Understanding the Thermal Profile of a Natural Gas Engine Using Infrared imaging

The temperature profile of a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) engine is one of the important performance parameters which requires detailed definition and analysis. Subsequently, an infrared sensing and imaging technique has been developed for providing some understanding of the variation of the engine temperatures at various parts of the engine.

This paper presents the systems configuration and the theoretical foundation of the infrared sensing technique used, it discusses the results of the preliminary experimental investigations by contrasting the temperature profile of direct temperature sensors and the infrared images at engine start-up conditions. The thermal profile of different parts of the engine were analysed and compared with engine directly mounted temperature sensors.