Combustion stability is an important factor to maintain long engine life, achieve maximum engine efficiency, and help assure compliance with emission limits. Continuous combustion pressure monitoring is the best method to reliably detect combustion instabilities (misfires, late fires, auto-ignition, and detonation) but it is currently installed on a small portion of the reciprocating engines used in the natural gas transportation industry. This project evaluates the potential of using the engine speed to detect and warn equipment operators of the presence of combustion instabilities. The intent...
Combustion stability is an important factor to maintain long engine life, achieve maximum engine efficiency, and help assure compliance with emission limits. Continuous combustion pressure monitoring is the best method to reliably detect combustion instabilities (misfires, late fires, auto-ignition, and detonation) but it is currently installed on a small portion of the reciprocating engines used in the natural gas transportation industry. This project evaluates the potential of using the engine speed to detect and warn equipment operators of the presence of combustion instabilities. The intent is to provide a low cost diagnostic monitoring method that can be readily retrofitted on the existing population of reciprocating engines used in the natural gas transportation industry.