Experimental determination of the air flow through the individual cylinders of an internal combustion engine

Abstract

The overheating of certain cylinders of multicylinder engines is of vital import to those concerned with large power installations. Such overheating results in a loss of power from the engine. Therefore, engines must be underrated by manufacturers or else customers must install power plants which are somewhat oversized. Overheating of certain cylinders of an engine has been attributed to a nonuniform distribution of the pulsating fluid (air or fuel-air mixture) flowing through the individual cylinders of the engine. For this reason, manifolds (intake or exhaust) have been adjudged as the probable cause for overheating. To date, the majority of analytical work applicable to manifolds has been limited to intake manifolds or to steady flow conditions. The experimental work related to nonsteady flow has been limited to the total overall flow of a particular engine. The present work is concerned with the experimental procedure for measuring the pulsating flow through the individual cylinders of an internal combustion engine. Experimentation has been carried out by motoring a three cylinder, two stroke cycle, General Motors Diesel Engine. By motoring the engine with a dynamometer, complications arising from high temperatures and pressures were circumvented. The fluid flow through the individual cylinders was measured with a "Proportional Flow Meter".