Technical Paper
Cylinder-Pressure-Transducer Mounting Techniques to Maximize Data Accuracy
1990-02-01
900171
Engine cylinder-pressure data is generally acquired using piezoelectric pressure transducers because of the many advantages they offer. Unfortunately, a serious and difficult-to-detect disadvantage is variability introduced into the raw data by thermal shock occurring at the transducer face. Transducer manufacturers are aware of this problem and have produced special designs intended to minimize thermally-induced output drift. Although improvements have resulted, the problem continues to exist. However, thermal shock can be reduced by properly mounting the transducer. This study reviews the theoretical principles dictating performance of remote-mounted transducers and examines the influence of the mounting scheme on pressure-data quality. The three feasible mounting schemes studied were flush mount, remote mount via a single passage, and remote mount via multiple slots.