroke) operating near 1800 rpm
with an 8:1 compression ratio was used. The
engine was chosen for its flexibility. Cylinder head
access was possible through multiple spark plug
holes, which was beneficial during probe design
and testing. The intake air was humidified to near-
ly 100% relative humidity by drawing the air
through a water bath.
Figure 3 shows the 10-cycle average tempera-
ture versus crank angle for a steady motoring con-
dition. Also shown is an isentropic simulation
based on the measured pressure and assuming a
constant gamma equal to 1.39 (the average value
over the temperature range from 60 to 60
CAD). One can see that the temperature is less
than the isentropic simulation, especially at later
times, as expected for a real gas compression in
an actual engine with heat transfer.
The 10-cycle average water concentration and
mole fraction is shown as a function of crank
angle in Fig. 4. Water mole fraction, xH2 O , remains
constant over the cycle and agrees with the esti-
mated humidifier output ðxH2 O ¼ 2:3%Þ.
To quantify the scatter of the data, a moving
average is taken through the 10-cycle average
data. This smoothes the data and provides a mean
Motored Case, 10 cycle average
700 (1800 rpm, CR=8:1 est.)
Isentropic Simulation (γ =1.39)
650
Measured Temperature
Temperature (K)
600
550
500
450
400
350
Pressure (atm)
15
10
5
0
-60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60
Crank Angle (degrees)
Fig. 3. Measured temperature in a motoring, single-
cylinder engine. A constant gamma isentropic simula-
tion is shown for comparison.
 G.B. Rieker et al. / Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 31 (2007) 3041–3049 3047

Motored Case, 10 cycle average Fired Case, 10 cycle average

(1800 rpm, CR=8:1est.) (1200 rpm, CR=12:1)
1.5x10-4 0.07

Temperature (K)
800
0.06 Spark
H2O Concentration (g/cc)

0.05
1.0x10-4

H2O Mole Fraction

700
0.04

0.03
600
5.0x10-5

Pressure (atm)
0.02
25
0.01 20
15
10
0.0 0.00 5
-40 -20 0 20 40 0
Crank Angle (degrees) -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10
Crank Angle (degrees)
Fig. 4. Measured water concentration and mole fraction
in a motoring, single-cylinder engine. Fig. 5. Measured temperature and pressure in a fired,
single-cylinder engine.

value at each crank angle against which the scatter initiation. The water mole fraction is nearly con-
can be measured. The standard deviation between stant, indicating mixture homogeneity. Compared
the data and this moving mean was calculated for with the unfired case at around 40 crank angle,
a single cycle, 10-cycle average, and 100-cycle the water density is lower, which is consistent with
average. For temperature, the standard deviation the higher temperatures of the fired case (at simi-
was found to be 24 K for the single-cycle data, lar water mole fraction and total pressure).
8.4 K for the 10-cycle average, and 4.4 K for the The utility of the sensor is confirmed in Figs. 5
100-cycle average. For water concentration, the and 6. One can see that the temperature through-
standard deviation was found to be 1.0(10)5 g/ out the compression stroke is higher for the fired
cm3 for the single-cycle data, 3.3(10)6 g/cm3 for case than the unfired case. For the fired case, the
the 10-cycle average, and 2.1(10)6 g/cm3 for the incoming gases are heated by the hot intake and
100-cycle average. cylinder walls. In addition, hot exhaust gas resid-
uals left over from the previous cycle mix with
5.2. Fired case incoming gases, raising their temperature and
water mole fraction (compare the measured value
For the fired case, a single-cylinder (9.3 cm of xH2 O ¼ 2:1% with the intake value of
bore · 7.33 cm stroke) engine operating at xH2 O ¼ 1:4%). In order to predict the temperature
1200 rpm with a 12:1 compression ratio was used. and water concentration during the compression
The air-to-fuel ratio was 14 and the ignition tim- stroke of even this simple fired case, a complex flu-
ing was set at 15 BTDC. The water mole fraction id dynamics model including heat transfer is nec-
of the intake air was set at 1.4% (40% relative essary. For more complicated EGR and variable
humidity at 300 K). valve timing schemes, modeling becomes extreme-
Figure 5 shows the 10-cycle average tempera- ly difficult, making measurements such as these
ture versus crank angle. Data is shown through
the compression stroke and spark ignition until
the early flame development phase when the gas Fired Case, 10 cycle average
(1200 rpm, CR=12:1)
conditions rapidly exceed the range of the sensor, 1.5x10-4 0.07

