Identification of damages in the inlet air duct of a diesel engine based on exhaust gas temperature measurements

The temperature of the exhaust gas of a diesel piston engine, measured in the characteristic control sections of its thermo-flow system, can be a valuable source of diagnostic information about the technical condition of the elements limiting the working spaces thus separated, including the turbocharging system, but also its fuel supply system and replacement of the medium. In standard marine engine measurement systems equipped with an impulse turbocharging system, the exhaust gas temperature is measured at the outlet of individual cylinders and before and after the turbocharger turbine, using traditional thermocouples with high measurement inertia (time constant of tenths of a second and more). This means that for further diagnostic analyses, the average value of the periodically changing temperature of the exhaust stream leaving individual engine cylinders, the exhaust stream in the collective duct feeding the turbine and the exhaust stream in the exhaust duct of the turbine is used. This article proposes a new approach to the issue of diagnostic informationiveness of the exhaust gas temperature of a diesel engine, extending its observations with the dynamics of changes in the duration of one working cycle. The aim of the tests carried out on the laboratory stand of Farymann Diesel engine type D10 was to determine the diagnostic relations between the loss of permeability of the inlet air channel filter baffle and selected standards of the quick-changing signal of the exhaust gas temperature. On the basis of the calculations carried out, the following dynamic features of the recorded signal were determined: maximum amplitude of instantaneous exhaust gas temperature values (peak-to-peak value), its rate of increase and decrease, and the specific enthalpy of exhaust gases within one engine work cycle. Comparative analysis of numerical data characterizing the recorded quick-changing exhaust gas temperature courses clearly indicates obvious thermodynamic and energy consequences of partial loss of flow capacity of the air channel supplying the combustion chamber of the test engine. A further development of the experimental test programme is foreseen in order to determine a diagnostic matrix to support the diagnostic inference about the technical condition of the diesel engine on the basis of measurements and analysis of the quick-changing exhaust gas temperature.