Eng. Emiliano Pipitone

Professor in Fluid Machinery

University of Palermo
Department of Engineering

Viale delle Scienze
90128 Palermo, Italia


tel. +39 091 23897280
fax. +39 091 23860672

Internal Combustion Engine Laboratory

(Head: Prof. Emiliano Pipitone)

 

- Brüel & Kjær accelerometers (10 mV/g output sensitivity, resonance frequency 50 kHz)

- Endress+Hauser Promass 80A coriolis effect mass flow meter (liquid measuring range 0÷100 kg/h, gas measuring range 0÷3.1 Nm3/h, maximum working pressure 160 bar)

- Kistler 2629B capacitive Top Dead Centre (TDC) sensor

- National Instruments Data acquisition systems:

DAQ Card PCI-6133, 14 bit, 3 MSa/s

DAQ Card 6062 12 bit 500 kSa/s

Real-Time PXI 7030-6040E

PCI-6602 80 MHz Counter board

- Walbro MinJ400 programmable Electronic Control Unit for injection and ignition real time control

ENGINE TEST BED

Equipped with the most up to date instruments and devices, the engine test bed allow to measure engine torque and power, engine brake and indicated specific fuel consumption, in-cylinder pressure, indicated mean effective pressure, friction mean effective pressure, mass fraction burnt, knock onset and knock intensity.

The following instruments are currently employed:

- Schenck W130 eddy current dynamometer (maximum braking power 130 kW, maximum speed 10000 rpm) equipped with Borghi DCU2000 control system and strain gauge load cell

- Electronic throttle control system Borghi SAT2000 - AT2000

- AVL piezoelectric in-cylinder pressure sensors (0÷200 bar measuring range, maximum temperature 400 °C, frequency response 130 kHz)
 


- Agilent 54624A 100 MHz  - 4 channels oscilloscope

- Labcell AFR2400 air-fuel ratio and spark advance measurement and acquisition system (0.4<l<10) endowed of a UEGO sensor

- Fiat 1242cc 8V bi-fuel engine (fuelled with gasoline, natural gas, or LPG)

- Renault 1598cc 16V spark ignition engine

- Amarù-Finder BLW 80-2 Roots supercharger (maximum pressure increase 900 mbar, maximum volumetric flow 480 m3/h)

 

STEADY STATE FLOW BENCH

The flow bench is used to determine fluid dynamics properties of internal combustion engine parts and elements, such as intake and exhaust duct discharge coefficients, swirl and tumble turbulence intensities.

It is currently equipped with the following instruments:

- SAVIO MICO 90/8 multi-stage centrifugal blower (maximum compression ratio 1.85, minimum inlet pressure 55 kPa, maximum volumetric flow 1140 m3/h).

- Tekkal torque meter for swirl or tumble intensity evaluation (max 150 mNm)

- Endress+Hauser Prowirl 77F vortex flow meter (air flow 10÷160 l/sec)

- Druck piezoresistive absolute pressure transducer (pressure range 0÷1 bar)

- High precision poppet valve positioning system

 

 

- ORMA EL1000 high precision scale for gravimetric measurement (range 0÷1000 g)

 - Omega CN4116 PID temperature controller for engine intake air heaters

 - Measurement Specialties HTM2530LFL relative humidity and temperature sensor

 - Tekkal Rotaplus C80 360 ppr optical incremental encoder (maximum operative frequency 200 kHz)

- Venturi flow meter

CFR TEST BENCH

Octane rating measurements of both liquid and gaseous fuels according to Motor (ASTM D2700 norm) and Research (ASTM D2699 norm) methods can be performed. In-cylinder pressure measurement and analysis can be carried out as well, with indicated mean effective pressure determination and mass fraction burnt evaluation; knock phenomena diagnosis and analysis. The CFR test bench is equipped with the following instruments:

- CFR spark ignition engine model F4, variable compression ratio (range 4.5-16), equipped with a standard carburettor and two independent electronic injection systems (one for liquid and one for gaseous fuel)

- National Instruments data acquisition systems DAQ Card 6062 (12 bit, 500 kSa/s)

- Kistler in-cylinder pressure transducer

- Brüel & Kjær accelerometers

 - Bronkhorst Mini-Coriflow coriolis effect fuel mass flow meter (measuring range 0÷2 kg/h, maximum error ±0.2% of reading, maximum operating pressure 200 bar)

- Air-fuel ratio measurement and acquisition system based on NGK UEGO sensor (0.88<l<1.12)