which was designed for measurements during the Spark 0.06

compression stroke. There are strong periodic
H2O Concentration (g/cc)

variations in the inferred temperature, especially 0.05

H2O Mole Fraction

1.0x10-4
at early crank angles, which show cycle-to-cycle
0.04
repeatability. Further investigation remains to
determine whether these variations are due to 0.03
gas dynamic effects, repeatable mechanical vibra- 5.0x10-5
tion of the probe tip, or other effects. We believe 0.02

the oscillations are dependent on engine vibration 0.01

and can be reduced through future design
modifications. 0.0 0.00
-60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10
The 10-cycle average water concentration and Crank Angle (degrees)
mole fraction are shown in Fig. 6. The spike in
the data at 9 is repeatable from cycle-to-cycle Fig. 6. Water concentration and mole fraction measured
and is likely due to the influence of flame kernel in a fired, single-cylinder engine.
3048 G.B. Rieker et al. / Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 31 (2007) 3041–3049
invaluable for engine designers and model
validation.
6. Conclusions
An absorption-based diode laser sensor for
crank angle-resolved measurements of tempera-
ture and water concentration in internal com-
bustion engines has been developed. A spark
plug-mounted, short-path optical probe makes
the sensor compatible with almost any IC
engine. A sensitive, noise-resistant spectroscopic
technique, WMS-2f with 1f normalization, per-
mits the sensor to make successful measure-
ments not only with short pathlengths, but
with ambient levels of water vapor (1–2%) in a
harsh environment. The use of large modulation
depth WMS-2f gives the sensor an effective
operating range from 1 to 50 atm and 500 to
1050 K, with a bandwidth of 7.5 kHz.
The sensor was validated under controlled
static conditions (over a range of pressures
and temperatures) using the spectral parameters
determined in separate experiments. Subsequent-
ly, the sensor was applied to internal combus-
tion engines operating in the unfired and fired
modes, showing the sensor’s ability to make
meaningful measurements for both IC engine
operating conditions. Although improved SNR
is anticipated through probe refinements, the
results obtained with this initial design have
confirmed the potential for the sensor to make
measurements of temperature and concentration
in situations where the only other option to
obtain these parameters, modeling, would be
extremely difficult.
Acknowledgments
Funding for this research was provided by Nis-
san Motor Co., Ltd. The authors would like to
thank Prof. Robert Dibble for the use of the CFR
engine at the University of California-Berkeley.
Comments
Marcus Alden, Lund University, Sweden. In what way
would spatial temperature inhomogeneity in the absorp-
tion path length influence the results?
Reply. The open path length was kept short (6 mm)
to make a localized measurement near the spark plug,
and thus the measurements minimize the influence of
inhomogeneities in the absorption path. Nevertheless,
this sensor infers temperature from the ratio of absor-
bance on two transitions, and thus inhomogeneities in
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the path length will affect the derived temperature. The
magnitude of potential bias depends primarily on the
spectral features selected for the sensor. Features with
a small lower state energy will be disproportionately
influenced by cold regions in the measurement path
while features with a large lower state energy will be dis-
proportionately influenced by hot regions in the path.
Measurements of path integrated absorption using mul-
tiple (more than two) transitions each with different tem-
perature dependence can be used to infer a non-uniform
 G.B. Rieker et al. / Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 31 (2007) 3041–3049
temperature distribution; an in-depth treatment of this
topic can be found in [1].
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[1] Xiang Liu, Jay B. Jeffries, Ronald K. Hanson,
Measurement of Non-uniform Temperature Distri-
bution Measurement Using Line-of-sight Absorption
Spectroscopy, 44th Aerospace Sciences Meeting,
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
