• Projects
  • Active Flow Control
  • Adaptive Reconfigurable Control
  • Diagnostics and Prognostics
    • Adaptive Diagnostics and Prognostics Toolbox (ADAPT)
    • Diesel Engine Diagnostics and Prognostics
    • Sensor and Actuator Fault Detection and Isolation
    • Prognostic Techniques for Mechanical Failure Prediction
    • Structural Health Monitoring
  • Intelligent Guidance and Trajectory Reshaping
  • Real-Time Modeling and Prediction
  • Tools for Healthcare Assessment

Diesel Engine Diagnostics and Prognostics

Barron Associates, Inc. has developed and demonstrated flexible, cost-effective, retrofittable diesel engine monitoring (diagnostic and prognostic) technology that is suitable for application to marine diesel engines, ground vehicle diesel engines, and diesel generator sets.  The underlying algorithms and software are rapidly configurable to extract the maximum amount of engine health information from any instrumentation suite.  The Integrated Diagnostic and Maintenance System (IDMS) can monitor combustion balance and quality, turbo/compressor performance, coolant system efficiency, lubrication delivery, and all other aspects of fuel and air delivery.  Monitored quantities and IDMS features are tailored to the available instrumentation.  Barron Associates consults with customers regarding the most cost-effective use of any available budget for additional instrumentation.

Features and Benefits

Barron Associates' model-based health monitoring algorithms will maximize the information from any available instrumentation suite.  The IDMS algorithm can utilize pressure transducers, thermocouples, accelerometers, and additional automotive type sensors, such as mass air flow and exhaust oxygen. For turbocharged, intercooled diesel engines, pressure measurements of interest can include:  ambient air pressure, boost pressure before the intercooler, boost pressure after the intercooler, intake manifold pressure, exhaust manifold pressure (before turbo), and exhaust stack pressure (after turbo).  Temperatures of interest include: ambient air temperature, inlet air temperature, boost air temperature before intercooler, boost air temperature after intercooler, intake manifold air  temperature, exhaust air temperature (before turbo), exhaust air temperature (after turbo), coolant inlet temperature, coolant outlet temperature, fuel temperature, and oil temperature. 

Properly-placed accelerometers can also provide valuable information about in-cylinder events that are indicative of engine condition and combustion quality.  Vibration analysis is an area of expertise at Barron Associates and a library of vibration analysis methods and software has been developed specifically for diesel engine monitoring.

Conditions that can be monitored and diagnosed given a suitable instrumentation suite include:

• Sensor Faults
• Fuel Injector Faults (fouling, clogging, leaking, low/high pressure)
• Throttle, Exhaust Gas Recirculation Valve, and Wastegate Faults
• Cooling System Faults (flow and efficiency loss)
• Damaged Gaskets and Leaks
• Air Handling Faults (clogged air filter, intake/exhaust manifold leak)
• Combustion Imbalance and Inefficiency

 

Recent Applications and Customers

Barron Associates has applied its diesel engine monitoring technology to marine diesel engines for the Office of Naval Research (ONR) as part of their Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) program, to military diesel trucks for the U.S. Army TARDEC, and to diesel generator sets for the U.S. Navy. 

 

Publications

 

 

J. Burkholder, C. Wiles, and R. Roecker, "An integrated diagnostic system for marine diesel engines," COMODIA - International Conference on Modeling for Advanced Engine Systems, Sapporo, Japan, 2008.

 

 

Contact Info

Jason Burkholder:  burkholder@barron-associates.com