Diesel Smoke - A Comparison of Test Methods and Smokemeters on Engine Test Bed and Vehicle

This paper gives an interim assessment of the characteristics of five smokemeters generally available in Europe which are currently under investigation on a cooperative basis in seven countries. This coordinated test programme, begun in 1967 by a Smoke Measurement Sub-Committee of the Coordinating European Council (for development of performance tests for fuels and lubricants) has also investigated alternative test methods, ranging from the constant full load, steady speed test to the so called “free-acceleration” method, on 60 different types of vehicle, representative of those in current use in Western Europe. The results of these tests are summarized, and it is concluded that the basic test for prototype approval for smoke emission level is that carried out as a series of full-load speeds, either with the engine on the test bed or with the vehicle on a chassis dynamometer.