AIAA 2006-834.
d uncertainty contribution to be the same for all sys-
Chris Hagen, University of Wisconsin, USA. What is
your post process time?
Reply. The sensor provides continuous data streams
of temperature and water vapor concentration at
15 kHz with no post-processing required. However, in
order to synchronize this output with engine data such
as crank-angle, the temperature/water concentration
data file is parsed by separately recorded crank-angle
data, a process that takes a few seconds to complete.
d
Tim Jacobs, University of Michigan, USA. Can the
sensor measure in-cylinder pressure? If so, can it be
packaged small and inexpensively enough to be used in
production engines for control algorithm modeling?
Reply. The sensor is currently configured to record in-
cylinder pressure data from a piezoelectric pressure trans-
ducer separately fitted into the production cylinder head.
Although it is in principle possible to infer pressure from
optical absorption measurements, both optical and piezo-
electric pressure sensors are currently too expensive to be
considered for onboard control in production vehicles.
d The probe tip has been designed to perturb the flow as
Steve Buckley, University of California San Diego,
USA. The agreement between your shock-tube tempera-
ture measurement and model are excellent. First, are
there any adjustable parameters in your model that im-
prove the agreement (i.e., do you use a calibration point
or is this purely a theoretical temperature)? Second, how
does your reported uncertainty from the shock tube
(e.g., ±6 K at 700 K measurement) propagate to the
shorter path length and variable engine conditions?
Reply. There are no adjustable parameters in the mod-
el. We measure the laser nonlinearities and phase shifts
and include them in our WMS-2f model, and we normalize
the WMS-2f signal for laser intensity (with the 1f signal).
Therefore, the measured 2f/1f ratio can be compared to
the simulated ratio at the known pressure to infer temper-
ature without the need to calibrate at any condition.
3049
There are two contributions to uncertainty to con-
sider for these measurements. First, the scatter in the
measurements induced by laser noise, beam steering,
etc., is an important contribution that will increase
in the engine because the magnitude of the WMS-2f
signal is smaller and the environmental noise is in-
creased. The magnitude of this temperature uncertain-
ty will depend on the specific engine tested. Second,
errors in the WMS-2f model, spectral parameters, laser
non-idealities, etc. can cause a bias in the average
measured temperature, which is quantified by the stat-
ic cell measurements of Fig. 2. We expect this latter
tems, and hence not to increase in an engine.
d
Christian Trapp, Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany.
Which other species did you measure in cylinder of a
production engine? Did you measure HC?
Reply. At this time we have only measured water
vapor.
d
Scott Sanders, University of Wisconsin, USA. What
do you feel are the primary obstacles that must be
overcome to extend this sensor’s capabilities to in-
clude post-combustion thermometry? Will thermal
boundary layers on the spark plug optics cause a sig-
nificant bias? Your 10-cycle-average results seem to
show the H2O mole fraction decreasing as the piston
approaches top dead center. To what do you attri-
bute this behavior?
Reply. To extend this sensor’s capabilities beyond the
compression stroke, another spectral feature with a larg-
er lower state energy must be added to increase sensitiv-
ity to higher temperatures.
little as possible (large openings, smooth edges, etc.); in
addition, multiple probe tip designs were tested in the
unfired engine and revealed no significant difference in
the measured temperature.
One possible explanation for the slight decrease in
water vapor mole fraction is continued mixing of the
fresh intake charge with exhaust gas residuals during
compression. Another possible contributor is dilution
of the water vapor mole fraction by the evaporation of
the liquid fuel during compression.
d
Christian Hüttl, Universität Bayreuth, Germany. Can
you comment about the durability of your sensor (e.g.,
the mirror)?
Reply. No reply received.