Combustion data acquisition system for engines

Today almost any engine research and development work, looking for an optimal design, performance improvement or emission reduction, demands the combustion monitoring. The simplest way to do so is by measuring the cylinder pressure, as function of piston movement or of time.

This paper describes the development of a high-pressure data acquisition system that provides the basis to a flexible and powerful combustion analysis tool for engines. Similar equipment available in the market usually has embedded software, making it difficult to adapt to an unusual R&D scenario.

Comparing the data gathered by the system with data collected by others means, it was possible to determine its accuracy.